What about polygamy? Does God FORBID it?

Whether it is "acceptible" or not should not motivate one to want to change the law or have the desire to actually be a polygamist. I personally (as still a single virgin) feel that women (being just as worthy to God as men) are worth much more than as a form of property and should not have to share a man's heart. When I am married, I want the one woman to have 100% of my heart. Just my humble, personal, totally unbiased opinion.

 

how old are you 60?

 

I had a Missions Professor tell a similar story here at SEBTS. However, I do not remember if the man in the story killed the other wives or just kicked them out on their own. Either way it is a bad situation. I guess the best thing to do in such a case would be for the man to live only with his first wife and yet still be responsible to financially support the others.

 

Heh, I will turn 26 this month. If you have perceived me on this forum as 60 (as in "wise"), I guess I am flattered.

 

Well, that goes without saying; most of us have enough trouble with just one...

But, seriously, polygamy is never condoned in the Bible, but polygyny seems to be.

Also, AFAIK, in the Bible, it's only called adultery when a man has sex with a married woman, not the other way around.

 

Where does the bible give us permission for multiply spouses? Who in the N.T. had more then one wife and was approved of it, or who in the N.T. taught more then one wife was ok? From what I've seen in the bible it is adultery to have sex with more then one person when your married, otherwise no rules about adultery or fornication are necessary. When God created marriage He created one man with one wife. Thats the model.

 

by Hope of Glory:

There you go.
I think you're right here.
The man in OT times is allowed multiple wives, but not the wife.
Polygamy, on the other hand, according to dictionary.com is "marriage in which a spouse of either sex may have more than one mate at the same time".
Rather confusing, wot ?
Also, I have not seen in the Bible where the woman may divorce a man. It seems the right of divorcing a spouse is only for the man.
But, back to polygamy, polygyny.

 

There you go.
I think you're right here.
The man in OT times is allowed multiple wives, but the wife is not allowed multiple husbands (polyandry).
Polygamy, on the other hand, according to dictionary.com is "marriage in which a spouse of either sex may have more than one mate at the same time".
Rather confusing, wot ?
Also, I have not seen in the Bible where the woman may divorce a man. It seems the right of divorcing a spouse is only for the man.
But, back to polygamy, polygyny.

 

triple post...

 

Now DonnA, you know many things aren't specifically allowed in the Bible, but we still do them. We have to discern things sometimes by comparing similar events.

Btw, no one is proposing that we bring back polygamy today. The question simply was, did God allow it and how should we handle the few situations that do occur even today among the unsaved.

We agree, the model is one man to one woman. Unfortunately, sometimes that model isn't payed much attention to and then we have to deal with the consequences.

 

Agree, it's also related to the level of class division in a culture. When there is a great divide between the rich and the poor, polygyny is more likely. In more egalitarian nations monogamy is more frequent. In an economic sense women are partitioned up like any other resource. When men have roughly the same amount of resources, everyone gets one woman, and when some people are flabbergastingly rich and others dirt poor, the rich get several women while the poor do without.

Right now we seem to have a situation in between, in which the rich have only one wife, but they are prone to serial monogamy. It is also no longer limited to men using economic power to get partners since women now have an equal role instead of being subordinate to men.

Because of the past great inequity in relationships between men and women polygyny flourished but polyandry was almost unheard of. Polygyny is also a stupid reproductive tactic since a woman may have three husbands but can only be pregnant from one at a time, while a man with three wives can produce children by each of them.

Christianity is also more inclined to be tolerant of polygyny because it allows the authoritarian model to remain intact, so the husband can have control over multiple wives, but who can be in charge if there are multiple husbands of one wife?

I think for these reasons we consider polygyny as more acceptable but polyandry is almost universally thought to be very odd.

 

I'm waiting for the guy/girl who's going to bust in here with the nerve to say they think polygamy is perfectly fine, and they have no problem with it. Everyone got their pitch-forks ready?

I know that on a board with this many people, there has to be a few.

 

I know it's a sin in the USA, as it would violate government law. In a foreign country that supports it? That's a tough one.

 

Does God condemn polygamy? I'll have to ask my wives.

 

The real curse of polygamy is not multiple wives, but multiple mothers-in-law.

 

If you feel God is OK with polygamy, since it's not universally Biblically prohibited...

...you're gonna be REALLY unpopular on your views of slavery.

Not hijacking...just pointing out that consistent views on these things might get some in trouble.

I still stand by my idea that the pastoral requirements are God's "higher standards." And if God raises the bar there, that must be His ideal. Sure, "husband of one wife" refers to morality...but it's simplest definition is "husband of less than two wives." I think both definitions can apply.