Nadiine,
Let's see, do I know what your views are concerning the OT? From your previous posts it seems that you believe the OT was done away with, that we no longer live under the Law, and that Jesus wished to change specifically the OT law that allowed polygamy and make monogamy as the only acceptable family structure. So rather than building upon the Law, Jesus changed the law - or have I misunderstood you?
k, I don't believe the law is obsolete/gone. Unfortunately, the minute you say it's not gone in any posts, you get the usual attacks & you're forced to explain how it works today & that you don't claim that we can't eat pork or shellfish etc.... I get tired of having reiterate the same thing.
Technically, if the law was "done away with" entirely, then I'm not sure how God could condemn mankind for sin - becuz the penalty of sin is death - if the penalties are all gone (with the law), then so is all judgment.
One either has the blood of Christ over them, or they stand in their own sin & have to pay with their own (life for life). The unsaved fall back under the law, they don't have Christ's atonement - (follows the sacrificial system basics). You're either under law or grace.
This is where Christians think the law is "GONE"... it's not. It's just that they don't fall under it's penalties & Christ fulfilled the sacrificial/ceremonial system of it.
Jesus fulfilled the perfect law - and became the perfect "man" which enabled Him to (as a man), take on all of our sins to atone for ours & thereby initiate the Grace covenant.
That's my understanding of law & grace - we're still under the moral laws of the OT. (which I believe were existant prior to the Torah - God judged Cain for murder & He judged mankind with the great flood; all prior to law)
Concerning the men promoting polygamy just because of sex, that's part of the reason, but I believe it goes even deeper to the biological and psychological drive to procreate. That's why men are typically attracted to younger child-bearing age women. And that's also the reason many women are attracted to older men because older men can provide better for their children. For the man, having multiple wives means having more children. For the woman, multiple husbands does not mean that she will have more children or that the children will be any better cared for. But marrying an older more stable and mature man does increase the chance that she will have children and they'll be cared for. I mention all of this to just bring out that there are other reasons than just sex (though that is a significant drive in most men) that move men towards polygamy more so than women towards polyandry.
These things may be so for other cultures, but certainly not a majority of cultures for many years now.
Even still, it doesn't make it lawful if there are some other reasons other than sexual ones - we have a propensity to sin naturally - it's there & we don't have to do anything to initiate it.
So just bringing up what some people's natures are, doesn't make it right or God's will automatically; not when we're prone to sin as we are.
You also mentioned or ask what I think how God would asses or judge "polygamists" (I assume). I believe it depends very much on their culture and how God calls them personally to live.
As I see it, James 4:17 & Romans 2:14-15 would apply; the inner conscience & what you do with what you know.
Even a person with a weak conscience can sin by doing something that actually isn't sinful. Ie. Christian liberties - I'm against tattoo's altho I don't find them sinful to have, I just think God isn't pleased with them due to OT verses on it - so for ME to get a tattoo would be going against my conscience; even tho I don't think it's sin to have one.
Of course if it's outlawed in their culture, like it is ours, then it would be wrong for them to marry more than one wife. In other cultures though where polygamy is legal, even promoted, then it depends on their personal relationship and direction from the Lord, and the individual situation.
I'd tend to think a culture living in such a lifestyle isn't "Christian" - but I'll let God deal with all that since I don't live in remote areas.
Concerning you considering polygamy to be immoral, that's fine for you, but bibilically polygamy in general is not considered immoral. There are specific polygamous relationships that are immoral, like marrying a woman and either her mother or her daughter.
Again, I disagree as per the NT specifications & guidelines on what a marriage consists of along w/ zero examples of any practicing polygamists in the NT churches (as I require gays to show me examples for homosexuals).
Concerning "why not just keep the first 'haggy wife and take on the hot new foreigners?" Because these men were evil, thinking only of themselves and these old wives could no longer bear children or do little to increase the wealth of the man, possibly actually being a burden.
Exactly. The point was, they didn't LOVE THEIR WIVES in the first place & that's how I view polygamists.
Please, in closing, let me just repeat that I'm not pro-polygamy. I'm happily married to the wife of my youth and look forward to growing old together with her and enjoying our grandchildren and greatgrandchildren, should the Lord tarry. However, I also want to be true to what the Bible teaches, as best that I understand it. I also do my best to understand the bible based on it's context and not read into the Bible from my personal perspective. What I've shared, I believe to be true; but I also have no dellusions of being 100% correct about anything.
I respect that you want to be true to the Bible - no doubt, any sincere Christian does. But I am being true to the Bible in reading what I do as well and I find those things quite clear.
I have no ill will against you tho. I just stand in disagreement on the issue. My debate style is straight forward - but I don't harbor hostility against people.
