Poly No More

Someone asked me recently about my understanding of the exception clauses for divorce and remarriage found in Matthew.  A. The Way that Seemed Right... My journey to understanding Matthew 19:9 began a couple years ago as I was reading a bible translation which falsely quoted Jesus as saying “except for ADULTERY”. Or another translation which renders it “except for marital unfaithfulness”. But God even used these blatantly wrong translations to help me begin to consider the possibility that Jesus might not actually be talking about a circumstance where the couple COULD remarry after divorce. Jesus is talking about and to Jews under the Law of Moses. What is the penalty UNDER THAT LAW (and Roman law at that time, I have heard but not studied myself) for a Lawfully wedded woman who commits adultery? DEATH. Don’t have time to go into the OT and search that up? Just turn to John 8 and listen to what the teachers of the Law told Jesus should be done with that woman. So based on th...

If we study the actual accounts of David’s life he blew it more than with that Bathsheba thing. There was that time he counted the army when God had commanded him not to. And that time he cut off a portion of King Saul’s robe and was then conscience-stricken. And the whole thing with him being a HORRIBLE parent such that most of his children didn’t even attempt to serve the Lord and one even hated him so much he slept with several ofp his wives on the rooftop in front of the nation. Plus God said he was unworthy to build Him a temple because their was too much blood on his hands. Sometimes those hindsight accounts of how wonderful the Old Testament “saints” were have to understood as creative human record-keeping and not factual accounts or even God’s actual opinion of them. The bible is completely true in that it truthfully records events that happened and things that were said but that doesn’t mean that everything faithfully recorded in it is God’s truth on the matter. For example, t...

The question was asked of whether people living after the time of New Testament should use accounts in the Old Testament as models or justification for their personal relationship choices. Specifically of whether Esther’s being as they put it “a second wife” is an example that God condoned remarriage after divorce. It must first be noted that the interpretation that King Xerxes divorced Vashti before eventually marrying Esther is unsupported. Xerxes was polygamous and kept a harem. Vashti was Queen in that she was the Chief Woman if that harem and her children alone would have royal legal right to the throne. When the book of Esther recounts her dismissal as Queen, the inference is that she was sent back to harem to “live as a widow” as we hear both Tamar, Judah’s daughter in law, and several of David’s secondary wives ie. concubines had to do. Vashti was not divorced and set free to remarry, she was banished to the harem to live without hope of sexual contact or children again. “ ...

I found this link while reviewing some of the references listed in the Christian Worldview Press posts I've previously posted about. It was VERY rewarding to see the revelation Holy Spirit had brought me to via meditation on Mark 10 being clearly explained here .  If I had found this earlier maybe it wouldn't have taken so long for me to see it! Since this was posted in the very early days of webpages, I decided just to copy and paste it in its entirety for you. I didn't write any of this (all emphasis, whether bold or italics, was already in the text) and claim no credit for it, obviously! Click the above link to go directly to the source.

Here is a collection of resources through the link curation service Diigo related to refuting polygamy and building monogamous marriages: https://www.diigo.com/o/ctml4t/Marriage%20Resources Feel free to add suggested resources in the comments and I will pass them on! Not sure if this ones already in Diigo, I think it is but I still wanted to share it again. I’ve been studying this morning in the Gospels and needed to do some research to understand some of the complicated naming practices of the rulers mentioned at that time so I knew who was actually who. I came again upon this excellent article that relates to our topic of polygamy in the Bible and in that historical period and the period of the early faith family in the years after Acts and what all that means for disciples of Jesus following Him in the NT. Enjoy!  http://christianthinktank.com/polygame.html

Many thanks to Doris Hanson of Shield and Refuge Ministries for her recent three-part series on "Christian" polygamy! This series was produced as part of the talk-show Polygamy: What Love is This? and normally focuses on refuting the Mormon version of polygamy using the Bible. In this series Doris addresses some of the claims of the so-called Christian polygamists and engages with some of their rhetoric from a variety of websites. Check it out!

Awhile ago I came across some blog posts with biblically thorough and well-thought out responses to the Christian polygamy question, including the interaction in the comments between the poster and several vocal pro-polygamists.  The posts date from 2015 and I am quite saddened I didn't see them sooner since the same search terms I had been using then yielded their links now.  Had I seen them earlier it may have been enough to put a stop to the deceptive heresy seeking for a foothold in my marriage.  It appears they are no longer monitored yet still require comment moderation for obvious reasons, so I decided to provide links to the posts and then share my own relevant commentary below.  Who knows, perhaps this will increase traffic to these articles for the author.* Please click the highlighted links to read the original post and comments:  Christian Polygamy? (Part 1)  posted March 31, 2015 this part was originally to be the fourth of the series as i...