Polygamy

[Atlantians]

God speaks against Polygomy in the creation of a man and a woman.

And saying that a man would leave his father and mother and join with his wife. And that is singular.

Therefore Polygomy was wrong.
Always wrong.

But as Christ would say, because of the hardness of their hearts, God did not come against them for it.
Same with War, for the hardness of our hearts.
Same with Divorce.

 

[JustBoo]

Although, on a personal level, I am inclined to agree with you, we should be mindful in making such judgments that we are imposing our western twenty-first century notions of "love" onto peoples that don't necessarily share those notions. For example, in another culture, it may be deemed the most loving thing a man can do to offer financial support to as many women as he is financially capable of. Thus, in such cultures, it may be considered unloving for a rich man to enter into a monogamous marriage, because, in doing so, he is not adequately sharing his wealth among other women. In our culture, we tend to place high value on the emotional and psychological elements of love. Other cultures have and do place a significant value on a monetary aspect of love. Although I tend to be more attracted to the modern western notion, it seems that it would be somewhat presumptuous of me to assume that our notions of love are somehow better or more accurate in the absence of scriptural or other evidence in support of this conclusion.

I try to be culturally sensiive and understand that in some cultures it would be seen as ' unloving ' to not share one's wealth with many wives - however the flaw in that idea is that the culture where this would happen is obviously a misogynist culture as well if women must marry in order to survive. This situation would only arise in a culture where women are not respected enough to be allowed to support themselves if they so choose/desire/need to.

 

[Multi-Elis]

The only thing that worries me about your post is this: "But if I’m really, honestly expected to abstain from sex until married and even suffer from relationship problems because of it," I don't know what you mean by it, (and neither do I want to know) but it doesn't sound good.

This is what I wrote earlier, and I just wanted to explain a little bit better that my attitude was purely psychological. One benifits from making decisions that are good in the long run, and one tends to suffer more when temporary quick solutions are found. This applies to relationships. And so if you are in a relationship where you have to opt for a quick and easy solution now, like premarital sex, that's quite scary. But of course I don't know what your situation is and don't really want to know.

 

[FLANDIDLYANDERS]

God speaks against Polygomy in the creation of a man and a woman.

And saying that a man would leave his father and mother and join with his wife. And that is singular.

Therefore Polygomy was wrong.
Always wrong.

But as Christ would say, because of the hardness of their hearts, God did not come against them for it.
Same with War, for the hardness of our hearts.
Same with Divorce.

Same with Church hipocrasy, liturgy, methods to please God, beleif that "miracles" and "blessings" prove the church "right", wasting money on buildings, driving cars, eating food cheaply produced for us by countries in famine... and God even alows us to marry awful people

Grace has a LOT to answer for!!!!

 

[Atlantians]

Same with Church hipocrasy, liturgy, methods to please God, beleif that "miracles" and "blessings" prove the church "right", wasting money on buildings, driving cars, eating food cheaply produced for us by countries in famine... and God even alows us to marry awful people

Grace has a LOT to answer for!!!!

Um, your point?

 

[dies-l]

I try to be culturally sensiive and understand that in some cultures it would be seen as ' unloving ' to not share one's wealth with many wives - however the flaw in that idea is that the culture where this would happen is obviously a misogynist culture as well if women must marry in order to survive. This situation would only arise in a culture where women are not respected enough to be allowed to support themselves if they so choose/desire/need to.

So, then your beef is not with polygamy as much as it is with the cultural attitude toward women in which polygamy thrives. I can understand that. But, if we are going to try to understand why God might have allowed polygamy, we need to accept that when one lives in such a culture, sometimes it is better for a person to do what is best within those cultural constraints than to try to completely change the culture, which often can be impossible. So, perhaps God allowed polygamy in certain cultures that undervalued women because it was the best way to ensure that His women were taken care of. So the question is why God allowed His people to adopt such a culture in the first place. For this I can't offer an easy answer, but I assume it has something to do with free will and grace (God did put with a lot of evil from His people, especially in the OT).

 

[JustBoo]

So, then your beef is not with polygamy as much as it is with the cultural attitude toward women in which polygamy thrives. I can understand that. But, if we are going to try to understand why God might have allowed polygamy, we need to accept that when one lives in such a culture, sometimes it is better for a person to do what is best within those cultural constraints than to try to completely change the culture, which often can be impossible. So, perhaps God allowed polygamy in certain cultures that undervalued women because it was the best way to ensure that His women were taken care of. So the question is why God allowed His people to adopt such a culture in the first place. For this I can't offer an easy answer, but I assume it has something to do with free will and grace (God did put with a lot of evil from His people, especially in the OT).

fair enough.

I don't know if I can quite agree though that's it's ever best to just 'put up and shut up' with a culture that is hostile towards any certain 'group' . . .but then again all of us can't be crusaders . . .

 

[LadyDeflora]

is it really important to God how many partners a person has?

i've seen more in the bible about people being what they were when He called them, than anything going into details about what defines a marriage, how many constitute a marriage; why do people tell other people what God thinks and wants for a person when it comes to love, sex and marriage?

in my opinion i don't think He would be so concerned with who or how many we love, but why...being an awfully passionate person that loves living life, i'm constantly wrestling with impulses of behavior i have versus those that may not be acceptable in serving The Lord.

"Does it glorify God?"

i'm not sure where in the bible this came from, but it's something i read and when ever i'm presented with a morally questionable situation, i ask myself that and it seems mostly i get a no feeling, that it wouldn't be okay; but in the case of polyamoric pursuits...is it so improbable that if it's a chosen few people that can keep us living within His expectations and not pursuing those outside of it, He'd offer what He can to keep us, especially if He went through a lot demonstrations to make us realize He's in our life, and accept that fact with celebration?

I think the life and death of Jesus demonstrates what He will do for those who love Him, despite their imperfections and look to Him to help them conquer those aspects of our nature that don't do Him glory?

He chose me as a polyamorous, frivilous tart and since then, the change in my life has been amazing...my passion for pretty men has been quelched, having found everything i need with two men in my life and above them God. One is my husband by law and the other is a man I genuinly believe The Almighty brought into my life to help satisfy those desires that i'm always wrestling with, knowing more about His word than i do, gifting me a mentor to understand what He wants for me...having not only a wonderful husband to encourage me, but one of His own, with the ability to explain any questions i have or calm any concerns that my frequently irrational mind can conjure.

If God knows what we need for our natures to flourish and live as an example of His love for us, why wouldn't He allow us some freedom in living our life, contrary to what those from several thousand years ago subscribed to, based from a patriarchial culture.

God's word may not change, it's already been set and organized into a nice neat book; but why is it impossible to think He'd change as those who follow Him do; who today is anything like a person was in the times of Christ or the generations after who wrote about His life and that of Jesus, and were compiled in the bible?

as for the arguement of several women, one man versus several men and one women, is God a sexist?

 

[FLANDIDLYANDERS]

Um, your point?

LOL.

Just continueing yer list of things God allows.

 

[Gukkor]

Not my thing, but if it makes other people truly happy, you'll hear no complaints from me. As for God's stance on the matter, I certainly can't and don't wish to speak for Him, but I see no real indication in scripture that He is against it. Then again, it's not something I've ever looked into very closely.

 

[Atlantians]

LOL.

Just continueing yer list of things God allows.

Your point in doing so?