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Old 07-22-2009, 11:28 AM
CKG CKG is offline
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Warner Robins, Georgia
Posts: 197
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Quote:
Originally Posted by greenbear View Post
Brother PaulB,

The first words out of my mouth tonight when my poor husband came home from a hard day of work were, very loosely quoted:



After an unguarded moment of staring at me as if I were a crazy person he asked:

"What country does he live in? What are the laws in that country regarding polygamy?"

After a another few moments of my worried conjecture about how much he has actually thought about this topic in the past, and determining then and there to never agree to move with him to a Muslim country (or Utah, for that matter), I realized that the point he was making is that there is no biblical "law" against having more than one wife. There are, however, laws of human government that we are to obey. If there is a biblical law against multiple wives, we don't know about it. Is it God's perfect will? No.

You cited Jesus:

Mark 10:2-12 And the Pharisees came to him, and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? tempting him.
And he answered and said unto them, What did Moses command you? And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away.
And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept.
But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female.
For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife;
And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh.
What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. And in the house his disciples asked him again of the same matter.
And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her.
And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery.

My husband pointed out the context is about a man putting away his wife. The context is not about whether you should have more than one wife. There is no question that Jesus says that from the beginning God intended one man and one woman. But whether or not a man is allowed to have multiple wives is not the topic He was addressing in that passage.

If you disagree with this, then I have a few questions for you:

Where in scripture does God say that Abraham, Jacob, David sinned by taking more than one wife?

Where does it say in the scriptures that Leah and Rachel weren't both the wives of Jacob?

Where does it say in the scriptures that either Leah's or Rachel's children were illegitimate in God's eyes? Or those of their handmaids (Jacob's other two "wives")?

If there was no biblical law against taking multiple wives back then, when did that change? We are speaking about a law prohibiting the practice. We are not speaking about what is God's perfect will in the matter.

If there is no law given about taking multiple wives in scripture then wouldn't the muslim man be disobeying Jesus by putting away any of his wives according to His own words "What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder"?

Your sister In Christ,
and the sole wife of one husband, thanks be to God!

Jennifer
I'm not good at answering multiple quotes so bear with me.

Greenbear - "My husband pointed out the context is about a man putting away his wife."

True, but in answering their question about putting away, Jesus points out God's original intentions for marriage.
Matthew 19 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife (not wives): and they twain (two) shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain (two), but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
Why did Moses allow putting away? Because of the hardness of their hearts. They were not interested in honoring God's original intentions for marriage.

Greenbear - Where in scripture does God say that Abraham, Jacob, David sinned by taking more than one wife?

Where in scripture does it say God commended or encouraged anyone to take more than one wife? Obviously God allowed it, but when you study the lives of Jacob, David, and Solomon you will see their biggest problems were family issues. They are certainly not commendable examples to follow for raising Godly families.

When you read the commandments God gave to Israel there is nothing said that would encourage or commend multiple wives. For instance in Exodus 20:17 God said
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife (singular), nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.
The assumption was that they, Israel - God's chosen people, would honor His original intentions for marriage.

It's interesting that when you get to Jesus' earthly ministry and the rest of the new testament books there is only one mention that even remotely comes close to suggesting multiple spouses and that was when Jesus encountered the woman of Samaria (John 4) and even then it doesn't say she had had 5 husbands at the same time. God allowed folks like Jacob, David, and Solomon to have multiple wives, but he also allowed them to suffer the consequences of those unions. I haven't checked this out, but I'm thinking once the Babylonian capitivity was over and the Jews returned to the land polygamy was never a problem again.