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Prayer regarding my theology on Plural Marriage

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AussieGuy30

New Member
Dear Christian brother and sisters,

As you may or may not be aware, I am undecided on the concept of polygamy whether it is Gods will.

I am a King James Only Fundamentalist Spirit filled believer in Jesus Christ, however I do fellowship with a variety of Christians who read the NIV and other modern versions. In fact the church I am currently attending reads and preaches from the NIV and it is a great church, I just choose to use the KJV because I believe it is the best version.

I am asking for you folks, to pray for me that God will show me the reality of his current view in the New Testament era of what His will is regarding plural marriage. I would appreciate your prayers and I ask that you ask God to show me.

God bless
 
I will pray for you on this matter because no amount of teaching from other people or sources is a substitute for the Holy Spirit teaching you personally. Teaching from godly Christians is beneficial, just not a replacement for the Holy Spirit speaking to you through His Word, the Bible. If I may make a suggestion to help clear the thoughts you may already have entertained about plural marriage, God defined marriage in the book of Genesis, amplified by example throughout the Old Testament.

One principle that is used in Bible interpretation is the Principle of First Mention. Find the first mention of a man & woman coming together in spousal union (Gen 1,2,3) and then progress, in order through the Bible and see how God deals with it. Though many things have been distinguished for believers in the New Testament, i.e. the different responsibilities for Jewish believers and Gentile believers, there has yet to be found where God has changed His definition of marriage or His plan for it. Please keep us updated on how and when God reveals His view of marriage to you. Praying for you.
 
I concur with Pastor John. Allow the Holy Spirit to work in your heart and life. Stay in the Word, and ask God to reveal His truth to you. As always, keep asking questions of those of us here on the the forums. We really aren't trying to convince anyone, just beggars telling other beggars where they can find bread.

Blessings

Doc
 
Malachi 3:6 KJV For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
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I, too, agree with Pastor John. The Holy Spirit is our best Teacher. Remember, God does not change, and if polygyny is a sin now, it was also a sin for King David, Abraham, and all the other OT saints who had more than one woman in a Holy Union. I found 39 men in the OT who each had more than one woman, and only two about whom we can be reasonably certain from the Biblical record that had only one woman. (Isaac and Joseph.) The 39 include 27 about whom it is said in Scripture that they had more than one woman, and for the others, their polygyny is inferred because of the number of children they had. Not all of the 39 were OT Saints; some were pagan kings or other non-Jewish people. There were four men about whom we can be reasonably certain that they had no women at all, because Nebuchadnezzar had Ashpenaz, the master of his eunuchs, take charge of them when they were still children. (See Daniel 1.)

This is only speculation, since Scripture is silent on the matter, but I think it is possible that Seth was the son of Adam and a woman other than Eve. If so, the mother of Seth would have to be a daughter, granddaughter, or other descendant of Adam and Eve. See Genesis 4:25 - Eve is not named as she is in the account of Cain's and Abel's births in Genesis 4:1,2. (Adam is not included in the list of 39 known polygynists. Other than Lamech, all known polygynists are post-Flood.)

Read Ezekial 23 and Jeremiah chapters 3 and 31, then try to tell me that God is a sinner, because He portrays Himself as having two wives!

One last thought about the question of whether or not polygyny is a sin: God is not shy about telling us that something displeases Him. For example, we don't have any argument about whether or not stealing is a sin. God very plainly says, "Thou shalt not steal." Romans 7:2-3 very plainly tells us that polyandry (a woman having more than one man at the same time) is adultery, and He also tells us very plainly, "Thou shalt not commit adultery." But where is the commandment, "Thou shalt not commit polygyny."?

Also, I mostly agree with you about Bible versions/translations. I call myself a "King James mostly" Christian. :lol:

Most modern translations, including the NIV (Not Inspired Version), were translated from the Wescott-Hort family of Greek manuscripts. Wescott and Hort were not believers, but were spiritists. They did not believe in the virgin birth or the resurrection. Further, the committee that translated the NIV included known lesbians.

But I have a feeling that you already know all this. If not, there are many websites that promote KJV only. Some are pretty good, others seem to take the attitude that you are not really saved if you read anything other than KJV! You probably know how to find them using your favorite search engine if you have not already found a few.

I know a missionary who spent many years in the former Soviet Union. He told me that he knows missionaries who are so rabidly "King James only" that they first teach people English so that they can read the King James Bible, because that is the only "real" Bible. If I thought like that, I would rather teach the locals Hebrew and Greek, not English, so that they could read the Bible in its original languages!

Having said all that, it is also my opinion that reading the NIV and other modern translations is better than not reading the Bible at all. My woman speaks English as a second language, Navajo being her first. She has enough problems understanding modern English, and the archaic English of the KJV-1769 (Authorized Version) is like a third language to her. She would really choke on KJV-1611, the Geneva Bible, or the Bishops Bible! Fortunately, she also has the Bible in her native language.

Another good version is the Modern King James, which, to the best of my knowledge, is available only as a module for the e-Sword program. (e-Sword is free; see http://e-sword.net. I wish MKJV was available in a print version!) MKJV is KJV with the language modernized and uses only Textus Receptus for the NT, same as KJV. I also like NKJV, but that also uses the butchered Wescott-Hort manuscripts in a few places.
 
Aussieguy30,

I have prayed for you this morning.

But I have a question for you. Is there any particular question you have that you have not seen a biblical answer for as of yet? If so ask away and I'll see if I can provide for you an answer. I noticed you mentioned this specifically:

God will show me the reality of his current view in the New Testament era of what His will is regarding plural marriage
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Does that mean you are searching for a primary confirmation from the NT? I ask because if my observations are correct you are likely one from the Fundamentalist background and most fundamentalists accept the idea that not everything stated in the OT is for us today, which is true. Thus, it sounds like to me you are searching for a definitive answer from the NC perspective, am I correct on that? If so I have some really good information on that which I can pass along to you if you are interested. Just let me know.
 
Welcome, AussieGuy30.

A couple of quick things to toss at you, as you study and ponder.

As concerns the morality of plural marriages for men (we all acknowledge that a woman can only be married to one man at a time):

** Does God EVER describe Himself as immoral? Even in allegory? He does describe Himself as plurally married in both Jer 3 and Eze 23, as PolyDoc mentioned above. Therefore it cannot be immoral.

** Does God EVER tempt men to sin? In 2Sam 12:8, God, through Nathan, tells David, "I gave you ... your masters wives ...". Plural. Was David wrong to accept the Divine gift? Was he, in fact, being tempted to sin by God? James, Jesus' brother, clearly says "No!" in Ja 1:13. God does not tempt men to sin. Therefore it cannot be immoral.

** Does God EVER give us laws as to how we may SIN in a RIGHTEOUS manner? eg. "Thou shalt not commit murder -- except on the 2nd Tuesday after the full moon, in the hour before dawn, using a ritual knife, and with one hand tied behind you. If those conditions are met, hack away!"? The argument is made that he made laws dealing with murder and theft, which are clearly proscribed. This is true, but those are laws as to consequences, to bring the actions to a stop and preclude recurrence. The answer must be "No, He does not. The example given above is patently absurd." Yet, laws given in Torah, eg. Deu 21:15, govern the just and fair CONTINUANCE of the practice. And the law of the Levirite, as stated in Deu 25, may actually MANDATE it in r(hopefully) rare circumstances. Therefore, it cannot be immoral.

I propose that, in the absence of a cleat "Thus saith the Lord ...", these 3 questions and their answers are sufficient to settle the general question of morality.

But you said that your primary concern was as it had to do with NT living. First, I have to agree that unless something is explicitly CHANGED, it remains the same. Isn't that even a natural law of physics? Something about that absent other forces, or resistance, a body put in motion will continue in the same direction.

But further, history tells us that the practice continued amongst Christians, and that the Monogamy Only ideal and rule was instituted by the church of Rome in the 300s AD.

Not only that, but there are hints as to its continued acceptance as valid within the NT, if one looks. As a simple example, even the qualification rules for Elders and Deacons in Titus and Timothy, (if one accepts the popular translation, which is by no means conclusively correct) by creating exception rules AGAINST, supports the general rule FOR. There are a number of others, discussed elsewhere in this forum at length. 1Cor 7:2, James 1:27, and others.

Hope this helps a bit. God bless you on your journey.
 
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