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Polygamy

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Searches on polygamy

  • Google search: site:christianblogs.christianet.com "multiple wives"
  • Google search: site:christianblogs.christianet.com polygamy
  • Seventh-day Adventist polygamy viewpoints
  • attorney polygamy home -squalor -prosecutor -Warren

    Articles on Polygamy

  • [Article -
    Canadian Polygamy in Bountiful British Columbia]
  • Time Magazine search
    • Article - Morality the case for polygamy - Catholic priest, Father Eugene Hillman supports socually valid polygamous marriage, no violation of one flesh
    • Article - Virtues of Polygamy Time Magazine - May 08, 1944 - In Salt Lake City last week three women spoke up in defense of the polygamy they had shared. They were members of the heretical Mormon sect recently prosecuted for polygamy (TIME, March 20). In a joint interview, they unanimously (and anonymously) agreed: "Our husbands are more faithful to several wives than most husbands are to ...
    • Article - ISRAEL - Perquisites for Polygamists - Jun 13, 1949 - There is no civil law against polygamy in Israel. The Law of the Prophet permits the Moslem Arab minority the privilege of plural wives. The Law of the Rabbis binds Ashkenazi Jews (mostly of Central European origin) to monogamy but does not affect Sephardic Jews (of Spanish, Portuguese and North African origin) or Yemenite Jews ...
    • Article - Religion - Polygamy Battle - Jan 23, 1956 - As the state officials approached the bleak, cinder-block house, a hostile crowd stared at them coldly. Waiting for them in the doorway stood Vera Black, a tiny, short-haired woman of 42 and one of Leonard Black's three wives. In the house behind Vera, her eight children waited, dressed in their Sunday best.
    • Article - Tom Green - Polygamy and Its Discontents - By Lance Morrow May 21, 2001 - Lance Morrow on the urge for multiple partners
    • Article - Tanzania - The Ties that Bind - Apr 20, 1970 - In tin-roofed village halls throughout Tanzania, angry members of the National Women's Organization stamped their feet and raised their voices in a rhythmic chant: "One man, one wife, is the proper way of life." Petitions poured in to the government, including one that warned in Swahili: "To admit a second wife is to bring poison ...
    • Article - TURKEY - First Mate, Second Mate - Nov 24, 1958 - Ever since Dictator Mustafa Kemal Ataturk overturned and reformed the Islamic rigidities of the Ottoman Empire in 1924, Turkish women by the thousands have come out from behind the veil, taken up short skirts and modern ideas. Polygamy was outlawed. But in Istanbul last week there sounded a still, small voice from the past. Lawyer ...
    • Article - BURMA - Two for One - Jun 30, 1952 - Ma Khin San, 18, was beautiful and beloved by the prosperous young trader Aung Thein of Pegu. Ma Khin Than, 21, her sister, was beautiful but blind. If San were married, mused her widowed father U Po Sein, what then would become of Than? In Buddhist Burma, where polygamy is legal (although wives are usually ...
    • Article - National Affairs - Americana - Aug 25, 1952 - Handsome, curly-haired Bigamist Leroy Holzman, a New Orleans tourist guide, explained that polygamy was simple enough if a man budgeted his time: he lived with wife No. 2 from midnight to 8 a.m., with wife No. 5 from 5 p.m. until midnight, and with wife No. 4 whenever he had some spare time. He ...
    • Article - SIAM - Easy Abdication - Mar 11, 1935 - The difference between a Siamese and anybody else is that the Siamese takes things more easily. It was easy for the late, great King Rama V to beget 236 girls, 134 boys. It was easy for his successor King Rama VI to take the word of a Christian missionary that polygamy is wrong and beget ...
    • Article - PALESTINE - Privilege of Polygamy = Feb 02, 1931 - One reason why some intense persons settle in Palestine is that any citizen. Gentile, Jew or Mohammedan, can legally take several wives. But in Jerusalem last week the commission now examining Palestine criminal law with a view to its revision recommended that: In future the practice of polygamy in Palestine will be permitted only to ...
    • Article - Television - Three's Company - By James Poniewozik Nov 09, 2005 - A TV show about one man's disparate housewives
    • Article - The Marrying Kind - Aug 06, 1979 - The men of Kenya were worried: a new government bill threatened to restrict their right to marry as many wives as they could afford. Though polygamy would remain legal, according to legislation that was debated in Nairobi's Parliament last week, a man would be required to get permission from his first wife before marrying a ...

polygamy groups

  • Principle Voices, a polygamy advocacy group,

Polygamy books

Online polygamy books

Books mentioning polygamy

  • Ute Frevert, Women in German History: from Bourgeois Emancipation to Sexual Liberation (New York: Berg Publishers, 1988) pp. 263-264.
  • John D'Emilio and Estelle B. Freedman, Intimate Matters: A history of
    Sexuality in America (New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1988) p. 87.
  • Hearts and Minds: How Our Brains Are Hardwired for Relationships By Thomas David Kehoe
    Unknown macro: {asin}
    • pg. 220 - Monogamy and Polygamy
      • Women of Principle: Female Networking in Contemporary Mormon Polygyny, by Juncl Bcnnion (1998), quoted on pages 41. 42, and 43, is a fascinating study of women in a Montana polygnist community.
      • The section about Christian polygyny was from After Polygamy Was Made a Sin: The Social History of Christian Polygamy, by John Cairncross (1974).
      • Sex in America: A Definitive Survey, by Robert Michael. John Gagnon, Edward Laumann, and (iina Bari Kolata (1994), presents the only statistically accurate survey of intimate relationships. The Survey included how couples met. how many partners individuals had. sexual practices, and risk factors for STDs. The surprises were not in what Americans do—the large majority of Americans arc in traditional relationships but in (he contrast between media messages (e.g.. Sex and the City) and reality.
    • QUOTATIONS AND MENTIONS
      • The Descent of Man, by Charles Darwin (IS71), page 41.
      • Polygamous Families in Contemporary Society, by Irwin Altman and Joseph Ginat (1996). page 45.
      • Polygamy Reconsidered, by Father Eugene llillnun (1975). page 47.
      • The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell (2000). page 50.

Books about polygamy

Books for polygamy

  • After Polygamy Was Made a Sin: The Social History of Christian Polygamy, by John Cairncross (1974).
  • Polygamous Families in Contemporary Society, by Irwin Altman and Joseph Ginat (1996). page 45.
  • Polygamy Reconsidered, by Father Eugene Hillman (1975). page 47.
    • Review: Book is not a guide toward reestablishing polygamy in the West.
    • Eugene Hillman’s, Polygamy Reconsidered, Orbis books 1975, P. 19-23 :
      • “Pre-Christian Rome also provided the Church with a readymade formulation of the purpose of marriage: “in order to bring forth childrenâ€� Moreover, it was the traditional pagan “religion of the hearthâ€� that directly inspired the original Greco-Roman view that marriage is both indissoluble and monogamous.â€�
      • “It is not surprising therefore that “Canon Law’s basic principle and obligation of the marriage contract seem to be similar to, if no identical with, Roman Lawâ€� For our purpose it is particularly interesting to note that Christianity did not introduce monogamy into the Greco-Roman world. As a result of the pagan religio-ethical conception of marriage and family life, monogamy was already present as the only form of marriage; and polygamy was already proscribed for Roman citizens when Christianity was just coming to life in the forms of that culture.â€�
      • “As it was, the Christian acceptance of monogamy, as the only permissible form of marriage, had its own problematical side effects. The legal monogamy insisted upon by the Greeks and the Romans was often supplemented with institutionalized concubinage and wide spread prostitution, and divorce was a recurring problem.â€�
  • Philip L. Kilbride, Plural Marriage For Our Times (Westport, Conn.: Bergin &
    Garvey, 1994) pp. 108-109.

Books against polygamy

  • Polygamy in the Bible - DuPreez

Stories of polygamists

David

  • http://www.simpletoremember.com/articles/a/david_the_king/
    DAVID AND BATHSHEBA
    The story of David's relationship with Bathsheba (II Samuel Chap. 11) is one of the most misread stories in the Bible, and we have to be careful in reading it as if it were some kind of soap opera. In summary, however, this is what happens.

    Restless one night, David is pacing the roof of his palace from where he has a view of the homes and gardens in the city below(3). And there he spies a beautiful woman bathing. She is the wife of one of his generals, Uriah, the Hittite, who is away at war.

    David sends for Bathsheba and spends the night with her. When she becomes pregnant, he commands that Uriah be placed on the front lines, where he dies in battle. David then marries Bathsheba.

    At this point, the prophet Nathan is sent by God to reprove David. (See 2 Samuel 12.) He says that he has come to inform the king of a great injustice in the land. A rich man with many sheep, stole the one beloved sheep of a poor man, and had it slaughtered for a feast.

    Furious at what he hears, King David, declares, "As God lives, the one who has done this deserves death."

    Responds the prophet, "You are that man!"

    David is humbled. "I have sinned before God," he says.

    This is an enormously complex story and there is much more here than meets the eye. Technically, Bathsheba was not a married woman since David's troops always gave their wives conditional divorces, lest a soldier be missing in action leaving his wife unable to remarry.(4) However, the Bible states clearly that David acted improperly, and the Sages explain that while David did not commit adultery in the literal sense, he violated the spirit of the law(5).

    As noted in earlier installments, the Bible takes a hyper-critical position of Jewish leaders. It never whitewashes anyone's past, and in that it stands alone among the records of ancient peoples which usually describe kings as descendants of gods without faults.

    David's greatness shines in both his ability to take responsibility for his actions and the humility of his admission and the repentance that follows. This is part of the reason that the ultimate redeemer of the Jewish people and the world will descend from David's line—he will be "Messiah son of David."

    Shortly thereafter, Bathsheba gives birth, but the child becomes deathly ill as the prophet Nathan had predicted. David goes into a period of prayer and fasting, but the child dies nevertheless. David realizes that the death of the baby and later the revolt of his beloved son, Absalom (II Samuel 15-19), were divine punishment and also served as atonement for his actions. David "pays his dues," repents for many years and is ultimately forgiven by God.

    Before long Bathsheba is pregnant again. And this time, she bears a healthy child—who is named Solomon, and who will be the golden child, gifted with unusual wisdom.

Abraham

Is Polygamy a sin?

  • Is polygamy a sin - http://christianblogs.christianet.com/1136891706.htm
      • Your references to Gen 2:24 and Matt. 19:4-5 are concerning the sexual aspect of marriage and have nothing to do with monogyny or polygyny. The pattern is that husband and wife become one flesh in sexual intercourse. These words were written by Moses, who not only recorded Genesis but who was expected to conform to Elohim's highest standard, did not see a contradiction between polygyny and the "one flesh" reference of Eden. In fact, Moses himself had two wives.
      • There isn't one. Jesus did not redefine marriage nor did He redefine adultery. Adultery always involved a MARRIED woman. Biblical marriage always has been between one man and one or more women of the covenant. An unbiased study of all OT and NT Scriptures clearly reveals this.
      • Acts 17:30 says God winked at the times of ignorance, but NOW commandeth all men everywhere to repent of all sins. Over and over we find God accepting man's choices and seeking to draw him back to the right way, first in spirit/heart, then physically.
      • Contact with evil had affected the believers in God and they failed to realize the sacredness and absoluteness of God's will, of righteousness and sin. Step by step God sought to draw His children back from their ignorance and called them to repent.
      • #2 The Jews crucified Christ in ignorance (Acts 3:17), not knowing what they did, for Satan had blinded their eyes. Often we find people focusing on the letter of the law and finding ways to get around the command of God on a "technicality" and totally forgetting the principles upon which all the law hung. Even Saul who became Paul says that concerning the letter of the law, he was blameless, but when he saw the spirit of the law, he saw himself a sinner
  • http://www.scjfaq.org/faq/08-06.html - I've heard polygamy is permissible among Sephardic and Yemenite Jews. Doesn't Judaism mandate monogamy?
    • Polygamy was such a well established part of the social system that Mosaic law is not even critical of it. We find only certain regulations with respect to it; as, for example, if a man takes a second wife the economic position of the first wife and of the children she bore must be secure; and, in the case of inheritance, no child of a subsequent marriage is to be preferred over a child from the first wife.
    • David had seven wives before he began to reign in Jerusalem, and an extraordinary number of wives and concubines has been attributed to Solomon (II Sam 3:2- 5, 14; 5:13). In connection with David, the prophet Nathan did not denounce the king for adding Uriah's wife to those he already had but for the means he employed to secure her (II Sam. 12:7-15).

Jewish views on polygamy

  • Rabbi Gershom Ben Judah ("Light of the Exile"), who, around the year 1000, at a synod in Western Germany, banned polygamy for French and German Jews
  • Yemenites disagree with Rabbi Gershom Ben Judah who banned Polygamy for French and German Jews. Yemenite, Monogamist Zacharia Gluska, rose to defend the morals of the sect. "The Torah," he protested, "does not forbid polygamy." Glaring at his Mapai colleague, he shot back: "We don't recognize it as immoral to keep wives at home. It is immoral to have one wife at home and a few other wives on the outside." source
  • Polygamy and Levirate Law - http://www.patriarchywebsite.com/polygamy/poly-obj-qa11.htm

Other notes on Polygamy

  • Biology - http://www.biol.andrews.edu/issues/Sexual.Selection
  • http://salmun.cwahi.net/00_info/old06.htm
    • Polygamy and Monogamy Compared by James Campbell (30-06-2008) - http://salmun.cwahi.net/wrel/rchrist/theol/doct_ga/00_poly/hpm/hpm.htm
      • At the court of David, King of Israel, even the rape and the incest of Tamar were not so unpardonable as her abandonment. Although shocked and indignant at the brutal violence of her half-brother Amnon, yet her tenderness could not deny some pity to the intensity of his passion. "Nay, my brother, do not force me," she said. "Speak to the king; for he will not withhold me from thee." But when his lust had been sated, and he commanded her to be gone, she refused to go; saying, "This evil in sending me away is greater than the other." * 2
      • Then he caused her to be put out forcibly, and the door to be bolted. It was this insulting divorce added to her forcible humiliation that broke her heart. The latter she might forgive, the former she could not; and she rent her purple robes, and went out crying with her hand upon her head. It was this cruel repudiation that whetted the dagger of Absalom to avenge her wrongs, and it was this that fills up the measure of Amnon's guilt in the judgement of every honest heart. God did not require David to put away Bathsheba, after he had once ravished her, and would not have permitted him to do so, had he desired it, although he had obtained her by blood and fraud. His punishment must come in some other manner. Their marriage, once consummated by cohabitation, was complete and indissoluble. How differently would a similar case be now decided by the ecclesiastical courts of modern Europe! Can men's judgement be more just than God's?
      • If a man may have a Plurality of Wives, why may not a woman have a Plurality of Husbands?
        • Because a woman's heart is so constituted, that it is impossible for her to cherish a sincere love for more than one husband at the same time. It is even difficult for her to believe that a man can cherish a sincere and honest love for more than one woman at the same time. It is difficult for her to believe it; for she cannot comprehend it. Her own instincts revolt against the thought of a plurality of husbands, and judging his feeling by her own, she does not see how a man can want, or at least can truly love, a plurality of wives. But, as this point involves a constitutional difference of sex, it is one in which we must be aware that our feelings cannot guide us. A man can never know the infinite tenderness and the infinite patience of a mother's love, except imperfectly, by reason and observation.
        • His experience does not teach him. His paternal love does not exactly resemble it. So a woman can never know the purity and sincerity of a man's conjugal love for a plurality of wives, except by similar observation and reason. Her conjugal love is unlike it. Her love for one man exhausts and absorbs her whole conjugal nature: there is no room for more. And if she ever receives the truth that his nature is capable of a plural love, she must attain it by the use of her reason, or admit it upon the testimony of honest men.
      • "Thelyphthora; or, a Treatise on Female Ruin, in its Causes, Effects, Consequences, Prevention, and Remedy," &c. Published by J. Dodsley. London, 1781. The work is learned and heavy, yet it passed through several editions, and had evidently attracted attention. The author's name does not appear; but it is well known to have been written by Rev. Martin Madan, D.D., Chaplain of the Lock Hospital, London; to the wardens and patrons of which the work is dedicated.
        • ¤ "12. Is there any particular recompense that God in his word orders an unmarried man to make to a virgin whom he has defiled, or is there not? and, if there be, what is it? (See Ex. xxii. 16,17; Deut. xxii. 28,29.)
        • ¤ "13. Is there any particular recompense that a married man is en-joined to make the virgin whom he has defiled, or is there not? If there be, what is it? Is the virgin in the above case to receive a recompense, and the virgin in the above in this case to receive none, and to be abandoned? (See the Scriptures above noted.)
        • ¤ "20. What reason can be assigned for God's permitting so many people, and particularly some of his distinguished saints of old, to live allowedly in the practice of polygamy, and to die without ever reproving them, calling them to repentance, and without their ever expressing any sorrow for it, and showing any evidences at all of their repentance? and if God's word be the rule of our conduct, and if the example of these saints be written for our learning, what are we to learn from them respecting polygamy?
        • ¤ "21. If these saints of old lived and died in sin, by living and dying in the allowed practice of polygamy, what is the name of the sin? By what term is it to be distinguished? Was is adultery? or whoredom? or fornication? Was their commerce licit, or illicit? What commandment did they sin against? Were they adulterers, whoremongers, or fornicators? What does the Scripture history of the lives and deaths of these saints teach us to call their practice?
        • ¤ "22. Were Hannah and Rachel and (after Uriah's death) Bathsheba whores or adulteresses; or were they lawful and honored wives? How are they spoken of, and how were they treated, as the Scripture history informs us?
        • ¤ "23. Were Joseph, Samuel, and Solomon bastards, or honorable and legitimate sons? In what character were they spoken of and treated? Did God show favor to them, or dislike of them?
    • Origin of American Polygamy by Joseph Smith
    • The Truth and the Paradox about Polygamy (Polygyny)
    • Polygamy, Bigamy and Human Rights Law by Samuel Chapman (04-07-2008)
    • The Web of Indian Life by Margaret E. Noble (Sister Nivedita) link
      • With this clue it becomes easy to understand even what the West considers to be the anomalies of Hindu custom - the laws regarding rare cases of polygamy and adoption. For it is legally provided that if a woman remain childless her husband may after seven years, and with her permission, take a second wife, in the hope of gaining a son to succeed to his place. On the European basis of individualism, the permission would probably be impossible to obtain; but with the Eastern sense of family obligation, this has not always been so, and I have myself met the son of such a marriage whose story was of peculiar interest. The elder wife had insisted that the time was come for the alternative to be tried, and had herself chosen the speaker's mother as the most beautiful girl she could find, for the husband. The marriage once over, she made every effort to make it a success, and welcomed the new wife as a younger sister. Not only this, but when the son was born, such was her tenderness that he was twelve years old before he knew that she was not his mother. After her death, however, the younger wife became head of the house. Amongst the children to be fed, there were degrees of kindred, certain adopted orphans, two or three cousins, and himself. He was the eldest of all, and protested loudly that he came in last, and his cousins only second, for his mother's attentions. "Nay, my child," she answered, with a Hindu woman's sweetness and good sense, "if I desired to neglect thee, I could not do it. Is it not right, then, first to serve those who have no protection against me?"

        The family life which such a story discloses is singularly noble, and it is not necessary to suppose that polygamy entailed such generosities oftener than we find monogamy do amongst ourselves. In any case, the same tide that brings in individualism has swept away this custom; and whereas it never was common it is now practically obsolete, except for princes and great nobles, and even amongst these classes there are signs of a radical change of custom.

    • Mormon denunciation of polygamy from book of mormon link - An Address to All Believers in Christ by David Whitmer A Witness to the Divine Authenticity of the Book of Mormon
      • We denounce the doctrine of polygamy and spiritual wifeism. It is a great evil, shocking to the moral sense, and the more so because practiced in the name of Religion. It is of man and not of God, and is especially forbidden in the Book of Mormon itself in these words. "Behold, David and Solomon truly had many wives and concubines, which thing was abominable before me, saith the Lord. ... For there shall not any man among you have save it be one wife: and concubines he shall have none: For I the Lord God, delighteth in the chastity of woman." (Book of Mormon, page 116, chap. 2. par. 6).
      • Apostolic church history tells us that the Nicolaitanes (Rev. ii:15), who departed from the faith by following Nicolas, one of the first seven deacons (Acts vi:5), were also called "Christians;" also that many factions which sprang out of the Christian church, also called themselves "Christians." The Nicolaitanes claimed that Nicolas had received a revelation from God to practice the doctrine of "free love," which is worse than polygamy. (Irenaeus, Epiphanius, Hippolytus.) Reproach was thus brought upon the name "Christian," just as it has been brought upon the words of Christ - the Book of Mormon. History tells us it was a disgrace in the eyes of the world to be called a "Christian," even during the days of the apostles.
      • But the Latter Day Saints have another book of doctrine - the "Doctrine and Covenants" - in which are the doctrines that Christ never taught to the "twelve" at Jerusalem, nor to the "twelve" upon this continent. The Latter Day Saints believe these new doctrines, which do not agree with the teachings of Christ. Why do they believe them? Because they are putting too much trust in a man! This has been the mistake of God's people in all ages past. Read the scriptures and observe how very soon the great majority of God's people always fell into error by trusting in man. Men who were humble when God chose them, but afterward fell into error. If men do not live near enough to God to discern error when it comes - and it may appear as an angel of light - (for instance, polygamy) - God suffers them to be led into error because of their transgressions. See how many of the prophets whom God called afterward fell into error. Saul, David, Solomon, and many prophets in Israel.
      • Paul had also prophesied that for this cause 'God shall send them strong delusion, that they shall believe a lie; that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.' Both these prophecies agree. In Ezekiel's prophecy the Lord also says, 'I will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and ye shall know that I am the Lord. And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the Lord have deceived that prophet (or, allowed the prophet to be deceived because of his iniquity - W), and I will stretch out my hand upon him and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.
      • And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity; the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him; that the house of Israel may go no more astray from me, neither be polluted any more with all their transgressions; but that they may be my people, and I may be their God, saith the Lord God.' We have here the facts as they have transpired, and as they will continue to transpire in relation to this subject. The death of the prophet is one fact that has been realized; although he abhorred and repented of this iniquity before his death."
      • Uzziah fell into the snare of Satan, through pride, after serving God in humility for fifty-two years, (2. Chron. xxvi). "I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria." (Jer. xxiii:13). "I have seen in the prophets a horrible thing," (Jer. xxiii:14). "The prophets prophesy falsely," (Jer. v:31). "For the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests," (Lam. iv: 13). "Thus saith the Lord, woe unto the foolish prophets," (Ezek. xiii:3).
    • Genesis and Science by Rev. Walter Lang - link
      • Our objective is to demonstrate that the scientific statements contained in the first chapters of Genesis may be accepted as literal fact. There is no need, in the name of science, to contend that statements in these chapters must be regarded as allegory.
  • The Bible on Polygamy - prohibition of polygamy link
    • And, oddly, there isn't one word in the Bible explaining that it was wrong. (As a side note, there also isn't a word in the Bible that condemns husbands who had concubines. A concubine was a mistress with a few extra rights.) So ... how do we get to the position that says that polygamy is wrong?
    • First, to say that the Bible is silent on the subject of whether or not it's a good thing is not an accurate statement. In Deut. 17, God predicts that the people will ask for a king, so He places restrictions on those who would be king. Read it sometime; it's an interesting set of rules (Deut. 17:14-20). One of those restrictions is "he shall not acquire many wives for himself" (Deut. 17:17). He even tells why: "Lest his heart turn away." Paul points out that one wife will distract you (1 Cor. 7:33). God says that multiple wives will magnify that effect.
    • Second, the assumption that "The Bible tells about godly people doing it" means "God approves it" is not accurate. Many godly men in the Bible did patently ungodly things. Nor is silence on the subject proof of approval. The Bible makes no prohibition against slavery, but we know that it is evil. There is one other point here that I would like to make. In the Bible, sometimes God allows things of which He doesn't approve. One of the most obvious examples would be divorce. When Jesus was asked when divorce was allowed, He answered, "What God has joined together let no man separate." They found the answer intolerable, so they challenged Him, "Then why did Moses allow divorce?" Jesus answered, "Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so" (Matt. 19:3-8). Did God want divorce? "From the beginning it was not so." No! Did God allow divorce? "Because of your hardness of heart." Yes. And instead of banning it, He regulated it. The same is true of slavery ... and multiple wives.
    • What the Bible does say is "each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband" (1 Cor. 7:2). Just as leadership in the Old Testament was forbidden from having multiple wives, leadership in the New Testament is unavoidably limited to "the husband of one wife" (1 Tim. 3:2; Titus 1:6). Interestingly, marriage in the New Testament is a parallel to Christ's relationship with the Church. We are called His "Bride." Paul says, "The husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, His body, and is Himself its Savior" (Eph. 5:23). Husbands are to love their wives "as Christ loved the church" (Eph. 5:25). Christ only has one Bride. And human marriage is supposed to be an illustration of Christ's relationship with His Bride. Marriage has ramifications for society and ramifications for those who are married. Just as important, marriage serves as an image of our relationship to Christ. We dare not tarnish that image.
    • Christians wrestle with this problem. There is no clear prohibition. "Thou shalt marry one woman only." There seems to be mostly silence on the topic. But I think it's clear, despite the quiet, that it is not an acceptable practice from a biblical perspective. Why bring it up now? Because I think it will be increasingly difficult in the coming years to remember what "marriage" means. As we allow it to encompass more and more it means less and less. Eventually you're going to have to remember, "Now, why was I against polygamy?" That's my purpose.
  • link to article from Worldwide Church of God addressing texts about marriage and polygamy.
    • The Monogamous Contract
      • When two people enter into a marital relationship with the understanding that it is to be a monogamous relationship and bind themselves to this agreement, this relationship comes under the terms and conditions set forth in the Bible for such a relationship. Neither party can alter the agreement without dire consequences. The agreement can only be terminated by the death of either party, fornication, or adultery as set forth in God's law. See Matt:5:31-32; 10:11-19; 19:3-9; Lk.16:18.
    • The Polygamous Contract
      • When people enter into a marital relationship with the understanding that it is to be a polygamous relationship and bind themselves to this agreement, this relationship comes under the terms and conditions set forth in the Bible for such a relationship. Neither party can alter the agreement without dire consequences. The agreement can only be terminated by the death of either party, fornication, or adultery as set forth in God's law. See Matt:5:31-32; 10:11-19; 19:3-9; Lk.16:18.
      • The following are some of the major problems with the way in which polygamous relationships are practiced today:
        • A marriage that begins as a monogamous relationship and becomes polygamous because of the insistence of one of the partners over the objections the other partner. Without the consent of the both spouses, this situation results in an adulterous relations between the husband and the other wives.
        • The husband takes two living sisters as wives or a wife and her daughter as wives. Neither of these relationships is allowed under the law given to national Israel governing polygamy. See Lev.18:17-18; 20:14-17.
      • While it is true that some men and women who are practicing polygamy are living in an adulterous or an incestuous relationship in violation of God's laws that govern marriage and sexual relationships, this does not mean that all polygamists are living in sin.
  • the play of deconstruction in the speech of Africa
  • Reaching the Unreached in East-Central Africa
  • Take my wives, please! link - About Mitt Romney's polygamous ancestors, and a fundamentalist mormon rally
    • Interestingly the only place in Scripture that speaks of how many wives a man may have is in 1 Timothy 3, where Paul tells Timothy an overseer (bishop) and deacon "must be the husband of one wife," although this has taken on several different interpretations, such as a pastor not allowed by some to re-marry after the death of a wife. Genesis and Jesus' quote of it in Matthew would indicate a "one man/one woman" policy ("A man will leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife", not "wives").
    • Yet we also have numerous cases of polygamy in the Old Testament, even by those deemed the "stalwarts of faith." No judgment is passed. Growing up in a Lutheran school I was taught that the benefits and inheritance always passed to the child(ren) of the first wife and that there was domestic intranquility in such marriages. Well, the latter condition exists in the one man/one woman model as well (it's a sinful condition thing). Meanwhile, the former precept isn't always true. Solomon was born to a wife of David who is at least the third wife of David (Michal was David's first wife and Abigail was David's second wife; we're just not sure how many other wives shared David's bed before Bathsheba's now-famous bath).
    • I suspect polygamy may have also come into play with the Law of the Levirite. This Law, which protected a man's inheritance, dictated that if a man died without a son, his widow was to marry a brother of the man and the first son of this union was legally considered the deceased man's son (and heir to the deceased man's property).
    • A seminary professor I had once was a missionary to Africa, where polygamy is still practiced in some areas. He related that sometimes an African seminary student would take a second wife. The seminary faculty would suspend his studies for the ministry ("an overseer must be the husband of one wife..."). However, they were never asked to leave the church nor excommunicated.
    • The issue of polygamy was often debated at the seminary. The closest to a prohibition we could find was that the government has laws against it and we are to obey the government. Of course a wag would always quote "No man can serve two masters."
    • Will polygamy prove to be a "bump on the slippery slope?" It can be very likely. Especially if said groups appeal to the First Amendment promise of "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;..." If one claims that their faith has polygamy as a tenet of doctrine, then the legal battles begin.
  • fMhLisa's Ultimate Polygamy Post - Feminist Mormon Housewives link
    • I have very mixed feelings about polygamy.
    • Polygyny, even in its presumably "ideal" form, assumes that I give my soul to him, Sister wife Sarah gives her soul to him, Sister wife Susan gives her soul to him, Sister wife Sandy gives her soul to him, And yet, he's only got one soul to give back. He will have relationships with these women that are separate from me, from our bond, from our intimacy. Maybe it's possible that in some plane removed from human weakness that this separate bond can be achieved without harming our intimacy, without secrets, without jealousy.
    • However, it would still be fundamentally unbalanced. I would have only him, he would have all of us.
  • Excerpts of news story about sports figure born into polygamous family - portraying polygamists and normal link
  • Muslim polygamous family in Bronx link
    • Story shows challenges of accepting polygamy in New York when it is part of such a misogynous way of life.
    • Comments:
      • It's certainly not for everyone, and it's very much a minority practice within Muslim communities even in Muslim majority countries (varying from place to place). But in good polygynous marriages it can be very liberating for the wives. For example, I'm a career woman and I love my career but I also have a strong urge to be a homemaker so that my kids are raised in a home environment without going into daycare. Plural marriages allow the best of both worlds, where the woman who wants to work, can, and the woman who wants to stay at home, can, and the children don't have to go into daycare.
    • I thought it was interesting how the tone of the Muslim polygamy story was negative overall, while the tone was positive in the recent NY Times story on polygamy in the family of the UNLV basketball player. I am not trying to read too much into that, but could cultural differences
  • Holy Matrimony - a treatise on the divine laws of marriage - link
    • Polygamy - provisions of the code
      • a) "A woman to her sister" Lev 18:18
      • b) Slave wives Ex. 21:10-11
      • c) Royal polygamy Deut 17:17
      • d) Ceremonial Checks - Lev. 15:18
      • e) The Levirate custom - Deut 25:5
      • f) Laws governing the distribution of property - Deut. 21:15-17
      • g) Capitves of war: Deut 20:14; Deut 21:10-14
      • Practices of the hebrew people
        • Instances from Gideon to Joash
        • Polygamists did not forfeit divine blessing
        • Polygamy rare in the post-Babylonian period
        • Thus polygamy was both permitted to, and practised by, the chosen people
        • Conclusion: The Levirate custom, like polygamy and divorce, was a custom not devoid of a sinful character, but suffered for a while in a fallen race for the hardness of men's hearts; and the Mosaic legislation was in the direction of restraint, and not in that of encouragement.
    • Exodus 11:10 If he take him another wife: her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish
      • This regulation of polygyny tolerates if it does not approve it.
    • Deteronomy 10:13-15 And when the Lord thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword: 14: But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the poil of thine enemies, which the Lord thy God hath given thee. 15 Thus shalt thou do to all the cities which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations.
      • Isrealite restrictions
        • The woman is to be free from solicitation for a month after capture
        • She is then, if the man desire it, to be his wife.
        • If he tire of her, he is not to sell her, but let her go whither she will, because he has humbled her.
          • Deuteronomy 11:10-14 - how to acquire a wife from the survivors of war
    • Summing up provisions of the Mosaic code as they affect polygamy:
      • 1) That they find the practice admitted, and
      • 2) That they regulate and restrain it, but
      • 3) That they do not condemn it (if at least the ordinary jewish interpretation of Leviticus 18:18 hold good
    • Polygamy did not forfeit the divine blessing
    • Case of deceased wife's sister - Lev. 18:18 - page 650
      • Some refer to it as polygamy - this admissible so far as the hebrew is concerned
        • Polygamy is admitted and legislated eleswhere in the code
        • polygamy was practiced
    • Questions in Heptateuchum - The prohibition of a brother's wife refers to the wife of a brother deceased, and the prohibition of a "wife to her sister" not a prohibition of polygamy, but is the case of Jacob's wives
    • Verses describing polygamous practices:
      • Judges 8:30
      • 2 Samuel 5:13
      • 1 Chronicles 8:8
      • 2 Chronicles 14:3
      • Judges 7:14
      • 1 Samuel 1:2
      • 1 Kings 11:3
      • 2 Chronicles 11:21
      • Judges 10:4
      • 2 Samuel 12:8
      • 1 Chronicles 7:4
      • 2 Chronicles 13:21
      • Judges 12:9
      • Gen 21:14 The dismissal of Hagar by Abraham, which is an example of divorce anterior to the Mosaic code, is also probably an example of the rough and ready procedure which in the patriarchal age would commonly characterise it.
        • A glance at the terms of the Mosaic regulation of divorce quoted above is sufficient to shew that the mind of the lawgiver was concerned with the regulation, and not with the introduction, of the practice. As in the case of the regulations affecting polygamy, the regulations on the subkject of divorce are in the direction of restraint, not in that of encouragement.
        • prohibtion of marriage with a divorced woman in the case of priests: Leviticus 21:7 - They shall not take a wife that is a whore, or profane; neither shall they take a woman put away from her husband: for he is holy unto his God.
      • Malachi 2:14-16
        • Yet ye say whereof? Because the Lord hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of they covenant. 15 - and did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth. 16 - for the Lord, the God of Israel, saith that He hateth putting away: for one covereth violence with his garment, saith the Lord of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously
      • Story of Tamar - Genesis 38
        • What then are the facts We find that beyond all doubt the custom was an old one and not only so but that the Mosaic regulations as in the cases of polygamy and divorce are distinctly in the direction of restraining the power or the objectionable custom In the case of Tamar certainly some hundreds of years before the code of Deuteronomy we find the practice in full force. Tamar was the wife of Er the firstborn son of Judah By the Levirate custom it fell to Onan as the next brother to raise up seed to Er This he declined to do because he "knew that the seed should not be his" After the death of Onan which was brought about by a Divine judgment Judah told Tamar to remain a widow at her father's house till Shelah his next son should be grown Tamar did so but finding that Shelah was not then given to her she procured an union with Judah himself by means of an artifice,
        • and so conceived On the circumstances becoming known Judah's judgment was She hath been more righteous than I because that I gave her not to Shelah my son But it is added that he knew her again no more 1 From this narrative it is clear that the Levirate custom was of ancient origin certainly preceding the Egyptian sojourn and it farther appears that it was of a more binding character at the earlier period than under the Mosaic law That law permitted the brother or next of kin to decline the union in the presence of judges if he were prepared to go through the ordeal of 1 being spat upon and 2 having his shoes loosed by the widow and also 3 of being named in Israel the unshod 2 Grave as the resulting disgrace would be it was still not so grave but that a person who was strongly indisposed to effect the union would dare to encounter it In the case of Taniar it does not appear to be admitted that Onan had any right at all to decline the union and it seems to be implied that when Onan was dead Judah was bound to raise up seed to Er if not by Shelah then in his own person Here we have a distinct advance at the later period The Levirate usage is indeed retained but coupled with it is a power of dispensation which would in time go far to render the usage a dead letter
        • Deut 25:9,10 Gen 38:26
        • - The laws of menu - great legal code of ancient India - we find the custmo at much the same stage as we have it in the Mosaic code. Appears to originate in Indian practice of Polyandry.
        • It thus appears that Almighty God suffered among the chosen people during the time of the estrangement of the race rr the practices of 1 polygamy 2 divorce and 3 the Levirate custom Our Lord expressly states that one of these practices that of divorce was in direct contravention of the Divine institution but that it was suffered because of the hardness of men's hearts The same explanation appears to be entirely applicable to the other two practices those of polygamy and the Levirate custom When all were in the state of sin waiting for a redemption not yet accorded such practices were relatively less important and not till the state of grace had been restored by the atonement and by the coming of the Holy Ghost to dwell in the persons of the faithful does it appear that the original conditions of the Divine institution were fully and invariably insisted upon
    • refering to interpretation "one woman to another"
      • Rev. C. Forster - Marriage with two sisters contrary to the Holy Law of God and Nature (London, 1850, p. 32)
      • 1) That a prohibition of polygamy enters unnaturally into a list of prohibited degrees whereas it would be suitable enough for a prohibition of marriage with a wife's sister to follow as this verse does immediately after the prohibition of certain other unions of affinity which are described as wickedness
      • 2) That if polygamy is really forbidden by the Mosaic code we should expect the prohibition
        • a) To be more prominently placed
        • b) To have attracted more attention
      • 3) That polygamy is admitted and legislated for in other provisions of the Mosaic code
      • 4) That polygamy was commonly practised among the Israelites without even the suggestion of hindrance from the administration of the law
      • 5) That with the exception of the small and insignificant sect of the Karaites the Jews never interpreted the verse as a prohibition of polygamy but as a prohibition of marriage with a wife's sister
      • In favour of the general contention that the verse has reference not to polygamy but to the wife's sister are the arguments just cited To these may be added the further argument that the remarkable way in which this particular connexion of a man with his wife's sister receives a special application to the case of the living wife is accounted for by the fact that the legislature had Lo take special notice of the two kinds of marriage which had come down to the Hebrew people commended by the high examples of Abraham and Jacob Those marriages had indeed been suffered by God in the period of transition in which He was first calling a covenanted family out from among the heathen and then raising the covenanted family to be the chosen people but from the chosen people a higher standard of morality was demanded than even from those just ones who came out from the corruption of the race as in later days a higher standard was to be demanded from Christians than is required of those who are outside Christianity Accordingly in the 18th chapter of Leviticus the case of Abraham is specially met by the otherwise redundant provision of verse 11 and the case of Jacob is specially met by the provision of verse 18 now under consideration
  • application For the Divine law of marriage as binding upon Christians the interpretation of Leviticus xviii 18 is as has been said of no final significance Granting for the sake of argument that the verse is even intended to permit marriages among the Israelites with the sisters of their deceased wives the result of this permission would be to admit an exception analogous to the exception admitted by the Levirate custom In that case like the Levirate custom and like divorce and polygamy the marriage with a wife's sister will appear as a concession to the fallen and unredeemed which could not be continued into the Christian state in which the Spirit dwelling in the members of the body would require the full maintenance of the Divine laws of marriage There is nothing which need startle in such a permission if such a permission there was The relation of the wife's sister is not a nearer relation than that of the husband's brother and if both of these relationships are of nearer kin than some which are prohibited in all cases they are also clearly indicated by the recorded gradations of punishment as being less unholy than certain other unions of affinity as for instance the union with a stepmother and than the analogous union of consanguinity the marriage of brother and sister It is conceivable therefore that while the more unholy unions were prohibited absolutely even to the heathen the less unholy might become the subjects of a temporary permission and this is in fact the explanation we have already adopted in the matter of the Levirate custom
    • Marriage among non-Christian peoples other than the chosen race
      • Divorce, or polygamy, or both, were commonly admitted
      • Hinduism
        • Polygamy - Dr. Banerjee - "Polygamy is not illegal in any case."
      • Islam
        • Under no Mohammedan system does marriage exclude either polygamy or divorce
        • Sunni code - polygamy - four wives permitted, and as many slaves as wanted
        • Shia code Imamiyah - Polygamy - four wives. Also temporary contract wives.
  • http://muslimways.com/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=528
    • books referenced:
      • Philip L. Kilbride, Plural Marriage For Our Times (Westport, Conn.: Bergin &
        Garvey, 1994) pp. 108-109.
      • Ute Frevert, Women in German History: from Bourgeois Emancipation to Sexual Liberation (New York: Berg Publishers, 1988) pp. 263-264.
      • John D'Emilio and Estelle B. Freedman, Intimate Matters: A history of
        Sexuality in America (New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1988) p. 87.
    • Billy Graham, the eminent Christian evangelist has recognized this fact:

      "Christianity cannot compromise on the question of polygamy. If present-day Christianity cannot do so, it is to its own detriment. Islam has permitted polygamy as a solution to social ills and has allowed a certain degree of latitude to human nature but only within the strictly defined framework of the law. Christian countries make a great show of monogamy, but actually they practise polygamy. No one is unaware of the part mistresses play in Western society. In this respect Islam is a fundamentally honest religion, and permits a Muslim to marry a second wife if he must, but strictly forbids all clandestine amatory associations in order to safeguard the moral probity of the community."

      • Abdul Rahman Doi, Woman in Shari'ah (London: Ta-Ha Publishers, 1994) p. 76.

      *

      In 1987, a poll conducted by the student newspaper at the university of California at Berkeley asked the students whether they agreed that men should be allowed by law to have more than one wife in response to a perceived shortage of male marriage candidates in California. Almost all of the students polled approved of the idea. One female student even stated that a polygynous marriage would fulfil her emotional and physical needs while giving her greater freedom than a monogamous union 72.

      In fact, this same argument is also used by the few remaining fundamentalist Mormon women who still practise polygamy in the U.S. They believe that polygamy is an ideal way for a woman to have both a career and children since the wives help each other care for the children.

      • Philip L. Kilbride, Plural Marriage For Our Times (Westport, Conn.: Bergin &
        Garvey, 1994) pp. 72-73.

African Polygamy

traditional African polygamy women have majority of the power in the relationship/s. Under traditional African polygamy women picks the wives, and then on top of that the women control the sex. There are many rules. Also love and tenderness and all that mushy stuff is not viewed the same way in traditional African practices.

    • Includes screenshot of Chicago-Sun-Times May 3, 2004 article "Polygamy's Popularity defies forecasts"
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