To: RKV
None of that matters.
The Bible indicates all sorts of people had all sorts of behavior that God specifically said not to do. The point is to show that people are not perfect, not to indicate that it's Ok.
Abraham and Jacob both told people their wives were their sisters. Rebekah tricked Isaac into blessing Jacob instead of Esau. Moses killed a man. Peter denied Christ 3 times. Noah got drunk and his kids saw him naked. David had an afair with a woman and had her husband killed to cover up the afair. I could go on...
These people all did things that were against God's law. That doesn't make it Ok. It shows that they were flawed people that were still able to do great things for God's purpose despite their flaws. God constantly chose flawed, weak people to be his leaders to show that His strength and might was doing the work and not the people.
12 posted on
01/15/2006 3:47:12 PM PST by
ark_girl
To: ark_girl
Also, the fact that David abused power falls into the flow of the Old Testament.
Israel wanted a king. God told them they did not want a king. God told them it was best to let Him lead them through the system of judges and prophets he had been communicating to Isreal through. Isreal was told that having a human king would only lead to trouble because the king would be power-hungry and would cause a burden on the people. Israel said they wanted a king anyway, so God made Saul their King. Saul didn't follow God's instructions (I think he didn't follow a battle plan God gave him), so God booted Saul and gave the people David.
David went on to raise the money for the temple, but he also knocked up his neighbor's wife and had her husband killed to hid his indiscretion, which (I believe) was partly why he didn't get to build the temple himself insead of Solomon. Isreal had a series of good and bad (some outright evil) Kings. While David was a good man and one of the better kings they had, even he wasn't perfect, which caused problems sometimes.
The whole point of the Bible talking about Israel's kings was that the people didn't listen to God and it brought on trouble and heartache.
18 posted on
01/15/2006 4:03:00 PM PST by
ark_girl
To: ark_girl
The point I was attempting to make is that there is NO specific prohibition of polygamy in the Bible, and that it was common practice in Biblical times. 1 Timothy 3:2 is the only verse in the New Testament which is close, and it applies to bishops, not to all Christians.
21 posted on
01/15/2006 4:07:58 PM PST by
RKV
( He who has the guns, makes the rules.)
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