• Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Access to private conversations with other members.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

Polygamy is moral

AgnosticGuy

Open-minded skeptic
Genesis 29:30-33 clearly shows that God approves of polygamy and I'll explain why. First, God is concerned about a man not loving TWO wives equally. If polygamy was immoral, God would not have such concern.

Secondly, God acts on His concern and helps TWO wives have children with ONE man. If God was against polygamy, he would not be helping TWO women to be loved by ONE man.

This shows that polygamy is not immoral because ALL of God's actions are moral. God helped TWO women to be loved by ONE man (ie polygamy), therefore it is moral for TWO women and ONE man to love each other and have kids together (polygamy).
 

Rival

se Dex me saut.
Staff member
Premium Member
Do you mean polygyny?

I do think it's moral but I'm not Abrahamic, so won't really involve myself in the discussion further as my opinion isn't what you're after.
 
Last edited:

The Emperor of Mankind

Currently the galaxy's spookiest paraplegic
Genesis 29:30-33 clearly shows that God approves of polygamy and I'll explain why. First, God is concerned about a man not loving TWO wives equally. If polygamy was immoral, God would not have such concern.

First off, that's polygyny. God would be okay with polygamy if he was okay with polygyny (multiple female partners) as well as polyandry (multiple male partners).


Secondly, God acts on His concern and helps TWO wives have children with ONE man. If God was against polygamy, he would not be helping TWO women to be loved by ONE man.

If you're referring to Abraham, Hagar and Sarai, Abraham doesn't marry Hagar as far as I'm aware. If you're referring to something else, please explain it.


This shows that polygamy is not immoral because ALL of God's actions are moral.

Non-sequitur. The first point doesn't logically lead to the second.


God helped TWO women to be loved by ONE man (ie polygamy), therefore it is moral for TWO women and ONE man to love each other and have kids together (polygamy).

God also commanded a twin brother and sister to have children - that would be Adam & Eve. He also stood back and let Lot's daughters get him drunk and mate with him until they were both pregnant.

So according to your logic incest is also moral because the Biblical God approves of it.
 

Rival

se Dex me saut.
Staff member
Premium Member
God also commanded a twin brother and sister to have children - that would be Adam & Eve. He also stood back and let Lot's daughters get him drunk and mate with him until they were both pregnant.

So according to your logic incest is also moral because the Biblical God approves of it.

Let's not forget Tamar and Amnon, that whole sad affair.
 

Jayhawker Soule

-- untitled --
Premium Member
Genesis 29:30-33 clearly shows that God approves of polygamy and I'll explain why. First, God is concerned about a man not loving TWO wives equally. If polygamy was immoral, God would not have such concern.

Secondly, God acts on His concern and helps TWO wives have children with ONE man. If God was against polygamy, he would not be helping TWO women to be loved by ONE man.

This shows that polygamy is not immoral because ALL of God's actions are moral. God helped TWO women to be loved by ONE man (ie polygamy), therefore it is moral for TWO women and ONE man to love each other and have kids together (polygamy).

So by "moral" you mean "Biblically supported"?
 

AgnosticGuy

Open-minded skeptic
First off, that's polygyny. God would be okay with polygamy if he was okay with polygyny (multiple female partners) as well as polyandry (multiple male partners).
I don't see any supporting reasons for your claim. If your claim is based on God having to be fair, well He isn't fair or equal all the time. For example, the man is to have the head role, only the man can initiate a divorce, only the man can be the a priest or pastor, etc, etc. With all of this inequality in place it's not a stretch to me that God would allow only polygyny and not polyandry. Remember, the ancient middle east culture was PATRIARCHAL so polygyny being allowed and not polyandry was not a new or foreign concept.

If you're referring to Abraham, Hagar and Sarai, Abraham doesn't marry Hagar as far as I'm aware. If you're referring to something else, please explain it.
No. Genesis 29:30-33 refers to Jacob and his two wives. I've already explained my reasoning in the very 1st post.

"This shows that polygamy is not immoral because ALL of God's actions are moral."
Non-sequitur. The first point doesn't logically lead to the second.
Logically, it follows. God is all-good and that would include His actions. Genesis 29:30-33 shows God's direct concern and actions towards a polygamous relationship and based on those actions we can deduce that polygamy is okay. Refer to my explanation in post #1.

God also commanded a twin brother and sister to have children - that would be Adam & Eve. He also stood back and let Lot's daughters get him drunk and mate with him until they were both pregnant.
Your point here does not invalidate my point. In my point, God does not just stand back but instead he took it upon jimself and acted on a polygamous situation. Refer to post #1 for further details.
 
Last edited:

Valjean

Veteran Member
Premium Member
The morality of polygamy depends on the harm it does and, in my opinion, it's situational. If, due to warfare or other social factors, there's a numeric disparity between the sexes -- if, for example, there are four women for every man, polygyny might be a social good.
If there were no economic place for a single woman in a society, what to do? You could burn her on her husband's funeral pyre, as some Indian societies did, or you could marry here into an existing family.
The marital arrangements of the Old Testament seem practical. If your brother's killed, you marry his wife and make her part of your economic circle, easy-peasy.
 

Rival

se Dex me saut.
Staff member
Premium Member
Correct. Polygamy is not a sin, not against the Law, not against God. It is a moral to do!
Just to clarify: are you saying these things because you believe the Bible, or just as statements about what the Bible teaches, seeing as you are no longer a Christian and presumably not a Jewish convert?
 

AgnosticGuy

Open-minded skeptic
Just to clarify: are you saying these things because you believe the Bible, or just as statements about what the Bible teaches, seeing as you are no longer a Christian and presumably not a Jewish convert?
I'm only having this discussion to show what the Bible teaches. I'm just a non-religious AND non-atheistic Agnostic : )
 

lewisnotmiller

Grand Hat
Staff member
Premium Member
Genesis 29:30-33 clearly shows that God approves of polygamy and I'll explain why. First, God is concerned about a man not loving TWO wives equally. If polygamy was immoral, God would not have such concern.

Secondly, God acts on His concern and helps TWO wives have children with ONE man. If God was against polygamy, he would not be helping TWO women to be loved by ONE man.

This shows that polygamy is not immoral because ALL of God's actions are moral. God helped TWO women to be loved by ONE man (ie polygamy), therefore it is moral for TWO women and ONE man to love each other and have kids together (polygamy).

I dunno how to break this to you, mate, but you're an agnostic. You don't need to interpret the Bible to decide what is moral.
Free yourself, brother!!
Ahem...sorry...mighta got carried away with that last line.
 

Twilight Hue

Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
Genesis 29:30-33 clearly shows that God approves of polygamy and I'll explain why. First, God is concerned about a man not loving TWO wives equally. If polygamy was immoral, God would not have such concern.

Secondly, God acts on His concern and helps TWO wives have children with ONE man. If God was against polygamy, he would not be helping TWO women to be loved by ONE man.

This shows that polygamy is not immoral because ALL of God's actions are moral. God helped TWO women to be loved by ONE man (ie polygamy), therefore it is moral for TWO women and ONE man to love each other and have kids together (polygamy).
How about 2 men and 1 woman?
 

jeager106

Learning more about Jehovah.
Premium Member
My significant other would argue against polygamy.
Frankly it does not appeal to me.
I can't afford to keep two of 'em.
 

Brian Schuh

Well-Known Member
Torah truth is evolutionary, not revolutionary. Moses did not condemn lesbianism nor did he condemn polygamy. In fact he never even spoke of an after life.

Islam has a good point-- the Mind of God cannot be contained inside one book.

Where I live, I am not allowed to have two wives (bigamy) but I'm allowed to have a husband ( I am a man.) Do y'all see what's wrong here?
 

Brian Schuh

Well-Known Member
I'm trying to understand the relationship between your last two sentences.
Issac Asimov, the athiestic Jew (that's an oxymoron) said Moses did not have enough paper (paprus) to tell the whole story (maybe he ran out if ink.) He could not possibly write down all principles of faith nor explain all prohibitions. So he vaguely said, whoever follows him, obey. He ordained Joshua to further explain, and Joshua ordained another. 40 generations from Moses, they wrote it all down in the Talmud. But the Tanakh and the Talmud still can't contain the Mind of God. Then came Kabbala. Get the point? We will never know God like He knows us.
 
Top