[Albion Wilde]

Actually, it is very Christian .... assuming that you actually follow the teachings of Christ, who not only NEVER opposed or spoke against polygamy, but actually uses the parable of 10 Virgins in a polygamist marriage under existing Jewish law, and also states that Jewish law is not replaced but fulfilled. Further, King David's six wives were counted as a BLESSING FROM GOD.

Respectfully disagree with your theories. The New International Version and the New Living Translation both call those virgins "bridesmaids," not brides. And most plural wives were added one at a time, not in groups of 10 or more. Men's ability to perform hasn't changed that much since the old days, even the young ones.

Jesus' saying that he came not to replace the law but to fulfill it had to do with the promises of God to his people in Isaiah and elsewhere that a Messiah would come. Your theory is contradicted by most of the epistles, which explain over and over that legalism in following dietary and ritual laws is not the path to salvation, and that following Christ's teachings from the heart frees both the circumcized (Jews) and the uncircumcized (Gentiles) who follow him from the obligation to observe ritual minutiae.

And lastly, while King David's six wives may have been counted a blessing, they, too, were before Jesus' time. Jesus spoke of one husband and one wife. He overturned more than the tables of the tax collectors.

[taxcontrol]

As to brides maids.... there is not such word in the ancient Greek. Nor did the Jewish traditions have the equivalent role in their marriage ceremonies.

The word that is used in that parable is translated as virgins in other places in the Bible. As used elsewhere, it refers to a woman who is eligible for marriage. Therefore, to translate as "bridesmaid" significantly alters the meaning to something that was not even present at the time and uses a word and concept that was not present or used in Jesus day.

Selective translation is just as bad as adding unnecessary emphasis as it allows the bias of the translator to alter the original meaning.