Erasmus
New Member
Dear friends,
Basically plural marriage is a form of marriage that works best within a patriarchal society. America used to be such a society but now days it has become decidedly matriarchal. The reason that plural marriage is best suited for patriarchy is that without the acknowledged supremacy of the man with in the family unit there is no final authority for women to agree to submit to. In the Old Testament, Sara and indeed all the household reverenced Abraham and submitted to His counsel. In such a situation the inevitable difficulties that arise from having more than one woman to husband at a time can be dealt with fairly and justly.
However, we are faced with trying to live a patriarchal lifestyle in a matriarchal society in which women, generally speaking, have little concept of reverence towards men. This is not their fault for women are social creatures and naturally tend to mold to the societal values hey are presented with. It takes a very strong woman indeed to stand up to the constant barrage of disrespect that society teaches them to show towards males.
I have thought about this a bit and have come up with the rather astonishing conclusion that this turn in America from patriarchal to matriarchal started with the woman’s right to vote. As soon as women became a voting block then politicians started to pander to them in order to secure their support. Today, many politicians are pro-choice simply because they cannot afford to alienate that part of their constituencies. Another step down the slope into matriarchy was the advent of contraceptives. Now, promiscuity became practical for the fear of pregnancy was not as great. The “summer of love” was really just the “summer of promiscuity” because of the pill. Unfortunately, the promise of safe and effective contraceptive was well, deceptive, and even though in theory when used correctly it would prevent conception when not used properly it was not so good. Therefore, you had the rise of births out of wedlock which were highly frowned upon by our society. Therefore, abortion became an issue because both women and men did not wish to pay for their indiscretions and again, because the woman’s vote was something that the politicians felt they must pander to; abortion became law through the Supreme Court ruling and could not be challenged effectively. The proceeding is just a sketch of what I believe has happened to our country. It is also why we find it difficult to find suitable women to marry as plural wives.
So, aside from the theological implications of Christian polygamy I believe it would be profitable to figure out the following:
1. Where are we going to find suitable wives in our present society?
2. How are we going to support them in a manor that is proper and comfortable?
3. Having grown up in a matriarchal society how will men again regain their patriarchal position with balance and fairness?
I believe these three topics would be greatly helpful if we could come together and actually work out the nuts and bolts of them. No matter what your theological framework these basic questions need to be answered or else polygamy is just a academic question for many of us.
God bless,
Erasmus
Basically plural marriage is a form of marriage that works best within a patriarchal society. America used to be such a society but now days it has become decidedly matriarchal. The reason that plural marriage is best suited for patriarchy is that without the acknowledged supremacy of the man with in the family unit there is no final authority for women to agree to submit to. In the Old Testament, Sara and indeed all the household reverenced Abraham and submitted to His counsel. In such a situation the inevitable difficulties that arise from having more than one woman to husband at a time can be dealt with fairly and justly.
However, we are faced with trying to live a patriarchal lifestyle in a matriarchal society in which women, generally speaking, have little concept of reverence towards men. This is not their fault for women are social creatures and naturally tend to mold to the societal values hey are presented with. It takes a very strong woman indeed to stand up to the constant barrage of disrespect that society teaches them to show towards males.
I have thought about this a bit and have come up with the rather astonishing conclusion that this turn in America from patriarchal to matriarchal started with the woman’s right to vote. As soon as women became a voting block then politicians started to pander to them in order to secure their support. Today, many politicians are pro-choice simply because they cannot afford to alienate that part of their constituencies. Another step down the slope into matriarchy was the advent of contraceptives. Now, promiscuity became practical for the fear of pregnancy was not as great. The “summer of love” was really just the “summer of promiscuity” because of the pill. Unfortunately, the promise of safe and effective contraceptive was well, deceptive, and even though in theory when used correctly it would prevent conception when not used properly it was not so good. Therefore, you had the rise of births out of wedlock which were highly frowned upon by our society. Therefore, abortion became an issue because both women and men did not wish to pay for their indiscretions and again, because the woman’s vote was something that the politicians felt they must pander to; abortion became law through the Supreme Court ruling and could not be challenged effectively. The proceeding is just a sketch of what I believe has happened to our country. It is also why we find it difficult to find suitable women to marry as plural wives.
So, aside from the theological implications of Christian polygamy I believe it would be profitable to figure out the following:
1. Where are we going to find suitable wives in our present society?
2. How are we going to support them in a manor that is proper and comfortable?
3. Having grown up in a matriarchal society how will men again regain their patriarchal position with balance and fairness?
I believe these three topics would be greatly helpful if we could come together and actually work out the nuts and bolts of them. No matter what your theological framework these basic questions need to be answered or else polygamy is just a academic question for many of us.
God bless,
Erasmus