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Originally Posted by Leslie  Polygamy simply is not forbidden in scripture and no amount of adding tradition to scripture will make it forbidden in my mind. If one espouses sola scriptura, then sola scriptura it must be, devoid of cultural accretions.
The woman's name is Amarech. She and her late husband adopted an infant who was abandoned to my care but on whom I could not get the proper papers to send him on to the states. The boy is now 3 years old; he potentially could care for her in her old age but she'll starve to death before he's able to be gainfully employed. The Christian neighbor in question does plow her land, whether gratis or not, I don't know.
For you pastoral sorts, what would you do concerning a recently-converted polygamist. Would you require him to divorce his excess wives before admitting him to baptism and the Lord's table, or would you permit him to remain as is? I've not a clue as to how to set up a poll but if someone else can, that should be interesting. |
....but no, I wouldn't require an already-existing polygamous marriage to be broken up if the family comes to Christ. The man couldn't add any wives, but those he has, he has.
With one caveat!
The plural marriages have to be
legal. IOW, a polygamous union in the US
would have to split up, seeing as how polygamy's illegal here so the man and his extra wives are
not actually married.
But so long as we're talking about - as I assume we are - marriages that are properly registered and legal and recognized in the family's home country, then the Church should shake its head but ruefully accept them as they stand.