Posted on 06/09/2017 9:25:56 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Popular televangelist Pat Robertson, who serves as chancellor of Regent University and chairman of the Christian Broadcasting Network, has said he doesn't know of anything in the Bible that condemns polygamy the practice of having more than one wife or husband at the same time.
"I'm not sure I know anything in the Bible that indicates polygamy, as such, is against the Bible. But we don't do it and there are a lot of laws based on the New Testament [that] don't permit it, and that's where we are," Robertson said in a clip from "The 700 Club" series posted on YouTube Wednesday.
Robertson was responding to a question from a viewer identified only as Margaret who asked: "Why did God allow the men of faith in the Old Testament to have multiple wives and concubines? And when did God change His mind and make marriage monogamous?"
Although polygamy is illegal in the U.S. and culturally unpopular, some researchers estimate that between 50,000 to 100,000 people are involved in polygamous relationships and the arrangement is more common between men and multiple wives. Public acceptance of the lifestyle is also growing due to reality shows such as TLC's "Sister Wives," which gives a real-life inside look into a polygamist family.
"I don't think God changed his mind [polygamy]," Robertson said.
He noted that a man will find it easier to take care of multiple wives that vice versa.
"The truth is that women have babies. And when they have babies they can't fight wars because they are having babies, and they are looking after their babies and they need somebody to look after them that's why husbands are supposed to look after their wives. And a man can take care of several wives whereas one wife can't take care of several husbands," the CBN chairman said.
"I think in the early days there must have been more women than men. Multiples wives were standard stuff in the primitive societies, at least they still are in Africa. I know one guy, the chief or something, the general, he had 60 wives. That's a little excessive, it is, but nevertheless, God didn't change his mind but came the New Testament. And Jesus gave the standards of marriage, man leaves his mother and father, cleaves to his wife and the twain will become one flesh," he explained. "And so that's the biblical order of the New Testament, but the culture has changed. God didn't change his mind."
Brad Wilcox, director of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia, told The Daily Beast in 2015 that if polygamy is legalized he believes it could happen within "the next 20 to 30 years."
Earlier this year, however, the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed a challenge to Utah's anti-bigamy law brought by "Sister Wives" star Kody Brown and his wives, Meri, Janelle, Christine and Robyn.
Brown is only legally married to one of the "wives." The fundamentalist Mormons who are part of the Apostolic United Brethren Church, claimed in their legal challenge that Utah's law banning multiple spouses violated their religious liberty rights under the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment. They claim polygamy as a religious belief.
Polygamists abandon their sons, brothers and uncles. They are the scum of the earth.
“I’m not sure I know anything in the Bible that indicates polygamy, as such, is against the Bible” - Pat Robertson
Why then make such a statement if he isn’t “sure”....good grief man do your homework! What a jerk!
I have a family member that likes this guy and so often he gets things wrong....but his ‘fans’ think he walks on water so his fans generally aren’t open to seek further than what he says.
Perhaps Pat in his dotage is trying to come to terms with some long term “indiscretion”.
I should have been clear that the rabbinical ruling in the year 999 was for Ashkenazi (’European’) Jews. The nation of Israel didn’t prohibit new polygamous marriages until 1954 when Mizrahi (’Eastern’) Jews from Central Asian and Arab nations had been emigrating to Israel after 1948.
That didn't end well.
It was not in the original plan for sure and certainly Jesus did not say that it was a good thing. His words were that a man should leave his mother and father and cleave to his wife. Not wives.
Yet because it is not specifically ruled out then it can taken that having more then one wife is acceptable if not the ideal. However the reality of Christianity is that once you are a Christian taking more wives is generally not done.
It falls into the same category as slavery. Once Christianity settles into a culture it starts disappearing.
Slavery begins to vanish because Christians are commanded to treat their slaves justly and slave who are also Christians are to be treated as brothers. You do not sell your brother, you do not take their children from them, you do not force your sister into your bed, you do not beat them to make them work harder. Slavery quickly loses it financial and prurient appeal.
A Christian man is commanded to love his wife, not tolerate her, not put up with her but love her. He is to give her honor. Taking a second wife tears at the first wife's heart. It is not loving to do that. And you can not give equal honor to both wives. He may not take a wife to puff up his ego or as a trophy.
The end result is polygamy loses it's appeal.
So it also begins to vanish.
Not because there are rules against it but because the rules for living a Christian life and having a Christian heart mean that it no longer fits into your manner.
How long before they gang up?
There should be a verse somewhere that simply says, “Dude, you don’t need that kind of punishment!” :)
God certainly didn’t laud it.
On the other hand, divorce, unmarried sex, and lack of a father certainly are specifically condemned many times. Zero people who waste a lot of precious air huffing and puffing over polygamy without putting considerably more effort into eradicating these sins which God condemns over and over have their head overly aligned to the Bible.
“I know the NT says a church leader (a bishop) should be the husband of one wife. Where is there any condemnation or prohibition other than that?”
Matthew 6:26 - “No man can serve two masters”
All joking aside, exactly.
In the OT one of the times when polygamy was EXPRESSLY condoned is when a husband died and his wife was childless. In such cases the man’s brother was to take the woman into his house and have have children for his brother by her.
You can make a better case for polygamy in the Bible than you can for divorce; a much better case!
Abraham, Jacob, David, Solomon and Hezekiah all had multiple wives.
The verse that was thrown at you clearly implies that some men at the time multiple wives and that it was not ideal, and that is why a bishop/elder/pastor/teacher was required to have only one. However, it doesn’t call polygamy sinful either.
BTW, I only have one wife. If I had two like the one I’ve got I’d have been dead years ago.
OMG...why would any man want multiple mother-in-laws?
The article bent what Pat Robertson said. Polygamy was result of mans fall and is first recorded in Cains genealogy Genesis 4:19. Certainly the the king was not to have lots of wives, Deu 17:17 Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: but there is no command not to have multiple wives in the old Testament.
God is also far more concerned with divorce and fatherlessness.
Don’t take offense, do a little reading on the subject. Being a freemason and a Christian evangelist at the same time, as with Pat Robertson, is not compatible. My family had plenty of low level freemasons, but Pat is not a low level guy.
Reverend Charles Finney and President John Quincy Adams were part of the Anti-Mason Party, which became the Whig Party, which morphed into Lincoln’s GOP...
Read what they say about the Masons. You do know that the Freemasons believe September 11 is Christ’s real birthday? Look it up. It’s why they murdered Captain Morgan for becoming a Christian on September 11, 1826 and kickstarted the whole anti-Mason movement in the United States. John Q Adams was an interesting guy.
All this to say, Christianity and Masonry are not compatible.
“Why I left Freemasonry by Rev Charles Finney”
http://www.isaiah54.org/finney.htm
You could marry sisters. LOL
Slavery is a bad comparison, I think. Christianity didn’t really abandon slavery for another 1500 years after the Christian church was founded.
It was The Enlightenment that takes credit for abolition, not Christianity.
what a nice sentiment about women.....really upstanding man aren't you....
whatever....when polygamy becomes common it will mean that 90% of men will not have nooky unless they do it to each other...
the alpha men will have the harems, and most all men will not....
stone age paganism, here we come...
I don’t even want one woman.
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