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To: Vicomte13; Canticle_of_Deborah
There is a reasonably good biblical argument for the acceptability of polygamy, if one really wants to make it.

You're in the Old Testament. God updated this.
14 posted on 12/13/2005 2:16:59 AM PST by HarleyD ("Command what you will and give what you command." - Augustine's Prayer)
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To: HarleyD

Caveat: I am not a supporter of polygamy. (Read twice then rince and spit) :)

Having said that, those particular verses refer to leaders in the Church.

The overseer you cite in 1 Ti 3:2 is an episkipos, bishop
The deacon you cite in 1 Ti 3:12 is a diakonos
The Titus citation refers back to the word "elder" (kjv), or presbyteros, which means priest.
(note, in the Church, the order of bishops is called the episcopate, the order of priests is called the presbyteriate, and the order of deacons is called the diaconate...from the original usages as reported in the Bible)

Anyway, the fact that the word "one" is a translation of the Greek word eis, it clearly leaves points out that these classes should have one wife, as opposed to several wives. By implication, this would tend to imply that potential candidates might have more than one wife...this would show that more than one wife would be acceptable, otherwise it wouldn't have been mentioned in the first place. The word 'eis' highlights this distinction.

Having said that, I do agree with your conclusion...just not your proof-texts.


15 posted on 12/13/2005 3:37:27 AM PST by markomalley (Vivat Iesus!)
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To: HarleyD; Canticle_of_Deborah

Sure.
If one wishes to be a priest, a deacon or a bishop, he can only have one wife.
But it doesn't say that someone who isn't any of those things, a simple layman, can't have more than one wife. Christian tradition says so (old Mormon tradition excepted) but it's not particularly biblical.

Someone mentioned Solomon.
Solomon was never destroyed. His offspring destroyed the Kingdon. God didn't strike down Solomon during all the days of his life.
Further, the reproach against Solomon isn't that he had many wives, it's that he took FOREIGN wives.

And two wives have practically a competition between the two of them in having children, each child of which became the patriarch of one of the twelve tribes. Israel was blessed with all of them even as he begat the tribes of Israel by two wives.

Someone told me "read your bible". Go read yours!

It's tradition that tells us to get rid of polygamy in all cases, not Scripture.


20 posted on 12/13/2005 9:24:31 AM PST by Vicomte13 (Et alors?)
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