by Buddy Netter

Created on: January 27, 2009

How Does Polygamy Harm Mankind?

I can't say for sure how polygamy harms mankind, but from what I've observed, it sure doesn't seem to do a lot for womankind. However, I have a sneaking suspicion that we are soon going to experiencing an agenda to make plural marriage legitimate. Sound far-fetched? Let me build my case.

First we get a new TV series, Big Love, which by the way seems to be increasing in popularity. Then, based on a 911 call from a supposed 16 year old girl named Sarah who says she is being abused, there is the roundup of children from the polygamist compound in Texas. . .for their own protection, of course. We see these children crying for their mothers, as their mothers express shock and concern for their children's wellbeing. All of a sudden, polygamists are no longer an odd group of people living an obscure lifestyle most of the American public has not been too aware of. Now people are starting to side with the polygamists, saying that we should just leave them alone, live and let live. In the same way that bringing gay people to the forefront and calling attention to their issues has garnered support for gay marriage, I predict that agenda calling for the legitimizing of plural marriage is on its way.

As a Christian, I believe that God intended marriage to be for one man and one woman. Genesis 2:24: Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh. I also believe than man has distorted and continued to pervert God's original plan throughout history.

I often hear the argument that plural marriage has biblical support. Yes, there was a lot of that going on in the Old Testament, but let's take a closer look at what was happening there. Women were basically chattel, sold from their fathers to whoever offered up a couple of oxen or donkeys. Upon marriage, a woman went from being her father's property to her husband's. If a woman didn't produce the necessary virgin's blood on the wedding night sheets, she could be stoned to death. If a man became displeased with one of his wives for any reason, he could divorce her and send her packing. Divorce was a male privilege only; a woman could not seek a divorce, and in the culture she lived in, she would not have wanted to. When a man divorced a wife, this usually included all of her offspring as well. As a divorced woman was considered a shame to her family, she could not return home and often had to turn to prostitution as a means to feed herself

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