Quote:
Originally Posted by Grasshopper
Churches can set their own standards and bylaws. The only thing that might be of question is if the church tried to force a polygamous family from attending services open to the public.
As for polygamy, various Christian groups have practiced it down through history for various reasons. Many of the so called Apostolic Modalistic groups down through history also practiced polygamy. Martin Luther allowed for it and even the Catholic church allowed for it on several occasions. The Pilgrims, though monogamous in marriage, lived in close quarters where intercourse was often had while sleeping in a room with other couples in the family. Some of the beds the Pilgrims used were even equipped with a wooden board dividing adult beds to separate couples to offer some semblance of privacy. The point is…accepted social morals about marriage and love making fluctuate and have fluctuated down through history.
But biblically speaking, Paul appears to indicate that every man was to have his own “wife” and a bishop couldn’t have more than one wife. So biblically speaking one could argue that according to the New Testament monogamy is God’s perfect will for man and should be the form of union ordained by the church.
Here’s a question I always had. Let’s say you’re a missionary in a country that allows men to have more than one wife. A man comes to church and is saved and the next service he brings his five wives and 12 children. In this culture a divorced woman has little hopes of ever honorably supporting herself without resorting to prostitution. Do you force him to divorce 4 of his wives? What do you do ask that he do with the children?
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In the same room? Right next to each other with a board separating them? Uhhhhhhhhh, I don't think I could go for that! Me and the pilgrim wife would have just had to find us a place out in the woods to partake of the marital blessing.
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