Polygamy “Unlawful” in the NT ?

We found someone asking these questions about plural marriage in a theological forum:

1. “Why was polygamy allowed in the OT, yet in the NT seems to be unlawful ?”
2. “Why is it expressly stated in the NT that it is adultery for a woman to have two husbands while it seems that if a man has several wives he is just forbidden from ministry ?”
3. “Can you refer me to some good sites dealing with the issue of polygamy or biblical plural marriage ?”

Since we are discontinuing this blog, you can read our answers on our new blog.

Technorati Tags: polygamy, plural marriage, polandry, polygyny, biblical plural marriage, OT, NT, Joshuah's House

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A Biblical Defense of Polygyny

Recently, our activities on various internet discussion groups (http://forums.catholic.com for example) have prompted us to consider providing an apologetic on the topic of polygamy, or plural marriage. At first I resisted this notion, because several years have already been spent in similar endeavors, and I felt no inclination to argue fruitlessly with those who only seek to gratify their own ego's lust and have no discernible interest in the actual facts of the matter. Neither do I desire to waste precious time. I have come to reconsider this however, for a number of reasons, and will begin today with the following excerpt. If you are interested in reading the entire apologetic, please follow the link to our website.

"Part I- Adultery

It is our position that polygamy cannot be equated with adultery because the bible does not define it as such, but simply treats it as a form of marriage.

We tackle adultery first, because most times this is the first accusation against Biblical Plural Marriage. Modern Churchianity considers having a relationship with more than one partner as adulterous. They have a different definition of adultery than the bible does, and so we begin with a biblical definition of adultery."


Technorati Tags: biblical plural marriage, polygamy, polygyny, adultery, definition, apologetics, Joshuah's House