Tele-Caster
New Member
This site is a fantastic resource and I am delighted to have found it!
I am a happily married (monogamous) pastoral ministry school graduate with a son (age 10) and daughter (soon to be 8). For a variety of reasons, my wife and I believe that the Lord is leading us to be open to polygyny. It might be more accurate to say that we feel as though we're being called into polygyny.
A couple of years ago, we moved to "fly over country" and this has proved to be a blessing, for the most part. All is not "peaches and sunshine," however. There is, in fact, one aspect of workaday life in this little corner of the world that is downright depressing.
We're supposed to be in the "Bible Belt" yet serial monogamy runs rampant around here. Most of the people that we've come to know here now have been divorced, and many have divorced and re-married several times over. Local demographics seem to be a major factor in this.
Here, there are far more single 18 to 35 year old females than single males in the same age bracket. Here, men don't have to go to any effort to keep a marriage together. If things don't go their way, they just go, leaving wife and kids behind. They can find a new woman to co-habitate with before the week is out. The men know this, and a good many play the situation to their advantage. The women know it, too, and at least for those that my wife and I know personally, they seem to believe that subsequent relationships will meet with the same doom that their previous one did. Sadly, the odds are that they are right.
What is supposed to be a source of joy quickly devolves into something utterly lacking in that commodity. Its a repeating cycle, and its a depressing one to watch when it involves neighbors, friends, and co-workers. How do things get this way? Is there a solution to change the situation, and if so, what is it?
Because my wife and I both know so many people in our corner of the world who have been in and out of failed relationships, this subject became a topic of conversation between us on numerous occasions, and we felt a burden to lift those people we know in those failed relationships up to the Lord.
One day, while discussing this topic, my wife submitted that the solution was polygyny. This was probably not easy for her to do, knowing that I am a graduate of a para-denominational pastoral ministry program and all with said organization being stuanchly "monogous only" in its doctrines. But I am blessed to be married to a woman who trusts me enough to say even difficult things, and after offering polygyny as a solution, she also admitted that she does not think such relationships to be sinful. On the contrary, she believes polygyny to be scripturally sound and just as valid for the Body of Christ today as it was for those Old Testiment figures who engaged in it.
Prior to my wife's raising of the polygyny issue, we really never shared our beliefs regarding it with each other. The subject simply never came up. When it did, my wife was surprised to learn that I agreed with her view of the matter.
In explaining why she believed polygyny to be a Scripturally sound lifestyle choice today, she laid out a very compelling and well-reasoned argument, one which was vastly similar to the argument that I formed in my head and heart already. She also offered a multitude of practical benefits. For the past nine months or so, we've been doing some casual research on Christian polygyny, sometimes independently and sometimes together. Of all of the sites on the Intermess dealing with the issue, this one seemed to be the most biblically sound.
We're not actively seeking to add a wife to our family, leaning instead on the understanding that "where God guides, God provides." Our goal is simply to make ready for His provision, should such be His will. Whether ours becomes a "poly" family or not, my wife and I are both committed to the truth that polygyny IS a biblical form of marriage that remains valid for believers today. We both look forward to joining in on the discussion.
Tele-Caster
P.S. The "Tele-Caster" name comes from the fact that I lead worship with a Fender Telecaster guitar and am an avid fly fisher.
I am a happily married (monogamous) pastoral ministry school graduate with a son (age 10) and daughter (soon to be 8). For a variety of reasons, my wife and I believe that the Lord is leading us to be open to polygyny. It might be more accurate to say that we feel as though we're being called into polygyny.
A couple of years ago, we moved to "fly over country" and this has proved to be a blessing, for the most part. All is not "peaches and sunshine," however. There is, in fact, one aspect of workaday life in this little corner of the world that is downright depressing.
We're supposed to be in the "Bible Belt" yet serial monogamy runs rampant around here. Most of the people that we've come to know here now have been divorced, and many have divorced and re-married several times over. Local demographics seem to be a major factor in this.
Here, there are far more single 18 to 35 year old females than single males in the same age bracket. Here, men don't have to go to any effort to keep a marriage together. If things don't go their way, they just go, leaving wife and kids behind. They can find a new woman to co-habitate with before the week is out. The men know this, and a good many play the situation to their advantage. The women know it, too, and at least for those that my wife and I know personally, they seem to believe that subsequent relationships will meet with the same doom that their previous one did. Sadly, the odds are that they are right.
What is supposed to be a source of joy quickly devolves into something utterly lacking in that commodity. Its a repeating cycle, and its a depressing one to watch when it involves neighbors, friends, and co-workers. How do things get this way? Is there a solution to change the situation, and if so, what is it?
Because my wife and I both know so many people in our corner of the world who have been in and out of failed relationships, this subject became a topic of conversation between us on numerous occasions, and we felt a burden to lift those people we know in those failed relationships up to the Lord.
One day, while discussing this topic, my wife submitted that the solution was polygyny. This was probably not easy for her to do, knowing that I am a graduate of a para-denominational pastoral ministry program and all with said organization being stuanchly "monogous only" in its doctrines. But I am blessed to be married to a woman who trusts me enough to say even difficult things, and after offering polygyny as a solution, she also admitted that she does not think such relationships to be sinful. On the contrary, she believes polygyny to be scripturally sound and just as valid for the Body of Christ today as it was for those Old Testiment figures who engaged in it.
Prior to my wife's raising of the polygyny issue, we really never shared our beliefs regarding it with each other. The subject simply never came up. When it did, my wife was surprised to learn that I agreed with her view of the matter.
In explaining why she believed polygyny to be a Scripturally sound lifestyle choice today, she laid out a very compelling and well-reasoned argument, one which was vastly similar to the argument that I formed in my head and heart already. She also offered a multitude of practical benefits. For the past nine months or so, we've been doing some casual research on Christian polygyny, sometimes independently and sometimes together. Of all of the sites on the Intermess dealing with the issue, this one seemed to be the most biblically sound.
We're not actively seeking to add a wife to our family, leaning instead on the understanding that "where God guides, God provides." Our goal is simply to make ready for His provision, should such be His will. Whether ours becomes a "poly" family or not, my wife and I are both committed to the truth that polygyny IS a biblical form of marriage that remains valid for believers today. We both look forward to joining in on the discussion.
Tele-Caster
P.S. The "Tele-Caster" name comes from the fact that I lead worship with a Fender Telecaster guitar and am an avid fly fisher.
I have also never heard the term. Thanks Mark for explaining.
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