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Multiple Wives in Old Testament.Why not since in NT and now?


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Posted

*gp*

Curiously I can't find anywhere where God rebuked anyone for multiple wives.

Some people make the same argument about Sunday. When has God during the last 2000 years rebuked Christians for sincerely and honestly keeping Sunday? Did he rebuke Luther or Calvin? So, then--some argue-- why shouldn't I continue to keep Sunday as the Lord's holy day?

The same argument, of course, has also been used about slavery. God didn't rebuke anyone for practicing slavery per se. But does that mean that slavery is something God planned and desired? Of course not.

We are judged according to the light we have, or according to the knowledge we have of God's will. For instance, those of us who have been exposed to SDA doctrines know that God's ideal and plan for human beings is for a man to have one wife. In Eden, God did not give Adam two wives but rather only one.

Another way we know this is God's ideal and will for humans is that the Scriptures say that the leaders of the church are to have only one wife. See 1 Tim. 3: 2, 12; Titus 1: 6.

In all of the cases in the Bible where men had more than one wife at the same time, it was always a source of problems. For instance, Abraham, Jacob, David, and Solomon all had multiple wives, but their situations provide us lessons in what we shouldn't do if we want to avoid the problems that arose because of their decision to have more than one wife.

Just because God does not rebuke us doesn't mean that we are necessarily doing God's will. God doesn't rebuke sinners every time we commit sin. He accepts us where we are, and then attempts through His Spirit to encourage us and teach us of His amazing love.

"God overlooks times of ignorance, but now commands all men everywhere to repent" (Acts 17: 30).

Thank God for his patience with us or we would all have died or been lost a long time ago.

Regards,

"John 3: 17"

John 3:16-17

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. [17] For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

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Posted

I guess I'm just confused. How can it be times of ignorance? When God gave the 10c, wouldn't multipal wives/concubines fall under thou shalt not commit adultery? David wasn't ignorant of the law yet he flouted it and God overlooked it. Why? David sleeps with Bathsheba then contrived to have Uriah murdered so he could marry Bathsheba. God punished that, yet let him keep Bathsaheba. God says He had given David everything and would have given David more had he asked. Would God had given David more wives?

<p><span style="color:#0000FF;"><span style="font-weight:bold;"><span style="font-style:italic;">"Do not use harmful words, but only helpful words, the kind that build up and provide what is needed, so that what you say will do good to those who hear you."</span></span> Eph 4:29</span><br><br><img src="http://banners.wunderground.com/weathersticker/gizmotimetemp_both/US/OR/Fairview.gif" alt="Fairview.gif"> Fairview Or</p>

Posted

*gp*

Curiously I can't find anywhere where God rebuked anyone for multiple wives.

This same old tired excuse is also used for gender discrimination in the church.

May we be one so that the world may be won.
Christian from the cradle to the grave
I believe in Hematology.
 

Posted

Originally Posted By: Amelia
*gp*

Curiously I can't find anywhere where God rebuked anyone for multiple wives.

This same old tired excuse is also used for gender discrimination in the church.

[tic]

Well, God didn't personally rebuke me when I made jokes about me and David getting gay married....[/tic]

Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve.

 

George Bernard Shaw

 

  • Moderators
Posted

To me the relevant Scripture on this issue is the one about deacons being the husband of one wife. Presumably that sets up some sort of ideal situation (although it could be argued that that was more because deacons need *some* time to devote to the church!)

Probably the relevant issue for us, in our society and time in history, is the 'serial polygamy' occasioned by divorce and remarriage rather than the 'parallel polygamy' of having more than one partner at the same time.

(and why limit it to polygyny, why aren't we talking about polyandry too?)

Truth is important

Posted

Did you mean 'fool-landry' or 'fool-laundry'?

May we be one so that the world may be won.
Christian from the cradle to the grave
I believe in Hematology.
 

Posted

"polyandry"

Haven't looked this up yet....but will hazard a guess...Isn't polyandry like doing mulit-loads of laundry at one time, like at a laundrymat?

No? oh...ok....

Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve.

 

George Bernard Shaw

 

Posted

"polyandry"

Haven't looked this up yet....but will hazard a guess...Isn't polyandry like doing mulit-loads of laundry at one time, like at a laundrymat?

No? oh...ok....

Ok Neil. Let me spell it out to you ...

poly - Many

and - more than one

ry - the act of

Thus we have the act of having many more than one wife.

Or you could view it as "acting like you have many or more than one wife."

May we be one so that the world may be won.
Christian from the cradle to the grave
I believe in Hematology.
 

  • Moderators
Posted

Mwahaha - my evil plan to baffle them with polysyllabic obfuscation seems to be working... now to steal their wrenches!

Truth is important

Posted

(and why limit it to polygyny, why aren't we talking about polyandry too?)

Probably because there aren't any examples of it in the Bible.

Posted

*tack on*

Plus you don't hear about that today either. If it's happening it's not in the news.

<p><span style="color:#0000FF;"><span style="font-weight:bold;"><span style="font-style:italic;">"Do not use harmful words, but only helpful words, the kind that build up and provide what is needed, so that what you say will do good to those who hear you."</span></span> Eph 4:29</span><br><br><img src="http://banners.wunderground.com/weathersticker/gizmotimetemp_both/US/OR/Fairview.gif" alt="Fairview.gif"> Fairview Or</p>

  • Moderators
Posted

True - which I think is interesting. There's no real biological reason for that difference, and these days there's no longer an economic difference where the man is the one earning the money to support the household...

Maybe I'm too PC, but I think when the discussion is limited to 'multiple wives' it can be illuminating to think about *why* 'multiple husbands' doesn't even make it onto our radar. Does that say anything interesting about the realities underlying our discussion of 'multiple wives'?

Truth is important

Posted

That men will put up with alot more than women will?

<p><span style="color:#0000FF;"><span style="font-weight:bold;"><span style="font-style:italic;">"Do not use harmful words, but only helpful words, the kind that build up and provide what is needed, so that what you say will do good to those who hear you."</span></span> Eph 4:29</span><br><br><img src="http://banners.wunderground.com/weathersticker/gizmotimetemp_both/US/OR/Fairview.gif" alt="Fairview.gif"> Fairview Or</p>

  • Moderators
Posted

...or that women are smarter bwink

Truth is important

Posted

... now to steal their wrenches!

Another typo?

Graeme

Graeme

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Posted

Ok Neil. Let me spell it out to you ...

poly - Many

and - more than one

ry - the act of

Thus we have the act of having many more than one wife.

Or you could view it as "acting like you have many or more than one wife."

Um...there's no "wife" in that word...thus the definition would be "the act of many more than one"... but one what????

Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve.

 

George Bernard Shaw

 

Posted

Mwahaha - my evil plan to baffle them with polysyllabic obfuscation seems to be working... now to steal their wrenches!

Ahoy there matey....Seems that any intellectual pirate who can't spell "wenches" is no threat...with the possible exception of to his progeny,,,

LOL

Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve.

 

George Bernard Shaw

 

  • Moderators
Posted

Oh, I have a full complement of wenches already at my house. With several old vehicles, it's wrenches that are in short supply!

Truth is important

Posted

Bravus has 'old' vehicles? How now? You drive a Harley, right? Vintage, is it? Knucklehead by any chance? And as for your personal car, let me guess--an MGA?

Posted

Mwahaha - my evil plan to baffle them with polysyllabic obfuscation seems to be working... now to steal their wrenches!

Indeed, a typical ploy, methinks. Tell me, what type of 'wrenches' are you looking for?

  • Moderators
Posted

'Old' is a bit of a relative term - old enough to need frequent wrench application, not old enough to be classic or anything.

I ride a 1988 Suzuki GSXF 400, and my daughter drives a 1994 Mazda 323. Both are good vehicles, but both are getting long in the tooth, and frequently need the smaller (10 mm) metric spanners applied to keep them running.

I have my eye on a 2003 Honda VTR1000F, but still need to convince She Who Must Be Obeyed.

Truth is important

Posted

Does she have one of these?

414-07930.jpg

<p><span style="color:#0000FF;"><span style="font-weight:bold;"><span style="font-style:italic;">"Do not use harmful words, but only helpful words, the kind that build up and provide what is needed, so that what you say will do good to those who hear you."</span></span> Eph 4:29</span><br><br><img src="http://banners.wunderground.com/weathersticker/gizmotimetemp_both/US/OR/Fairview.gif" alt="Fairview.gif"> Fairview Or</p>

Posted

...or that women are smarter bwink

Yeah, I like that answer.

tu

Posted

Personally .... I am smart enough to stay out of such a controversial thread.

May we be one so that the world may be won.
Christian from the cradle to the grave
I believe in Hematology.
 

Posted

Oh, I have a full complement of wenches already at my house. With several old vehicles, it's wrenches that are in short supply!

I knew you had a wife and a couple of girls, but didn't think you had any wenches at your house.... ROFL

AS for "several" ol vehicles, no wonder you are out of wrenches...

Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve.

 

George Bernard Shaw

 

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