Another Big Big Thread of Religious Discussion

[Ryanderman]

Originally Posted by Archbio

Ryanderman,

Now, keeping in mind the rest of your post, this is only a question of theological interest for me, and not a very argumentative one at that (in the sense that I'm not going for a bigger point*): are you sure both of those two propositions are actually, explicitely, in a text included in the Bible? I seem to recall instances in which monogamy and marriage is even overridden by the need to produce heirs or something like that. And then there's Solomon (not Grundy.)

Just checking.

*Except perhaps to see if my opinion that present day religious beliefs or rationales are often retroactively projected onto ancient text applies here.

I think your belief is acurate in a a lot of cases, and it is something that those studying said ancient texts have to keep in mind all the time.
You're right that the covenant of marriage wasn't always followed exactly. A lot of the Biblical Patriarchs had multiple wives (Abraham, & Jacob are the two I can think of off hand) and Abraham had sex with his wife's handmaiden to produce an heir, Ishmael, before he had a son, Isaac with his wife. But I don't believe God ever approves of it. Ishmael, specifically, was a result of Abraham not trust God, and deciding to take the problem of producing and heir into his own hands, when Sarah did not seem capable of having children. That was going directly against God, and he was chastised for it.

Jacob had children with at least four different women, two of which were his wives. But again, God never said it was right. Solomon's many wives was portrayed as his main weakness, and the one blind-spot in his legendary wisdom. The Bible provides evidence time and again of God using flawed, sinful people to accomplish His goals.

Though it's also true that having multiple wives & sleeping with slaves was pretty common practice among rich men at the time of Abraham & Jacob I believe. To them it wouldn't have seemed as wrong as it does today, and they did not have Scripture to refer to. We do, and in the New Testament the Bible paints marriage as a pretty clear symbol for the relationship between God & the Church, though that's going into another topic.
Anyways, to answer the question, I am sure that what I said is explicitly described in the Bible, and is not just taking present day beliefs and projecting them onto the ancient texts.