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Dennis143

By Dennis143,
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Yuanyang

Yuanyang

Posted
Posted (edited)

I believe that marriage is considered a legal 'partnership'. Why not allow multiple spouses? Property settlements that would occur when one of the partners dissolve their relationship i.e. divorce.

 

Adding to what Carl said... I can't imagine the amount of bitching, complaining of having multiple wives. Especially when you throw in the mix of the children of each of the wives. Home life would be a political mine field to step through everyday. Notice also that your biblical folks had many wives and they had girlfriends (concubines) to escape from what had to be a contentious(sp?) life in the main tent. But these were also very wealthy men too. And they write down the sexual values for us to follow????

Edited by Yuanyang (see edit history)
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chilton747

chilton747

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Romans Chapter 7. Husband and wife are singular.

 

I Corinthian 7. This also uses husband and wife as singular.

 

Here is an explanation I totally agree with:

 

"Polygamy was never good for Abraham or any other Old Testament polygamist. Hagar caused jealousy, strife, and trouble until she was expelled from Abraham's house (Genesis 16:4; 21:9-11). Likewise, the wives of Solomon caused great difficulties and turned his heart away from the Lord (1 Kings 11:3,4). Polygamy in the Old Testament strongly shows us the wisdom of God's plan for one wife and the foolishness of man's way of additional wives. Since God made man, He knows the best plan for man's marriage and home."

Edited by chilton747 (see edit history)
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lostinblue

lostinblue

Posted
Posted

Yan's grandmother was married to a man with 2 wives. So this subject may be closer than you think if you dig into your wife's family history. Many cultures do embrace this line of thinking. Watching PBS once they did a show on one of the "Stan " countries just west of China. They had a practice where maybe 30% of the women were "kidnaped" by their future husband prior to marriage. It showed a group of friends who would go to a nearby city scout out a girl. Maybe working in a shop and at some point in the future grab her off the street and take her back to the village .Lock her in a room until she agrees to marry. The whole family is in on this mother,grandmother aunts. Getting back to topic it was mentioned that some rich men would have more than one wife. There is a saying in that country "better to be the 2nd wife of a rich man than the 1st wife of a poor one". We in this western country cannot wrap this idea around our head . This is the best country in the world to be poor. How ever poor in other countries of the world including parts of China means you have almost nothing. For your entire life.

I have a friend who lived in the back country (bush) in Africa. Men there were hunters. Now there is nothing to hunt. So all the men sit under a shade tree and do nothing. It is woman's work to farm the land and keep the house. Water is carried on the top of one's head 2-3 miles from the village to keep the supply clean. A woman will use a morter to grind the corn into a flour. Making food for dinner is a lot of work. Hours of it. Every day. They do practice polygamy. There is a twist to it. The 1'st wife picks the second. Why ...She does not want a lazy help mate. Second wife is not going to be pleasing her husband under that shade tree all day. She will be out in the sun hoeing the corn or washing clothes in the river by hand. Just a little different spin on this subject than one thinks about.

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Dennis143

Dennis143

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Here is an explanation I totally agree with:

 

"Polygamy was never good for Abraham or any other Old Testament polygamist. Hagar caused jealousy, strife, and trouble until she was expelled from Abraham's house (Genesis 16:4; 21:9-11). Likewise, the wives of Solomon caused great difficulties and turned his heart away from the Lord (1 Kings 11:3,4). Polygamy in the Old Testament strongly shows us the wisdom of God's plan for one wife and the foolishness of man's way of additional wives. Since God made man, He knows the best plan for man's marriage and home."

Great answer to my Biblical question, Charles. Thanks!!
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Sebastian

Sebastian

Posted
Posted

I can't answer your question about the biblical references, at all, sorry.

 

But - Malaysia allows polygamy (currently) - the only hiccup is that you must be Muslim (born or converted) and your wives must be Muslim as well (born or converted).

 

The country has had some interesting 'twists' to polygamy recently, things like 1) can divorce via sms/text mesg 2) property rights after divorce , those laws are changing 3) the women are making huge coalition to preserve their legal rights.

 

(no, I never thought to convert and live there, but was nice to visit and learn some things)

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usaRichard

usaRichard

Posted
Posted

Romans Chapter 7. Husband and wife are singular.

 

I Corinthian 7. This also uses husband and wife as singular.

 

 

Also

Ephesians 5:31

"For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh."

 

For the best interpretation the original languages should be consulted to understand the true meanings.

 

 

Richard

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david_dawei

david_dawei

Posted
Posted

As far as I can tell... the bible never condemned polygamy nor called it a sin... I recall David being told by a prophet (yes.. I was present) if his count were not enough, god would of given him more;

 

Using Solomon as an example is a shot below the belt; he had 700 wives and 300 concubines... toss him a freakin bone would ya... imagine that hell! and anyways, viagra was created for the "Solo Mon"... :P

 

Using singular references is only situationally supportive.... it's in the new testament era that this begins to be prominent... and therefore, IMO, is more suggestive of an ascension of where society needed to go. In ancient times, men were always more at risk... ergo, maybe more woman existed; it may of been a very simply solution to an issue we can never comprehend.

 

The more interesting issue is two-fold to me:

1. It's apparent acceptance in days old

2. It's apparent abhorrence in days now

 

"What therefore God has joined together, let no one put asunder." -- Mark 10:9 ; Does that include polygamy?

 

¡°Let us make man in our image¡± -- Gen 1:6 ; what's this 'us' stuff.. no singular there...

 

Take individual statements and they can means many things.

 

Here is another interesting issue to me in Genesis (BTW, I once got the first few chapters of Genesis stuck in my head for about 10 years and read everything I could... till I decided... well, that would be off topic):

 

According to the good book (of course):

 

Genesis 5:2 He created them male and female, and He blessed them and named them Man (adam) in the day when they were created.

 

um... created THEM.. blessed THEM... named THEM.... MAN :huh:

 

so are we just an Androgynous mistake :o or an intention ^_^

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Guest jin979

Guest jin979

Posted
Posted (edited)

before qing dynasty most taoist believed as women is low then man could have many wives this was from Kongzi. this was as men hold the power and write the books (same for the bible). :huh:

 

Chairman Mao challenged this , now many chinese go back to Kongzi

 

you have to choose whats right /wrong for you

Edited by jin979 (see edit history)
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