Polygamy and the bible (ritual, church, pray, spiritual, divorce)

[pray4me]

I actually never saw the 10 virgins to be women but always pictured them as men. I think the point of them being virgins was that virgins are pure.

[Charity]

Originally Posted by Autodidact

In fact, can someone explain this whole phenomenon to me, where knowing absolutely nothing about something does not prevent someone from having strong and mistaken opinions about it?

This parable is not about a marriage between man and woman as we have marriage here. It is not about multiple wives or husbands.

There were 10 virgins who took lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. The significance here is the virgins represent us,(the church) and the bridegroom (Jesus)5 of the virgins were wise and 5 foolish, 5 of them took their lamps and took extra oil. The other 5 took their lamps but no oil with them....(These lamps were poles (torches) with oil drenched rags on top(this was an outdoor procession)
The Bridegroom was not there at the time they expected him. So they all fell asleep while waiting. At midnight the cry came that the bridegroom was coming. The foolish virgins trimmed their lamps but had no oil. They tried to get oil from the other 5 virgins...When they couldn't get oil from them they went out to buy oil.

While they were gone, the bridegroom arrived. The 5 wise Virgins had gone inside with the bridegroom for the banquet. When the 5 foolish virgins came back they found that the door was locked....they knocked and ask for the door to be opened.
But the bridegroom replied "I don't know you". (Mat 25)

Verse 13 says therefore keep watch because you do not know the day or the hour when Jesus will return.. In other words keep your lamps trimmed and burning.

Be ready be instant in season and out of season, for no man knows the hour when Jesus will return........

I hope this helps, I did a lot of paraphrasing to shorten this....


For a little humor, when my daughter and I discuss this parable and I always say it is a good thing this story was hundreds of years ago because we probably couldn't find 5 wise or 5 foolish virgins today.......

Blessings Charity

[Autodidact]

It's not about what the parable symbolizes, Charity, but about the symbols used. For example, the "rich man" parable is not about camels or needles, but tells us that both existed in Jesus' day. In the same way, this parable tells us that Jesus knew about brides, virgins and so forth. I always thought it was a polygamous scenario. After reviewing it again w/pray4me I'm not sure. It may be just something analogous to bridesmaids. I would need to know more about the customs of the day. In any case, what I do know is that polygamy was customary and is not outlawed in the Bible. It was practiced by Christians until Christianity became Romanized, because monogamy was the Roman custom.

[Popeyesays]

Originally Posted by crystalonyx

Except this almost inevitably leads to wife and child abuse. Check out the recent incident in Texas, and we don't here about most of them.

That's a non-sequitur argument, since spousal and child abuse happen in monogamous families all the time.

Marriage is a social institution, as such it is the cause of good and ill. Jesus altered the social laws of marriage when He instituted monogamous marriage. Muhammed changed it when He decreed that a man might have no more than four wives.

The purpose of marriage is to preserve wealth and protect children, social institutions are not divine fiat for all time. Rather marriage is instituted for divine purpose, but defined by socially relevant custom.

Regards,
Scott

[pray4me]

The recent news on this polygamy thing is that over half of the girls between the ages of 14 and 17 are pregnant or have given birth since they've been in CPS custody. Still haven't heard about the results of all the DNA tests they did a couple of weeks ago.

[Sola'lor]

What uss_bigd hasen't replied yet?

I believe that polygamy is commanded by God under certain circumstances. Other times it is condemened. It depends on the circumstances and the people that God is dealing with.

[Autodidact]

Originally Posted by Sola'lor

What uss_bigd hasen't replied yet?

I believe that polygamy is commanded by God under certain circumstances. Other times it is condemened. It depends on the circumstances and the people that God is dealing with.

Well, don't you mean sometimes permitted and sometimes prohibited? It's never commanded, right? I mean, it's always just an option, correct?

[gnostic]

If you look at the 4 personalities in the Genesis, Abraham and Jacob were polygamous, while Isaac and Joseph were monogamous. It would seem that neither of these figures were out of favour of God because of the number of wives they had.

If God truly see polygamy as a sin, then why do God seemed to favour the polygamous David and Solomon over the monogamous Saul? Noah and Moses were monogamous.

So to call polygamy as a sin by using the bible's narratives as examples, seemed to be an exercise of futility, because God don't seem to favour one over the others. For Christians to say that polygamy is sinful, is to stick their heads in the sands, because the bible says no such thing.

[pray4me]

What do you make of this verse? I think that polygamy was like divorce, allowed because of the hardness of their hearts but not the way God intended it.
Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth. Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times;and be thou ravished always with her love. (Proverbs 5:18-19)

[Scuba Pete]

Christianity is trans cultural. It is going to assimilate parts of any culture it comes in contact with. You can see this in the teachings of Paul, where he commands women to be silent in the church.

Jesus gave us only one commandment: love each other.

That being said, could I ever commit myself to more than one woman? Not and give her what I promised her.