One of the most commonly overlooked phrases in scripture

[Wesley]

Obviously the controlling the others body thing is about not denying sex.

Don't forget intimacy. We don't have to have sex to be intimate and it is something that (at least most) humans need.

Other than that I pretty much agree with you. Especially in this environment where the abuse of women is rampant the godly men need to be available for polygyny. Due to the all the broken homes in this culture males are plentiful but men are an endangered species.

This culture is a prime candidate for the situation described in Isaiah 4:1 and we, as godly patriarchs, need to be available for God to use in that manner to ensure that His daughters are taken care of. Many people say that polygamy isn't commanded. I say it is. The command to polygamy is in the Second Greatest Commandment when we understand that one of the needs we are to care for in our sisters-in-Christ is given in 1 Corinthians 7:9.

 

[FollowingHim]

(I'm curious as to what translation you're using.)

ESV. I tend to use the KJV for study but quote the ESV publicly as a more readable yet still solid conservative translation.

But on the issue of a "calling" to polygamy, I am as suspicious of this as anyone else. I don't doubt that some may be called in this way. But from the outside, how do we know they are telling the truth? We cannot tell the difference between someone truly commanded by God to do it (probably rare), and someone using an imagined "calling" as an excuse to follow their own desires (probably more common).

Anyone who feels called to polygamy cannot expect others to believe they are called to it.

This is where we disagree. To be blunt...

4 Who are you to judge someone else’s servant?

The husband is Christ's servant not ours. (1 Corinthians 11:3) How do we justify standing in judgment over his intentions?

I am not saying we need to accuse men of not being called and so tell them not to be polygamous. I just mean that whether or not they are called is irrelevant. I cannot know if it is true. So I cannot judge - either judge that it is true, or untrue. That's between them and God.

But I keep a strong degree of scepticism because of the lunatic "callings" that some people claim. Like a bloke who came here two years ago claiming to be called to have 1000 wives in one apartment building (some may remember the conversation, it was eventually removed because it became so utterly ridiculous we didn't want casual readers coming across it and getting a completely wrong impression over what this ministry is about...). Such a person can't expect me to believe they are truly called to this. Now I could be wrong of course, maybe God's even stranger than I thought. But I doubt it somehow.

 

[Wesley]

(I'm curious as to what translation you're using.)

ESV. I tend to use the KJV for study but quote the ESV publicly as a more readable yet still solid conservative translation.

Thank you.

I am not saying we need to accuse men of not being called and so tell them not to be polygamous. I just mean that whether or not they are called is irrelevant. I cannot know if it is true. So I cannot judge - either judge that it is true, or untrue. That's between them and God.

But I keep a strong degree of scepticism because of the lunatic "callings" that some people claim. Like a bloke who came here two years ago claiming to be called to have 1000 wives in one apartment building (some may remember the conversation, it was eventually removed because it became so utterly ridiculous we didn't want casual readers coming across it and getting a completely wrong impression over what this ministry is about...). Such a person can't expect me to believe they are truly called to this. Now I could be wrong of course, maybe God's even stranger than I thought. But I doubt it somehow.

Then why speak of it at all? Stating that we are skeptical of claims to being called paints with a pretty broad brush. For instance...

I doubt that I will ever have a plural marriage but I'm called to be available just in case of the highly unlikely event that I run into two or more women who feel like the women described in Isaiah 4:1.

...is lumped in with...

I'm called to have a 1000 wives in one apartment building.

In this case both claims are lumped together in the doubtful category. Why should we place a stumbling block in front of Polygamist #1 by lumping him in with an obviously self-serving claim such as Polygamist #2?

 

[FollowingHim]

If we say that we cannot question someone's claim to be called, but must accept them at their word, we cannot question the second. But if we simply say we don't need to believe them, that's between them and God, we are free to think what we will.

 

[Wesley]

If we say that we cannot question someone's claim to be called, but must accept them at their word, we cannot question the second. But if we simply say we don't need to believe them, that's between them and God, we are free to think what we will.

That's different from saying "I'm skeptical." Saying that we're skeptical implies an automatic level of disbelief. Saying that it doesn't matter whether we believe him or not because it's between him and God does not include any such implication.

 

[Wesley]

Just out of curiosity how did this conversation go from the OP, which was about how it is a sin for a man to obey his wife if what she wants goes against his understanding of God's will, to whether or not a man can be called to polygyny and how we should treat those who claim to be so called?