Here was my reply:
Dear Pastors and Elder,
The tone of your judgement has brought me much grief and confusion. I came to you with simplicity and carefulness to not add or read into the passages from scripture. I include those notes here:
1. God in His word never condemns polgyny, instead he condones and regulates it.
When God through the prophet Nathan is rebuking David for his sin of adultery he speaks of the blessings David had been given, which included wives.
2 Samuel 12
7 Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul; 8 and I gave thee thy master's house, and thy master's wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added unto thee such and such things.
Regulation:
Exodus 21:10 If he take him another [wife]; her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish.
Deuteronomy 17:17 Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.
2. God is willing to describe Himself as the husband of two wives:
Ezekiel 23:1 The word of Jehovah came again unto me, saying, 2 Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother: 3 and they played the harlot in Egypt; they played the harlot in their youth; there were their breasts pressed, and there was handled the bosom of their virginity. 4 And the names of them were Oholah the elder, and Oholibah her sister: and they became mine, and they bare sons and daughters. And as for their names, Samaria is Oholah, and Jerusalem Oholibah.
3. Many righteous men had multiple wives.
4. The new testament is silent on this matter except to choose church leaders that are one woman men.
I fail to see how any of this is confusing, reading into or twisting his Holy words.
I am further confused by your reading of Matthew 19:3-9. The context is clearly about divorce and the hardened hearts that wanted to toss aside a faithful wife instead of following the commandment found in Exodus 21:10. When Jesus quotes Genesis 2:24-25 he shows what their hearts should be like. Seeing her as their own flesh. Would you want to tear your own flesh apart? But these hard-hearted men lived in a patriarchal society and seem to see women as nothing more than employees or slaves.
I am surprised by you confusing multiple with multiply in Deuteronomy 17
14 “When you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, and you possess it and live in it, and you say, ‘I will set a king over me like all the nations who are around me,’
15 you shall surely set a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses,
one from among your [
l]countrymen you shall set as king over yourselves; you may not put a foreigner over yourselves who is not your [
m]countryman.
16 Moreover, he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor shall he cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, since the Lord has said to you, ‘You shall never again return that way.’
17 He shall not multiply wives for himself, [
n]or else his heart will turn away; nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself.
What I see here is a king could have multiple horses and wives but he was not to multiply them. In our present time this reminds me of hoarding. Solomon did this and the whole kingdom felt the consequences. And he was heartless to those many women who were unable to enjoy a husband and children because of this.
Other Matters
1. I do believe you have Grace’s best interest at heart.
2. You don’t know me. But you accuse me of adultery of the mind. That leads either to action or insanity.
3. I do not hear the Holy Shepherd’s voice in your judgment nor the quality of teaching I am accustomed to hearing when we meet.
4. If Grace chooses to leave me, I will diligently pray for her and continue to keep the vows I made to God concerning her. These are the vows I made:
I Gary take you Grace to be my wife. I promise before God and our friends to be the husband that Christ would want me to be. I will love you as Christ loves you. I will honor and I will guide you. I will live with you in joy and sorrow, in sickness and health. I will encourage you. I will seek to understand you and meet your needs.
I will be committed to you alone. By God's grace and in his strength, I will keep these vows till death do us part.
5. I understand that a vow, even made under a cloud of deception, is still binding as can be seen in Israel’s dealings with the Gibeonites.
Sincerely,
Gary Slaughenhaupt
