You are currently browsing the monthly archive for June 2015.
In some societies a man may marry several wives. Western society allows this in a different way, in what is sometimes called “serial polygamy” – a man may marry several wives so long as he legally divorces the current one before marrying the next.
Arguably, the “Christian” form of polygamy is a more primitive and callous arrangement for the man’s existing family than ordinary polygamy. In polygamous societies, the first wife and their children remain viable parts of a viable social entity… In serial polygamy the children are brought up in a broken home, the wife is discarded in a difficult social position.
Understanding Human Behavior
Human Relationships: Man & His Women, Vol. 4, p. 438
Listen to Today’s Audio Goodie
(Have the Goodie read to you!)
Since the beginning He has been a God of compassion, to forgive people, and let them begin again. The adultery and murder of Uriah by King David was as bad as – if not worse (in man’s value system) – than divorce. Yet, God honored the marriage of David and Bathsheba after their repentance (II Samuel 11-12). God did not reckon David’s sin with Bathsheba as damning guilt, but freely forgave him.
He so fully forgave that He gave Bathsheba another son (Solomon) and bestowed a love upon him which gave him the name Jedidiah, which means “beloved of the Lord” (II Samuel 12:24, 25). Furthermore, God put Bathsheba in the genealogy of Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:6) and called David a man “after His own heart” (I Samuel 13:14).
This is what grace does. Only the condemning, self-righteous, grace-ignoring would beg to disagree with the compassion of the Lord. Thus I cannot understand a theology that, in the name of Christ, will forbid remarriage … a new start.
Ross Davis
Life At Its Best (1980)