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Oh, that they could convince me

I'm not sure I have. I think not understanding polygyny as scriptual comes from either naivete or ignorance.

Maybe I'm still too fresh though.

I think if I had had to defend it time and time again from those that are still unaware of scripture or emotionally tied to monogamy-only, and this went on for years, then I could maybe imagine it.

I see this as being a battle fought over several generations though. My great-grandkids will live in a very different world then I am living in now. Probably by then there well be enough Patriarchal Christian Polygynists that my great-grandkids wouldn't even give it a second thought.

Whether God gives me more wives or not I will make sure my kids and grandkids know that monogamy-only does not come from the bible.

Again. Maybe I'm still too fresh to this.
 
I hoped that my pastor would show me that I was wrong, because by the time I went to talk to him about biblical marriage I had begun to realize the serious ramifications if i was correct. I went in, set to defend polygyny with scripture, but with the mindset that if he could give me any compelling biblical evidence i would be ready to reconsider my position. Defending polygyny wasn’t even a challenge, which kinda shocked me! Not because I’m anything special, but because it is just so clear from scripture when you just take it in context.
 
Just avoid people who don't get it; no one needs that kind of negativity in their life. ;)

Seriously, though, the biblical case for polygamy is almost trivial; the big hang up is culture. Don't try to 'win' an argument with someone who doesn't play by the same rules of logic and discourse and hermeneutics.

When we first got into this I thought I really wanted to convince people of the truth. In hindsight, I think what I wanted was to feel validated and be sure I wasn't going crazy. Now I just don't care what other people think.

As they say, "A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still." Or as He said, "Don't cast your pearls before swine."
 
Nobody who is anybody in government church circles is even remotely in agreement.

Fixed it for ya. ;)
 
But yeah, the "am I crazy?" question is a big deal at first, especially before you find other like-minded folks.

I have no idea how many times I've told someone, "You're not alone, and you're not crazy", but it's a lot.
 
Didn’t help to have the wife thinking, “What the heck is going on? Is he going crazy,” too ;) at least he knew if he was going to the loony bin, I was following his lead ;)
 
jacobhaivri said:
Has anyone else ever just wished that people could convince them that Polygyny is unscriptural for peace sake? Wishing it were all just a holy cow so it could be shot and done away with?
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Never. I've never wanted to go back on knowing that this is truth. The same with anything else my eyes have been opened to. What I want is society and the rest of the world to catch up to where I'm at.
I actually wonder more about what else YHWH has lined up to reveal to me that I don't know yet. Perhaps there's something else that I think is right or that is a sin and I'm about to find out it's the opposite. Mind blown yet again.

Random note: Every time I read the bible I find out something hugely different to what I thought. Like, Solomon didn't become king and ask for wisdom the next day 'cause he was a young fellow. Nope, he was king for a while and doing pretty well already. It's things like that that I keep finding out and they keep shaking me because I feel like I actually know no truth whatsoever and are running off bible stories I've heard rather than the real thing. I tell you, it's exhausting reading the bible these days. But I don't ever wish any of that gone. Truth is truth, even when it's difficult to hear, it's still important.
 
jacobhaivri said:
Has anyone else ever just wished that people could convince them that Polygyny is unscriptural for peace sake? Wishing it were all just a holy cow so it could be shot and done away with?
Click to expand...

I can see your point.....but once you see it.....you just can't un see it.
I'ts been a lot of years for me....no regrets......I'm just waiting to someday find out all the purpose in it all.
 
andrew said:
...
As they say, "A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still." Or as He said, "Don't cast your pearls before swine."
Click to expand...

I would think that only applies when "Argument by Force" is used, but unfortunately, some people are unconvinced even when you shove the evidence in their face. Most people I encounter who don't want to acknowledge the truth, try to push this issue to the back burner, because it is not salvific, but I always try to point out that dishonesty in handling the Scripture, is a bad witness to those we want to reach with the gospel message.
 
andrew said:
Nobody who is anybody in government church circles is even remotely in agreement.

Fixed it for ya. ;)
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Yeah, because once they acknowledge the truth, they either step out of the pulpit, away from their denomination, or get kicked to the curb. The key is to acknowledge that the leader in question is not allowed to agree with you publicly and still remain in good standing with their denomination. We don't want the leaders who have influence, to get kicked to the curb or step aside, because then our efforts to persuade them are in vain.

What we really need is for leaders like Brian Kelson and William Luck to have a public debate platform against leaders like James White, John MacArthur, Dr. Bobby Conway, and Albert Mohler. Remain within your congregation as long as you can fly under the radar, and work to convince your pastor, not necessarily to agree with you, but to debate one of these men in your church. I have already given my pastor some information and made my position known, which he has declined to respond to (funny how he responded to each and every email I sent him, until I brought this up), so at some point I will challenge him to participate in such a debate. If the lesser known leaders lose badly in their debates, it might scare off the more well known leaders, so it might be better to have such a debate not end up so lop-sided, in order to get a bigger stage, but if these lesser known pastors are simply not capable of holding their own in a debate on this topic, so be it.

Ultimately, we have to get this issue brought up on the floor of a convention of a major denomination, such as the Southern Baptist Convention. People will always disagree, but all we are really asking for, is the ability to fellowship with those who disagree with us on this topic.
 
Daniel DeLuca said:
Ultimately, we have to get this issue brought up on the floor of a convention of a major denomination, such as the Southern Baptist Convention. People will always disagree, but all we are really asking for, is the ability to fellowship with those who disagree with us on this topic.
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I agree that getting a resolution like that on the floor of a denominational convention would be great, but I think would also be a monumental task. The reason why I think you point out in your earlier post:

Daniel DeLuca said:
Most people I encounter who don't want to acknowledge the truth, try to push this issue to the back burner, because it is not salvific,
Click to expand...

It seems that most major denominations avoid brining up something this big even though it is clearly in the realm of Christian freedom is to avoid a split in their denomination. If it were to come to the floor and be voted down then those that supported it would end up "marked" in their denominations.

In an older thread, that I can't seem to find at the moment, someone suggested starting a new denomination and building from the ground up. I think that would probably work out better. Especially if the new denomination was close enough in beliefs to a major one that the pastors, bishops, elders, laymen, etc. wouldn't feel like there were compromising other stances in order switch to the new denomination.
 
Daniel DeLuca said:
all we are really asking for, is the ability to fellowship with those who disagree with us
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And you need their fellowship because…?
Mage said:
Especially if the new denomination was close enough in beliefs to a major one that the pastors, bishops, elders, laymen, etc. wouldn't feel like there were compromising other stances in order switch to the new denomination.
Click to expand...
Working out a list of beliefs that's "close enough" is compromise.
 
@Daniel DeLuca, I respectfully submit that you are wasting your time, and the battle will be fought and won at the person-to-person and family-to-family level. We're not trying to save the Titanic; we're trying to find something that floats. The Titanic is done for. (Just mixing metaphors all over the place....)

Again, this falls under the general heading of something I said on another thread about needing validation in the early stages. Focus on your walk with God and your relationship with your wife and children (is your wife on board with the ideas of biblical headship and plural marriage?). You can spend the rest of your life arguing with people you're only annoying (pearls before swine), or you can get to work building something that matters.
 
I personally believe that a good number of the upper crust of modern christianity know that polygyny is biblical but they suppress the truth because of their fear of men ...or more specifically, women. They have no interest in debating the issue because lies love darkness. The only way to bring them kicking and screaming into the light is by turning the light on for one sheep at a time.
 
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