Jim said:It was the way the pastor made polygamy appear because of God's "permissive" will. Does this "perfect" will vs "permissive" take us back to the strife over God's original intents? Brothers it's a blessing to be discipled.
The answer is in a slight adjustment in terms. God's permissive will says that apples and bananas are both good for me, and I'm welcome to choose. Not that apples are perfect, bananas are not, but He permits me to eat them.
The poly vs mono argument, saying that mono is perfect isn't best answered in this set of terms. A better answer is that Absent a clear statement to that effect, you refuse to argue His perfect will on the subject, but will concede for purposes of discussion that it MAY (not definitely IS, but MAY) be perfect. However, we don't live in a perfect world.
In a perfect world, there would be no need for adoption. Each child would have a perfect family in which to grow up, never broken by death, strife, or abuse. We don't live in a perfect world. (Now here is the key phrase...) Adoption is God's perfect provision for an imperfect world, so that each child may be raised with both a mom and dad, as God ordained normal and healthy.
Similarly, in the perfect world he suggests, the demographics would always be PERFECTLY balanced, as He declared it is NOT good for mankind to be alone (calling the 'equal perfection of celibacy' idea into strong question), and perfectly matched couple WOULD find each other throughout the length and breadth of this world and then have a perfect marriage and long lifer. We don't live in a perfect world. PM is "God's perfect provision for an imperfect world", so that each man and woman CAN live in a covenant marriage family.
To the usual followup question "What about china, where there are too many men and not enough women?" Two answers should suffice: First, "Unh-huh. And there are starving children in N. Korea. Does refusing to eat your own peas and carrots feed them?" Second, "That is not the result of nature, but of social engineering and, specifically, state sponsored abortion. Don't lay something so obviously Anti-God on God!"