Polygamy has become a hot subject in Christianity recently. While the western world is opening up to same sex marriage and unions, and churches are having openly know gays on the pulpit, these same churches are not opening up to polygamous marriage.
Is polygamy really a wrong in the bible that the church needs to even consider same sex as being more acceptable than the practice of polygamy?
Should Christianity be based on Bible doctrines or the western dictate?
Did God hate polygamous Men or families in the Bible?
Jacob, father of Israel, had 2 wives and 2 concubines. The 12 children of these 4 women were the names of the tribes of Israel. A God who does not want polygamy will not select his people from a polygamous marriage.
. Divorce rates are over 60% in USA and Europe. But only 9% in Benin, where they are majority Christians but 75% are polygamous.
God said he hates divorce; never did he say he hates polygamy.
The western world does not practice monogamy. They practice serial monogamy. They divorce older wives (wife of their youth) for younger ones.
Are we now acting more intelligent than the creator himself.
1 Corinthians 1:24-25
24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength
Ecclesiastes 11:5
Just as you do not know the path of the wind and how bones are formed in the womb of the pregnant woman, so you do not know the activity of God who makes all things.
God punished Onan in Genesis 38:10, for not following his instructions and deliberately refusing to impregnate his late brother's wife.
Why should a God who is against polygamy do this?
God did not expect all men to be monogamous. Only pastors, and elders of the church were supposed to be men of only one wife.
Those people are less than 5% of the entire Christian population.
Our deliberate misrepresentations of the bible are the reason why Christianity is in decline.
God created man and woman in the beginning but never did he said that is the formula he expected us to apply.
He created animals in pairs as well, do we keep animals in pairs on our farms because God created them so?
We usually answer by saying, animals are not subject to God's laws.
This is a lie. God is interested in how we raise animals as well.
Leviticus 19:19
19 Ye shall keep my statutes. Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind: thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed: neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woolen come upon thee.
If things must be just as God created, we must only eat livestock kept in pairs.
We cannot think for God.
Isaiah 55:8-9
8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
Neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
We need to follow God's words, not assume him.
He was clear in Exodus, that only those who can treat their wives equally can marry more.
God in his own wisdom gave David, the wives of Saul. Not wife but wives.
Also in Leviticus: 18:18 , he said you should not take your current wife sister as a rival wife. He did not condemn the idea of a rival wife or wives.
2 Samuel 12:8 ►
I gave your master's house to you, and your master's wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more.
A God who is against polygamy will not give wives to a king.
He will not have created Israel from polygamous Jacob.
Israel is his special people. How can his special people be created out of sin? Certainly, polygamy is no sin, but a design of God.
Another misconception is that God allowed polygamy, but was against it/
God is not under any human, he will not allow a wrong. He clearly told us the Moses is his trusted servant who does no wrong. Moses had more than a wife. Certainly, polygamy cannot be a WRONG.
Samuel was a product of polygamy, and Moses also had two wives.
God himself described Moses, as a humble and respectful servant. Someone he spoke directly to.
When he took his second wife, the Ethiopian woman, his sister Miriam, and Aaron decided to gossip about him.
The Bible said, God became angry and stuck Miriam with leprosy.
Read Numbers 12 in full.
Moses had to beg God for her forgiveness
It was God who decided that Jacob with 2 wives and 2 concubines must be the foundation of Israel. If God is against polygamy and children of concubines, He will not have selected Jacob since his family may be sinful to him. Jacob did not forced himself on God.
2 Chronicles Chapter 24: 1-3
1 Joash [was] seven years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also [was] Zibiah of Beersheba.
2 And Joash did [that which was] right in the sight of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada the priest.
3 And Jehoiada took for him two wives; and he begat sons and daughters.
Which pastor today can claim to be more holy than Jehoiada? The Bible said he gave two wives to king Joash. If it's against God's law, he should have known better than our so called bishops of today.
Deuteronomy Chapter 25
If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband's brother unto her.
6 And it shall be, [that] the firstborn which she beareth shall succeed in the name of his brother [which is] dead, that his name be not put out of Israel.
God punished Onan with death, in Genesis 38:10, for not following his instructions and deliberately refusing to impregnate his late brother's wife.
Jesus even confirmed and accepted this law. Can followers of the father and the son refused to accept a requirement God punished someone with death for?
We cannot therefore say, because we are Christians, we cannot follow the laws God gave us through Moses.
Jesus did not therefore condemn polygamy as some pastors try to claim.
n Matthew 22:24-28, the Jews referred to Deuteronomy 25:5 from the Old Testament where it states that if a woman's husband dies, and she didn't have any kids from him, then she must marry his brother regardless whether he had a wife or not. When the Jews brought this situation up to Jesus in Matthew 22:24-28, Jesus did not prohibit at all for the childless widow to marry her husband's brother, even if here were already married. Instead, Jesus replied to them by saying that we do not marry at the resurrection (before Judgment), and we will be like angels in heaven (Matthew 22:30).
Furthermore, in the Parable of the Ten Virgins (Matthew 25:1-13), Jesus describes himself using an analogy of a bridegroom that is preparing to marry ten women. Why would Jesus really compare himself to a polygamist if it were detestable to him?
"Elders should be men of one wife"
Many use Titus 1:6 and 1 Timothy 3:2, 12 against polygamy. They say that these verses talk about how deacons, overseers, and elders should be men of "one wife".
Point 1: Simply because elders should be a "man of one wife", does not prevent polygamy among everyone else in the church.
Jesus and the Old Testament.
Never did Jesus ever disassociate himself from the Old Testament laws. Jesus was with the father from the beginning, when all laws were made. He cannot therefore come to earth to change laws he made with the father.
John 8:58
Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I Am!"
John 7:19
“Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law? Why go ye about to kill me?”
Luke 16:17
17 And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.
Matthew 5:17
"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
Jesus also warned us about Prophets who change wordings in the bible to fit into their current thinking.
Luke 21:8
8 He replied: “Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them.
Warning to Kings.
Deuteronomy 17:17
He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold.
Comments,
God clearly is against Kings taking many wives. But he did not limit them to one.
He gave David wives of Saul,
And Joash did [that which was] right in the sight of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada the priest.
And Jehoiada took for him two wives; and he begat sons and daughters.
Certainly, this also proves, that polygamy is God’s ordained marriage.
Jeremiah 29:1,31-32
23 “Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!” declares the Lord. 31 “Send this message to all the exiles: ‘This is what the Lord says about Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, even though I did not send him, and has persuaded you to trust in lies, 32 this is what the Lord says: I will surely punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his descendants. He will have no one left among this people, nor will he see the good things I will do for my people, declares the Lord, because he has preached rebellion against me.’”
Jeremiah 23:31-32
31 Yes,” declares the Lord, “I am against the prophets who wag their own tongues and yet declare, ‘The Lord declares.’ 32 Indeed, I am against those who prophesy false dreams,” declares the Lord. “They tell them and lead my people astray with their reckless lies, yet I did not send or appoint them. They do not benefit these people in the least,” declares the Lord.
Multiply
For Christianity to increase we has Christians must win new converts, and also multiply to fill the earth. ►
Genesis 1:28
God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground."
Being fruitful is not about house and cars one owns, but children.
Today's Christians have forced monogamy on themselves, they have very limited children. It's crazy how you expect Christianity to increase, if two people decide to have a child or two. They are only replacing themselves with two kids, and reducing Christianity if they should have one.
Men must be bold and spend their money in raising more children, they must marry more and raise more Christian children.
When God wanted to create Israel, he used Jacob. The man with 12 sons from 4 women.
The God we worship, will not look down on the man with 3 wives and 10 Christian children, and rather admire the monogamous man with a wife and 3 children.
Psalm 127:3-5
3 Children are a gift from the Lord;
they are a reward from him.
4 Children born to a young man
are like arrows in a warrior’s hands.
5 How joyful is the man whose quiver is full of them!
He will not be put to shame when he confronts his accusers at the city gates.
Psalm 127:3
Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.
1 Timothy 2:15
Yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.
Another deception, is the meaning given to some notable Bible verses to suggest that, God's intended only 2 to become one flesh.
This verse is rather a warning to people who are already married, and are trying to divorce their older wife for younger one.
It's for those who are rather practicing what has become known as serial monogamy. It's worth reading the whole chapter to understand better.
Mark 10: 4-12
4They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.”
5“It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law,” Jesus replied. 6“But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’ (A)7‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife,(B) 8and the two will become one flesh.(C) So they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
10When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about this. 11He answered, “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. 12And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.”
We must understand the statement: "a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh' in its right perspective.
The statement is in 3 forms.
1, man leaving his father and mother.
2. Joining to his wife. (Note : he already has a wife).
3. The two becomes one.
Has noted in 2, becoming one with the wife, is a completely separate activity from marriage
One can have a wife, yet not be one with her, if he doesn't join with her.
It’s this joining an exclusive thing between a man and just one wife?
The answer is in Biblical scripture.
1 Corinthians 6:16 ►
Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, "The two will become one flesh."
In short, we are already one with all those we have united ourselves with.
In the same way, polygamous men are one with all their wives. It is not just the first wife who is attached to the husband.
1 Chronicles 28:5 ►
Of all my sons--and the LORD has given me many--he has chosen my son Solomon to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the LORD over Israel
Solomon's mother, was the 6th wife of King David. Yet God made him king of Israel.
A clear indication, that God do not see only the first wife as the only one in flesh with the husband.
Its same with Joseph, who’s mother was not actually the first wife.
Polygamy and violence
Totally unscriptural to say polygamy resulted in problems, we see most of the exact problems in the bible with monogamy,
Adam had only Eve, his marriage to Eve doomed all mankind, and do we blame the marriage or the sin?
The very first male and female that directly came from God hands, had violence in their family.
Cain and Abel had same father and mother, yet Cain killed Abel.
Jacob and Esau had disagreement which lead to Jacob running away to stay with his uncle.
Certainly, violence is not limited to only polygamous families.
Earlier Popes and Polygamy.
Polygamy remained strong in the early church for 400 years, most of the earliest Popes were polygamous, and do you think these men lived in sin? It's just a fact when a later Pope put away polygamy it was only to do with protecting church property, same reason later Popes banished the marriages of priest.....What God has put together, let no man put asunder..., unless you're a Pope, then I guess you can undo God's commands.
Decline in Christian numbers.
For several years ago the Christian population is in steady decline.
In America, there has been a sharp decline in youth who profess to be Christians by 8, % points within 7 years.
Christianity: It indeed declined nearly 8 percent, with 71 percent of American adults identifying as Christians today, down from 78 percent in 2007.
In Africa, the traditional churches are in deep drive decline.
We most often associate the decline to an already saturated Christian population, and for some reason not possible to win new converts.
This is however untrue.
Christianity increase in two fronts.
Evangelism and natural growth.
Unfortunately, natural growth is just not happening. Christians are not multiplying to fill the earth anymore.
In a church of 1500 congregation, on a watch night service, they announced the death of 11 members, over the year, and children born to the congregation being 21.
Assuming no member left the church and all the new birth will grow to be Christians, it suggests the church got 11 more people.
But how can 1500 congregation, only add 11 members in a whole year?
Such numbers are certainly not encouraging.
This can be attributed to the strict monogamy the church is enforcing.
Our fathers in the 60s and 70s were having far more children and baptizing them
Their polygamy, was what really fed the church with its members.
Monogamy only bring nice cars to the car parks of churches, not children to worship and run big Sunday schools.
Our wealth is no longer being used to raise children, but to display wealth.
In Benin, when men gather to take decisions, men with more wives and dependents have a stronger voice than those who are either unmarried or have one wife.
In this part of the world, the rich are the ones given the front row in churches, and the men who have increase the numbers of the church through polygamy are rather looked down upon. We have reverse the heritage from children to money.
Psalm 127:3-5
3 Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,
The fruit of the womb is a reward.
4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,
So are the children of one’s youth.
5 Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them;
They shall not be ashamed,
But shall speak with their enemies in the gate.
1 Timothy 2:15
Yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.
In Genesis, God commanded us to go forth and multiply.
Multiply children, not cars.
The western world have made polygamy criminal. But some have made exception for other faith that wants to practice polygamy. In short, we has Christians, gave designed our own gradual death.
No wonder, over 500 traditional churches close down in UK within a decade while 430 mosque were built.
Israel
While polygamy is forbidden according to the criminal law of the State of Israel, polygamous marriages contracted abroad are recognized, and polygamous marriages are legally valid for Jews and Muslims if they are valid according to Jewish law or Islamic.
Each year, a number of Israeli rabbis affiliated with the rabbinate give permission for dozens of Orthodox Jewish men to take a second wife, despite the fact that polygamy is illegal under state law, an expose by Channel 10 television revealed.
An organization catering primarily to the Jewish Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox communities actively encourages and facilitates polygamy, claiming the practice will help reduce the number of single women within their communities and at the same time give Jews an edge in the demographic race against Arabs in Israel.
It's so obvious, that it is only Christianity that is lost out of the benefit of polygamy.
In the northern part of Ghana, ladies who cannot find suitors on their own before age 27, years, are given arranged husbands.
In a particular year, a family gave out 5 of their Christian ladies to men whose religion openly accept polygamy.
6 years after, these five ladies have become mothers for 15 children.
All the children took their fathers religion. 3 of the mothers were also converted to their husband’s religion.
Christian women are becoming breeders for other faiths.
Monogamy is gradually taking our could be future away, since this ladies, could easily have become second and third wives of Christians, and their many children blessed and baptized into the Christian faith.
The Roman Empire, which conquered the western world, forced their own culture on the rest of the world using Christianity as a disguise.
God did not condemn polygamy. Let’s not act wiser than the maker.
God has always known there will be more women than men till the end of creation.
Isaiah 4:1
In that day seven women will take hold of one man and say, "We will eat our own food and provide our own clothes; only let us be called by your name. Take away our disgrace!"
Polygamy is not a disrespect to womanhood. Thou the bible acknowledge that rivalry turn to exist among women, God required men to treat all wives equally in their needs (exodus 21:10), God also required men not to marry sisters of current wives as rival wife. (Leviticus 18:18).
God rewarded women who gave their husbands more children through other women. Sarah had Isaac after she gave Hagar to her husband, and Leah had Issachar as a reward for giving her servant to her husband Jacob. (Genesis 30:18).
While God rewarded them, the same God punished those who did help to multiply his descendants. Onan unwillingness to father a child with his widowed sister-in-law lead to his death.( Genesis38:9-10).
Again the gossip after Moses took a second wife lead to God’s punishing Miriam with leprosy. Moses had to beg God to forgive her/ (Numbers 12: 1-11).
In our African societies, widows were still given to men related to the dead husband to marry and be responsible for their upkeep, as well as that of the children, till western civilization destroyed these arrangement.
God did not look down on children born by unmarried women. Despite the fact that the Bible tells us about finding a wife as a good thing, God did not look down on children of unmarried women, nor did he see them as illegitimate. The term illegitimate child, has no basics in the Bible but a western creation.
Again four of the tribes of Israel, were children of concubines. The other 8 were of polygamous wives. If you hate polygamy, then you cannot claim to be a descendant of Jacob.
Genesis 33:1-6
Jacob Meets Esau
33 Jacob looked up and there was Esau, coming with his four hundred men; so he divided the children among Leah, Rachel and the two female servants. 2 He put the female servants and their children in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph in the rear. 3 He himself went on ahead and bowed down to the ground seven times as he approached his brother.
4 But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept. 5 Then Esau looked up and saw the women and children. “Who are these with you?” he asked.
Jacob answered, “They are the children God has graciously given your servant.”
6 Then the female servants and their children approached and bowed down. 7 Next, Leah and her children came and bowed down. Last of all came Joseph and Rachel, and they too bowed down.
Genesis 17:20
And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation.
God clearly said his covenant will come through Isaac, but he blessed the son of the maid, and as well, because “he is your son” (Abraham).
The Good Book also referred to Men with several wives and children in a positive way.
2 Chronicles 13:20-22
20 Jeroboam did not regain power during the time of Abijah. And the Lord struck him down and he died.
21 But Abijah grew in strength. He married fourteen wives and had twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.
22 The other events of Abijah’s reign, what he did and what he said, are written in the annotations of the prophet Iddo.
1 Chronicles 7:4
4 According to their family genealogy, they had 36,000 men ready for battle, for they had many wives and children.
No Law, No Sin
In his letter to the saints at Rome, the apostle Paul explained, "sin is not imputed when there is no law" (Rom.5:12‑13 KJV).
Not a single verse in the bible spoke against polygamy. However, the bible rather asked men to follow rules in the practice of polygamy. (Leviticus 18;18) and (exodus 21:10)
►
Leviticus 18:18.
"'Do not take your wife's sister as a rival wife and have sexual relations with her while your wife is living.
Clearly, God is not against having a rival wife if she is not related to the wife as a sister
Leviticus 18: 7 to 11
7 The nakedness of thy father, or the nakedness of thy mother, shalt thou not uncover: she is thy mother; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.
8 The nakedness of thy father's wife shalt thou not uncover: it is thy father's nakedness.
9 The nakedness of thy sister, the daughter of thy father, or daughter of thy mother, whether she be born at home, or born abroad, even their nakedness thou shalt not uncover.
10 The nakedness of thy son's daughter, or of thy daughter's daughter, even their nakedness thou shalt not uncover: for theirs is thine own nakedness.
11 The nakedness of thy father's wife's daughter, begotten of thy father, she is thy sister, thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.
Comments
God warn against men trying to have sexual relation with their step mothers and step sisters. If God sees polygamy as wrong, He will not make laws protecting our polygamous father’s nakedness.
Leviticus 18:22
22 Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.
God warned against homosexuality. There is no other place in the bible that God tried to regulate gayism. Because it was a sin, it needs not be regulated.
Polygamy was regulated because it was not wrong or sinful.
Exodus 21:10
10 If he take him another wife; her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not
diminish?
Jesus rebuts the Pharisees with some logical arguments for why He is not casting out demons in the power of Satan ( Matthew 12:25–29 ). Then He speaks of the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit: “I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come” (verses 31–32).
The term blasphemy may be generally defined as “defiant irreverence.” The term can be applied to such sins as cursing God or willfully degrading things relating to God.
Facts about Monogamy.
Monogamy produces more divorce rates than polygamy. Figures worldwide proves that countries that are strictly monogamous, have the highest divorce rates, and the least marriage rates.
Today, the western world is not practicing monogamy but SERIAL MONOGAMY. Divorce has skyrocketed to 50% within 10 years of marriage.
Serial Monogamy is Adultery. Pastors who marries divorce women are engaging in promoting Adultery.
Christians must preach the true gospel and allow our men in the church to marry as more than a wife.. Polygamy is not about men needing many wives alone, but it’s about women needing husbands.” God instructed every woman to have children, and find blessing through child birth. We cannot refuse to accept, there is crisis in marriage, most of our Christian daughters and sisters, are out growing child bearing age.
A lady past 32 years have very slim chances of being a first wife.
The Bible has only come out strongly to condemn adultery, which is taking another man’s wife.
The missionaries, who mostly came from Rome, preach monogamy “It is unfortunate for the Church that today, when our dear brothers and sisters attend theological schools, they are fed with so much gentile-tilted theology that upon graduation, they are well equipped to vigorously convince the world to buy into the Roman immigration of Christianity,
Christianity is not an American or European culture. Rather, it is God’s way of reaching and dealing with humankind.
The thinking of the West in terms of modernisation, civilisation and capitalisation is slowly and systematically killing Christianity by making it a very loose and unrealistic religion with no moral limits,
Acts 5:29
29 Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings!
HOMOSEXUALITY
“It’s so sad even clergymen are not able to say if homosexuality should be allowed in church or not, yet the Bible is clear that it’s not God’s design for marriage,
Recently homosexual marriage has now become the law of the land and yet has no Scriptural justification for such a decision, while at the same time our country continues to illegalize polygamy when the Bible actually teaches it is a valid form of marriage. As Christians we can't sit by and let special interest groups such as homosexuals or feminists dictate what are or are not valid forms of marriage. We must turn to the Bible (what used to be the guide for our country in forming just laws) to form our views on marriage
Polygamy is an acceptable practice. No lady should stay without a husband, Christianity remains the most holy faith, but when preached from the perspective of the European and American gentiles, then it is definitely the filthiest religion on earth.” Suggesting the Moses, the Abrahams, the Jacobs , the David’s were sinful people because they had more wives, and the tribes of Israel made up of Jacobs 2 wives and 2 maids were unholy. In short, why follow a God, who made his chosen ones from an unholy polygamous man?
The holiness was in how these men dealt with their many wives and concubines and God had no problem with them,
Matthew 19:9
“And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.”
Romans 7:2-3
2 For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law that binds her to him. 3 So then, if she has sexual relations with another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man.
God did not asked us to be divorcing and re marrying. He clearly told us he hates divorce. A marriage system that ends up producing what God hates is not ordained by him.
Again, God expects men to remain married to the wife of their youth. And women to stay married to their Husbands till death. Women can only remarry after their husbands are dead.
Luke 16:18
“Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.
What is Adultery ?
Adultery is defined in the Bible as sex with an engaged or married woman.
Having concubines, was not even considered adultery. Only sex with married or engaged women was considered so.
David committed adultery, not because he had several wives and concubines, but because he took the wife of one of his soldiers.
Matthew 5:28
But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart
Note:
Jesus was referring to looking at a married woman, Jesus referred to his mother as woman as well. Woman, behold your son.” (John 19:26)
21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. John 4:21
Matthew 25
The Parable of the Ten Virgins, Jesus referred to the unmarried as virgins, not women,
Leviticus 20:10
10 “‘If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress are to be put to death.
Numbers 5: 11-13
11,Then the LORD said to Moses,
12 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘If a man’s wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him
13 so that another man has sexual relations with her, and this is hidden from her husband and her impurity is undetected (since there is no witness against her and she has not been caught in the act),
Ezekiel 16:32
32 “ ‘You adulterous wife! You prefer strangers to your own husband!
Proverbs 6:28-29, .
"Can one walk on hot coals, and his feet not be seared? So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife; whoever touches her shall not be innocent."
Matthew 19:9
“And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.”
1 Corinthians 7:10
To the married I give this charge (not I, but the Lord): the wife should not separate from her husband
Mark 10:12
And if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”
Proverbs 6:23-26
23 For this command is a lamp,
this teaching is a light,
and correction and instruction
are the way to life,
24 keeping you from your neighbor’s wife,
from the smooth talk of a wayward woman.
25 Do not lust in your heart after her beauty
or let her captivate you with her eyes.
26 For a prostitute can be had for a loaf of bread,
but another man’s wife preys on your very life.
Certainly, wise King Solomon clearly indicated, that sex with even a prostitute cannot be equated to the sin of adultery.
Certainly, adultery must involve a married woman else it is not ADULTERY.
Men who had concubines in the Bible did not therefore commit Adultery.
David and the doctrine of Adultery.
2 Samuel 11: 2-5
It happened late one afternoon[ d ] that David got up from his bed and walked about on the roof of the king’s house, and he saw a woman bathing on her[ e ] roof. Now the woman was very beautiful.[ f ] 3 David sent and inquired about the woman, and someone said, “Is this not Bathsheba the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” 4 Then David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he slept with her. (Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) And she returned to her house. 5 The woman became pregnant, and she sent and told David, and she said, “I am pregnant”
God put to death the child born out of Adultery.
2 Samuel 12 : 13-18
13 Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”
Nathan replied, “The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. 14 But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for[ a ] the Lord, the son born to you will die.”
15 After Nathan had gone home, the Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became ill. 16 David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and spent the nights lying in sackcloth[ b ] on the ground. 17 The elders of his household stood beside him to get him up from the ground, but he refused, and he would not eat any food with them.
18 On the seventh day the child died. David’s attendants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they thought, “While the child was still living, he wouldn’t listen to us when we spoke to him. How can we now tell him the child is dead? He may do something desperate.”
Comments
David had sex with a married woman, and for these reason the child born was conceived in Adultery.
Strangely, it is these same woman and David who gave birth to Solomon, someone who later found favor to become King of Israel.
Why was Solomon birth different?
24 And David comforted Bathsheba his wife, and went in unto her, and lay with her: and she bare a son, and he called his name Solomon: and the Lord loved him.
Comments
Bathsheba became free after the death of his husband, she was therefore free to marry David as a sixth wife and have children with him.
Adultery has everything to do with the status of the woman. Not the man.
Matthew 19:6
King James Bible
Wherefore they are no more two, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
Some bibles have replaced man with nobody.
God clearly used man, because it is only man that can have sex with a married woman leading to adultery, and it is only Adultery that God has given permission to Man to use as grounds for divorce
The oxford dictionary of law, defines adultery as
An act of sexual intercourse between a male and a female not married to each other, when one of them is married to someone else.
Intercourse for this purpose means penetration of the vagina by the penis, any degree of penetration will suffice ,(full penetration is not necessary)
The above definition of adultery originated from the Romans. Romans. This definition is what modern pastors use. It is completely different from BIBILICAL ADULTERY.
Look carefully at this definition again, you will notice a husband in a homosexual relationship is not engaging adultery per the definition.
The Ancient Romans were homosexuals, and they have less regards for women, except for child bearing.
They therefore felt men, should have only a wife, but could have younger men to satisfy senior men.
They limiting themselves to one woman per man was therefore understandable.
They use terms below to describe their male sexual partners.
Concubinus
Roman men kept a male concubine (concubinus, "one who lies with; a bed-mate") before they married a woman. Eva Cantarella has described this form of concubinage as "a stable sexual relationship, not exclusive but privileged". [61] Within the hierarchy of household slaves, the concubinus seems to have been regarded as holding a special or elevated status that was threatened by the introduction of a wife. In a wedding hymn , Catullus [62] portrays the groom's concubinus as anxious about his future and fearful of abandonment
Pathicus
Pathicus was a "blunt" word for a male who was penetrated sexually. It derived from the unattested Greek adjective pathikos, from the verb paskhein, equivalent to the Latin deponent patior, pati, passus, "undergo, submit to, endure, suffer". [72] The English word "passive" derives from the Latin passus
Puer delicatus
The puer delicatus was an "exquisite" or "dainty" child-slave chosen by his master for his beauty as a " boy toy ", [85] also referred to as deliciae ("sweets" or "delights")
Christian leaders must limit themselves to biblical definitions, they should not act like lawyers.
The Kenya Polygamy Law and its effect on divorce rate.
President Uhuru Kenyatta signed the polygamy law formally recognizing what has long been a cultural practice in the nation and Africa as a whole
The bill initially allowed the first wife the right to veto the husband's choice of additional spouses. Male members of parliament successfully pushed to get that clause dropped.
"Marriage is the voluntary union of a man and a woman whether in a monogamous or polygamous union," Kenyatta said in a statement . "The Marriage Act 2014 defines various types of marriages including monogamous, polygamous, customary, Christian, Islamic and Hindu marriages."
The law legalizes polygamous unions, but does not provide an official limit on the number of wives a man can have.
The Federation of Women Lawyers, a powerful women's rights group, applauded the bill.
Polygamy is already a common fixture among many cultures in Kenya and in some other African countries.
The bill, the group said, is long overdue because polygamous unions were previously not regarded as equal to regular marriages.
"We are happy with the law because finally all marriages are being treated equally," said Christine Ochieng, executive director of the nation's Federation of Women Lawyers.
"All marriages will be issued with marriage certificates, including customary marriages. Before this, customary marriages were treated as inferior with no marriage certificates. This opened up suffering for the women because they could not legally prove they were married to a particular man. "
Africans must follow Kenya example, Marriage should be marriage, creating different systems of marriage without uniformity is baseless.
Kenya used to have a high divorce rate before the law came into effect in 2014. In recent survey, Kenya now has the lowest divorce rate in sub-Sahara region. The research done at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and published in December last year, shows that only 15 per cent of unions in Kenya end in divorce as compared to most of its neighbors whose rates exceed 30 per cent.
This is a clear indication that men will still like to keep the wife of their youth, if no law will stop them from marrying more.
The western world needs to learn from Africa when it comes to marriage, not the other way round.
Young men must be encourage to have more wives if they have the resources, young men should be discourage from seeing unnecessary property gathering and wastefulness as a sign of wealth. The Bible clearly told us what should be our inheritance. It is not properties that will be destroyed by termites but children who will be baptized.
Nobody must be ashamed for having children, Man or woman alike.
Men who have passed the age of active childbirth should also go forth and marry widows as second wives. Children of widows also needs fathers in their lives. Widows also needs comforts that comes with having a husband.
Psalm 127:3-5
3 Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,
The fruit of the womb is a reward.
4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,
So are the children of one’s youth.
5 Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them;
They shall not be ashamed,
But shall speak with their enemies in the gate.
1 Timothy 2:15
Yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.
We cannot save our women, if we insist all must have one to one partner. We just do not have enough men to marry each woman ready to give birth. Polygamy may not totally take up excess women in child bearing age. But it will do a lot more. Most men can afford taking care of an extra wife and at least 2 more children. It is a better way to spend resources than to living in big houses and driving expensive cars.
The Doctrine of Paul
We must always understand, that Paul’s doctrine was in constant conflict with the other disciples and Jesus himself.
Paul felt men and women must not even marry in the first place. And marriage is a distraction to serving God, but still better than burning in sexual passion.
God clearly instructed his people to go forth and multiply, and dominate the earth. Moses, who happened to be the right hand of God, and though him, God sent most of his laws to Christians, married , and married more than one wife.
Jesus did refer to Moses laws as the laws of God, and he clearly indicated, he was coming to fulfil those laws, not to even replace a word of it.
Paul again told us circumcision was not needed for new converts. But God told Abraham it was a requirement. It is well believed, that some of Paul’s doctrine, was deliberately altered by the Romans, to enhance their influence on Christianity.
The science of polygamy
Testosterone is what determines sex drive. At age 50, a woman’s testosterone level is, about “90.” Your husband, at the same age, will probably have a level of about “600.”
The Man will have over 6 times the urge for sex than the woman. It therefore force the men to divorce their older wives, in other to marry a younger woman who will come close to his sex drive,( serial monogamy) or force to get sex from an unwilling partner. The western world quickly passed the Marital rape law.
The criminalization of marital rape in the United States started in the mid-1970s and by 1993 marital rape was a crime in all 50 states, under at least one section of the sexual offense codes. [129] During the 1990s, most states differentiated between the way marital rape and non-marital rape were treated, through differences such as shorter penalties, or excluding situations where no violence is used, or shorter reporting periods. (Bergen, 1996; Russell, 1990).
Today, the western world has the list married rate and the highest divorce rates worldwide. The European Union estimate divorce among the block to be around 50%.
Strangely, most rapid growing populations in the western world are from immigrants whose native countries still practice polygamy.
It is estimated that as many as 20,000 polygamous Muslim marriages exist in the UK. In a Channel 4 documentary, director Masood Khan delve into the community of British Muslim polygamists and found out “what makes these people tick” and how a religious group is able to put its own practices above UK law.
If keeping a marriage together boils down to this kind of arrangement, perhaps monogamy is indeed a troublesome thing—-unnatural at best, and a marriage-wrecker at worst.
The whole idea of “I wasn’t looking for love outside my marriage, but it just happened” is a complete fallacy.
Websites like Ashley Madison will always have a lot of visitors, most will of cause be men in monogamous marriages.
Today, the western world now have a new term, Open marriages. It is a marriage which allows the man to remain married to a woman, but still have other partners.
Wikipedia defines it as such.
Open marriage is a form of non-monogamy in which the partners of a dyadic marriage agree that each may engage in extramarital sexual relationships , without this being regarded by them as infidelity , and consider or establish an open relationship despite the implied monogamy of marriage.
In short, they are moving back to polygamy in a disgusting form.
Also sites like sisterswives.com, polygamy.com, etc. are coming up in the western world. Lots of older women are themselves finding additional wives for their husbands through these sites. It makes sense to hold a shared husband than allowing divorce.
When the famous GOLF player (Tiger Woods) was asked the biggest regret in his life, everyone was expecting him to talk about what happened leading to his wife divorcing him.
He rather responded by saying, he regretted not staying in Stanford for another year.
The Lady doing the interview was shocked, so she went further to ask about her divorce and family.
Woods: All the things I’ve been through are tough, yes. They’ve been tough, but they’ve been great for me, but I wish I would’ve gone one more year at Stanford.
Wood saw his divorce as being great for him, not because he did not like his ex, or family, but to be free from the bondage of monogamy.
Facebook Post by The Presbyterian Church of Ghana on 13th June 2017.
NEITHER SCIENCE, NOR PHILOSOPHY NOR THE CHURCH CAN TAKE PRECEDENT OVER THE AUTHORITY OF THE WORD OF GOD. WHAT’S THE MISSION STATEMENT OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF GHANA.
The question is? How true is the church free from Roman and Western influence? In the 50s ,60s and even 70s, Polygamous men match to church with their wives and children. Today, these same churches are looking down on such men.
Has the word of God Changed? I guess we are seeing the results in church population these days.
Some Pastors even encourage family Planning, but do not have any problem, when the congregation members spend money on expensive cars instead.
Will am Iman, ever ask his flock not to have children?
SUMMARY
Today, both monogamous and polygamous martial relationships suffer from people's perverted view of what marriage should be. There is no doubt that many polygamous marriages are beset with jealousy and hatred. It is little wonder that, when polygamy is viewed and evaluated as it is practiced by most people of the world today, it comes up short of the ideal for the marriage relationship. However, so do most monogamous marriages.
God instituted marriage as a part of his master plan for humanity and his laws concerning marriage only recognize it as a single institution. Although God's law does not divide marriage into monogamous and polygamous classifications, his law does speak to each of these marital conditions and the interpersonal relationships within each.
Beliefs and Feeling
Most people base their morality and beliefs about marriage on their cultural tradition and past and current theological philosophy rather than the clear fact of scripture. However, it is an undeniable biblical fact that polygamous marriage relationships were engaged in by righteous men and women.
If we truly believe what the Bible teaches concerning the marital state, then we cannot ignore what it says about polygamy and must admit that God sanctions polygamous marriages as being equally valid.
All Scripture
Some people feel that polygamy may have been acceptable anciently, but it is no longer valid today because we live in a different age under different circumstances. This argument may sound good in theory, but it is without merit, because it is in opposition to Paul's instruction to Timothy concerning the validity of all of the word of God for his elect children:
"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works" (2.Tim.3:16‑17 KJV).
Clearly "all scripture" would include the laws that sanction and govern polygamous marriages.
The fact is that polygamy is noted throughout the Bible as an approved marital state. If God had intended for there to be only monogamous marriages, he would have reflected this in his law for human behavior. However, in God's marital law we see terms, conditions, and rules set forth for polygamous marriages.
Polygamous marriages are not sinful, wrong, or less than the ideal; they are what they are. They are relationships sanctioned by God which can lead to much happiness and prosperity if the participants truly follow God's laws for such relationships with righteous attitudes and behaviors.
Those Seeking Truth
One who is truly seeking truth cannot ignore the many references to lawful polygamy throughout the Bible and the important lessons that are taught through this marital relationship.
Cognitive dissonance
Sometimes people hold a core belief that is very strong, when they are presented with evidence that works against that belief, the new evidence cannot be accepted. It would create a feeling of that is extremely uncomfortable, called cognitive dissonance. And because it is so important to protect the core belief, they will rationalize, ignore and even deny anything that doesn’t fit in with the core belief, -- Frantz Fanon.
The above statement is what modern Christianity has become in relation to Polygamy.
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