Since this topic has come up in the third yahoo group in a row now, I elaborated a little on the issue of submission. You can find the article in the "Good Wife" section, or just go there by clicking the link below.
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Since we are discontinuing this blog, you can read our answers on our new blog.
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Very often, when Christians attempt to argue over biblical teachings, and when all else fails for them, when they can no longer cling to their beloved presuppositions and are faced with plain biblical truth (about the Biblical concept of marriage for example), they fall back on something similar to this:
" ...Scripture can be turned around or bent in any direction we please."
Another way of stating this, although less kind overall, is to say the following:
"Even the Devil can quote scripture."
Could such a person ever accept a biblical definition of marriage? Even if the majority of professing Christians work from secular definitions? I wonder if such a person would have the strength of conviction and the faith in God to be able to withstand the inevitable scorn and persecution that would be placed on them by the mass of Churchianity, if they were to say anything else. Hmmm...I would certainly hope so, but must wonder indeed.
I had this experience several years ago, with a man who argued, rather angrily, that David was punished for polygamy! Well, it didn't take very long for me to show him that what he was doing was reading his own ideas and prejudices and presuppositions into Scripture, and in fact there was nothing in the Holy Bible at all that supported his idea. He somehow had the notion that somewhere in the Bible it would say "David was punished for polygamy", because this is what he thought. It is what he was taught, and heard many times. It was wrong. He did not like to be shown he was wrong. Davids' sin was adultery and murder, not marriage, not polygamy. well, the next thing out of his mouth was "Even the Devil can quote Scripture", and off he ran, never to be heard from again.
Leave Scripture completely in context. Completely! Read it from cover to cover, end to end. If you were able to do so without ever "knowing" what it already says, if you were able to discard what you have already been taught, if you were able to lay aside your preconceived notions and presuppositions, the cultural bias, you would simply not come away with the idea that polygamy (marriage!) was ever anything other than marriage, and is approved of by God, sanctioned, protected, and honorable.
Grace & Peace,
Joshuah
 clipped from www.primenewswire.comSALT LAKE CITY, May 28, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Polygamy is defined as a form of marriage in which a person has more than one spouse. It is a union that has been condemned by certain historical figures and to this day, many believe that it does not deserve a place in American society. This controversial topic is the central part of a suspenseful story imagined by author Kenneth Brown. Prepare yourself as Xlibris releases his new fictional book Behind The Polygamy Veil.
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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."
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