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PhilTheThrill
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Date Joined Jan 2004
Total Posts : 95
 
   Posted 5/10/2005 1:05 PM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
So, I was reading Evangelical Outpost, a must read blog for Christians, and someone made the case that the Bible does not explicitly forbid polygamy.
 
I did some looking into it, and I really can't disagree. The Bible forbids adultery but polygamy isn't adultery.
 
I brought the issue before my friends and family which started a big issue because they thought I wanted to be a polygamist. I finally convinced them I wasn't trying to go there, but the idea was met with much resistance and little evidence.
 
I don't know if this issue has been discussed already, but I would love the board's take on the issue. If the U.S. legalized polygamy, what would stop a Christian from practicing it in good faith?
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Truth Aficionado
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Date Joined Dec 2003
Total Posts : 1544
 
   Posted 5/10/2005 1:26 PM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
PhilTheThrill said...
So, I was reading Evangelical Outpost, a must read blog for Christians, and someone made the case that the Bible does not explicitly forbid polygamy.
 
I did some looking into it, and I really can't disagree. The Bible forbids adultery but polygamy isn't adultery.
 
I brought the issue before my friends and family which started a big issue because they thought I wanted to be a polygamist. I finally convinced them I wasn't trying to go there, but the idea was met with much resistance and little evidence.
 
I don't know if this issue has been discussed already, but I would love the board's take on the issue. If the U.S. legalized polygamy, what would stop a Christian from practicing it in good faith?

So, anything and everything that is not explicitly stated in the bible is fair game? 

 

That’s kool, becuz I be tinkin about primp’n.

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PhilTheThrill
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Date Joined Jan 2004
Total Posts : 95
 
   Posted 5/10/2005 1:29 PM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Well, what in the Bible would forbid polygamy? Which implicit command forbids it, since there is no explicit one that does?
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Truth Aficionado
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Date Joined Dec 2003
Total Posts : 1544
 
   Posted 5/10/2005 2:05 PM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
PhilTheThrill said...
Well, what in the Bible would forbid polygamy? Which implicit command forbids it, since there is no explicit one that does?
I'm there with ya' man, that king Solomon dude not got nut'n on me man.   I'm going to be raking in a lot of bread, man.
 
Proverbs 6:26 (NRSV) 
    for a prostitute's fee is only a loaf of bread,
        but the wife of another stalks a man's very life.

 
 
Check out my new threads!
 
Bring on the pretty ladies,
SuperSpark
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Date Joined Dec 2003
Total Posts : 1544
 
   Posted 5/10/2005 2:12 PM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
PhilTheThrill said...
Well, what in the Bible would forbid polygamy? Which implicit command forbids it, since there is no explicit one that does?

Hey comrade, this might only be a small technicality but I’m not finding many  any plurals. hmmm   Only one goose too.

 

Genesis 2:24-25 (NRSV) 
Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh. [25] And the man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed.

Genesis 3:8 (NRSV) 
    They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

Genesis 3:17 (NRSV) 
    And to the man he said,
        "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife,
        and have eaten of the tree
    about which I commanded you,
        'You shall not eat of it,'
    cursed is the ground because of you;
        in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life;

Genesis 3:20-21 (NRSV) 
    The man named his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all living. [21] And the Lord God made garments of skins for the man and for his wife, and clothed them.

Genesis 4:1 (NRSV) 
    Now the man knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, "I have produced a man with the help of the Lord."

Genesis 4:17 (NRSV) 
    Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch; and he built a city, and named it Enoch after his son Enoch.

Genesis 4:25 (NRSV) 
    Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and named him Seth, for she said, "God has appointed for me another child instead of Abel, because Cain killed him."

Genesis 6:18 (NRSV) 
    But I will establish my covenant with you; and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you.

Genesis 7:7 (NRSV) 
    And Noah with his sons and his wife and his sons' wives went into the ark to escape the waters of the flood.

Genesis 7:13 (NRSV) 
    On the very same day Noah with his sons, Shem and Ham and Japheth, and Noah's wife and the three wives of his sons entered the ark,

Genesis 8:16 (NRSV) 
    "Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons' wives with you.

Genesis 8:18 (NRSV) 
    So Noah went out with his sons and his wife and his sons' wives.

Genesis 11:29 (NRSV) 
    Abram and Nahor took wives; the name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife was Milcah. She was the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and Iscah.

Genesis 11:31 (NRSV) 
    Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram's wife, and they went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan; but when they came to Haran, they settled there.

Genesis 12:5 (NRSV) 
    Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother's son Lot, and all the possessions that they had gathered, and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran; and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan. When they had come to the land of Canaan,

Genesis 12:11-12 (NRSV) 
    When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, "I know well that you are a woman beautiful in appearance; [12] and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, 'This is his wife'; then they will kill me, but they will let you live.

Genesis 12:17-13:1 (NRSV) 
    But the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife. [18] So Pharaoh called Abram, and said, "What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? [19] Why did you say, 'She is my sister,' so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife, take her, and be gone." [20] And Pharaoh gave his men orders concerning him; and they set him on the way, with his wife and all that he had.
    [13:1] So Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the Negeb.

Genesis 16:1 (NRSV) 
    Now Sarai, Abram's wife, bore him no children. She had an Egyptian slave-girl whose name was Hagar,

Genesis 16:3 (NRSV) 
    So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her slave-girl, and gave her to her husband Abram as a wife.

Genesis 17:15 (NRSV) 
    God said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.

Genesis 17:19 (NRSV) 
    God said, "No, but your wife Sarah shall bear you a son, and you shall name him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him.

Genesis 18:9-10 (NRSV) 
    They said to him, "Where is your wife Sarah?" And he said, "There, in the tent." [10] Then one said, "I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son." And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him.

Genesis 19:15-16 (NRSV) 
    When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, "Get up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or else you will be consumed in the punishment of the city." [16] But he lingered; so the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and left him outside the city.

Genesis 19:26 (NRSV) 
    But Lot's wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

Genesis 20:2 (NRSV) 
    Abraham said of his wife Sarah, "She is my sister." And King Abimelech of Gerar sent and took Sarah.

Genesis 20:7 (NRSV) 
    Now then, return the man's wife; for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you shall live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all that are yours."

Genesis 20:11-12 (NRSV) 
    Abraham said, "I did it because I thought, There is no fear of God at all in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife. [12] Besides, she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife.

Genesis 20:14 (NRSV) 
    Then Abimelech took sheep and oxen, and male and female slaves, and gave them to Abraham, and restored his wife Sarah to him.

Genesis 20:17-18 (NRSV) 
    Then Abraham prayed to God; and God healed Abimelech, and also healed his wife and female slaves so that they bore children. [18] For the Lord had closed fast all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham's wife.

Genesis 21:21 (NRSV) 
    He lived in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

Genesis 23:19 (NRSV) 
    After this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah facing Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan.

Genesis 24:3-4 (NRSV) 
    and I will make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live, [4] but will go to my country and to my kindred and get a wife for my son Isaac."

Genesis 24:7 (NRSV) 
    The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father's house and from the land of my birth, and who spoke to me and swore to me, 'To your offspring I will give this land,' he will send his angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there.

Genesis 24:15 (NRSV) 
    Before he had finished speaking, there was Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, coming out with her water jar on her shoulder.

Genesis 24:36-38 (NRSV) 
    And Sarah my master's wife bore a son to my master when she was old; and he has given him all that he has. [37] My master made me swear, saying, 'You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live; [38] but you shall go to my father's house, to my kindred, and get a wife for my son.'

Genesis 24:40 (NRSV) 
    But he said to me, 'The Lord, before whom I walk, will send his angel with you and make your way successful. You shall get a wife for my son from my kindred, from my father's house.

Genesis 24:51 (NRSV) 
    Look, Rebekah is before you, take her and go, and let her be the wife of your master's son, as the Lord has spoken."

Genesis 24:67-25:1 (NRSV) 
    Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent. He took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.
    [25:1] Abraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah.

Genesis 25:10 (NRSV) 
    the field that Abraham purchased from the Hittites. There Abraham was buried, with his wife Sarah.

Genesis 25:21 (NRSV) 
    Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren; and the Lord granted his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived.

Genesis 26:7-11 (NRSV) 
    When the men of the place asked him about his wife, he said, "She is my sister"; for he was afraid to say, "My wife," thinking, "or else the men of the place might kill me for the sake of Rebekah, because she is attractive in appearance." [8] When Isaac had been there a long time, King Abimelech of the Philistines looked out of a window and saw him fondling his wife Rebekah. [9] So Abimelech called for Isaac, and said, "So she is your wife! Why then did you say, 'She is my sister'?" Isaac said to him, "Because I thought I might die because of her." [10] Abimelech said, "What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us." [11] So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, "Whoever touches this man or his wife shall be put to death."

Genesis 28:2 (NRSV) 
    Go at once to Paddan-aram to the house of Bethuel, your mother's father; and take as wife from there one of the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother.

Genesis 28:6 (NRSV) 
    Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram to take a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he charged him, "You shall not marry one of the Canaanite women,"

Genesis 28:9 (NRSV) 
    Esau went to Ishmael and took Mahalath daughter of Abraham's son Ishmael, and sister of Nebaioth, to be his wife in addition to the wives he had.

Genesis 29:21 (NRSV) 
    Then Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife that I may go in to her, for my time is completed."

Genesis 29:28 (NRSV) 
    Jacob did so, and completed her week; then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel as a wife.

Genesis 30:4 (NRSV) 
    So she gave him her maid Bilhah as a wife; and Jacob went in to her.

Genesis 30:9 (NRSV) 
    When Leah saw that she had ceased bearing children, she took her maid Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife.

Genesis 34:4 (NRSV) 
    So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, "Get me this girl to be my wife."

Genesis 34:12 (NRSV) 
    Put the marriage present and gift as high as you like, and I will give whatever you ask me; only give me the girl to be my wife."

Genesis 36:10 (NRSV) 
    These are the names of Esau's sons: Eliphaz son of Adah the wife of Esau; Reuel, the son of Esau's wife Basemath.

Genesis 36:12-14 (NRSV) 
    (Timna was a concubine of Eliphaz, Esau's son; she bore Amalek to Eliphaz.) These were the sons of Adah, Esau's wife. [13] These were the sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These were the sons of Esau's wife, Basemath. [14] These were the sons of Esau's wife Oholibamah, daughter of Anah son of Zibeon: she bore to Esau Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.

Genesis 36:17-18 (NRSV) 
    These are the sons of Esau's son Reuel: the clans Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah; these are the clans of Reuel in the land of Edom; they are the sons of Esau's wife Basemath. [18] These are the sons of Esau's wife Oholibamah: the clans Jeush, Jalam, and Korah; these are the clans born of Esau's wife Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah.

Genesis 38:6 (NRSV) 
    Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn; her name was Tamar.

Genesis 38:8-9 (NRSV) 
    Then Judah said to Onan, "Go in to your brother's wife and perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her; raise up offspring for your brother." [9] But since Onan knew that the offspring would not be his, he spilled his semen on the ground whenever he went in to his brother's wife, so that he would not give offspring to his brother.

Genesis 38:12 (NRSV) 
    In course of time the wife of Judah, Shua's daughter, died; when Judah's time of mourning was over, he went up to Timnah to his sheepshearers, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite.

Genesis 39:7-9 (NRSV) 
    And after a time his master's wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, "Lie with me." [8] But he refused and said to his master's wife, "Look, with me here, my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my hand. [9] He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except yourself, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?"

Genesis 39:19 (NRSV) 
    When his master heard the words that his wife spoke to him, saying, "This is the way your servant treated me," he became enraged.

Genesis 41:45 (NRSV) 
    Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-paneah; and he gave him Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, as his wife. Thus Joseph gained authority over the land of Egypt.

Genesis 44:27 (NRSV) 
    Then your servant my father said to us, 'You know that my wife bore me two sons;

Genesis 46:19 (NRSV) 
    The children of Jacob's wife Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin.

Genesis 49:31 (NRSV) 
    There Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried; there Isaac and his wife Rebekah were buried; and there I buried Leah--

Exodus 4:20 (NRSV) 
    So Moses took his wife and his sons, put them on a donkey and went back to the land of Egypt; and Moses carried the staff of God in his hand.

Exodus 18:2 (NRSV) 
    After Moses had sent away his wife Zipporah, his father-in-law Jethro took her back,

Exodus 18:5-6 (NRSV) 
    Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came into the wilderness where Moses was encamped at the mountain of God, bringing Moses' sons and wife to him. [6] He sent word to Moses, "I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you, with your wife and her two sons."

Exodus 20:17 (NRSV) 
    You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

Exodus 21:3-5 (NRSV) 
    If he comes in single, he shall go out single; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him. [4] If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master's and he shall go out alone. [5] But if the slave declares, "I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out a free person,"

Exodus 21:10 (NRSV) 
    If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish the food, clothing, or marital rights of the first wife.

Exodus 22:16 (NRSV) 
    When a man seduces a virgin who is not engaged to be married, and lies with her, he shall give the bride-price for her and make her his wife.

Leviticus 18:8 (NRSV) 
    You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's wife; it is the nakedness of your father.

Leviticus 18:14-16 (NRSV) 
    You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's brother, that is, you shall not approach his wife; she is your aunt. [15] You shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law: she is your son's wife; you shall not uncover her nakedness. [16] You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother's wife; it is your brother's nakedness.

Leviticus 18:20 (NRSV) 
    You shall not have sexual relations with your kinsman's wife, and defile yourself with her.

Leviticus 20:10-11 (NRSV) 
    If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death. [11] The man who lies with his father's wife has uncovered his father's nakedness; both of them shall be put to death; their blood is upon them.

Leviticus 20:14 (NRSV) 
    If a man takes a wife and her mother also, it is depravity; they shall be burned to death, both he and they, that there may be no depravity among you.

Leviticus 20:20-21 (NRSV) 
    If a man lies with his uncle's wife, he has uncovered his uncle's nakedness; they shall be subject to punishment; they shall die childless. [21] If a man takes his brother's wife, it is impurity; he has uncovered his brother's nakedness; they shall be childless.

Numbers 5:12 (NRSV) 
    Speak to the Israelites and say to them: If any man's wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him,

Numbers 5:14-15 (NRSV) 
    if a spirit of jealousy comes on him, and he is jealous of his wife who has defiled herself; or if a spirit of jealousy comes on him, and he is jealous of his wife, though she has not defiled herself; [15] then the man shall bring his wife to the priest. And he shall bring the offering required for her, one-tenth of an ephah of barley flour. He shall pour no oil on it and put no frankincense on it, for it is a grain offering of jealousy, a grain offering of remembrance, bringing iniquity to remembrance.

Numbers 5:29-30 (NRSV) 
    This is the law in cases of jealousy, when a wife, while under her husband's authority, goes astray and defiles herself, [30] or when a spirit of jealousy comes on a man and he is jealous of his wife; then he shall set the woman before the Lord, and the priest shall apply this entire law to her.

Numbers 26:59 (NRSV) 
    The name of Amram's wife was Jochebed daughter of Levi, who was born to Levi in Egypt; and she bore to Amram: Aaron, Moses, and their sister Miriam.

Numbers 30:16 (NRSV) 
    These are the statutes that the Lord commanded Moses concerning a husband and his wife, and a father and his daughter while she is still young and in her father's house.

Deut. 5:21 (NRSV) 
    Neither shall you covet your neighbor's wife.
    Neither shall you desire your neighbor's house, or field, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

Deut. 13:6 (NRSV) 
    If anyone secretly entices you--even if it is your brother, your father's son or your mother's son, or your own son or daughter, or the wife you embrace, or your most intimate friend--saying, "Let us go worship other gods," whom neither you nor your ancestors have known,

Deut. 21:13 (NRSV) 
    discard her captive's garb, and shall remain in your house a full month, mourning for her father and mother; after that you may go in to her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife.

Deut. 22:19 (NRSV) 
    they shall fine him one hundred shekels of silver (which they shall give to the young woman's father) because he has slandered a virgin of Israel. She shall remain his wife; he shall not be permitted to divorce her as long as he lives.

Deut. 22:22 (NRSV) 
    If a man is caught lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman as well as the woman. So you shall purge the evil from Israel.

Deut. 22:24 (NRSV) 
    you shall bring both of them to the gate of that town and stone them to death, the young woman because she did not cry for help in the town and the man because he violated his neighbor's wife. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.

Deut. 22:29-30 (NRSV) 
    the man who lay with her shall give fifty shekels of silver to the young woman's father, and she shall become his wife. Because he violated her he shall not be permitted to divorce her as long as he lives.
    [30]  A man shall not marry his father's wife, thereby violating his father's rights.

Deut. 24:2 (NRSV) 
    and goes off to become another man's wife.

Deut. 24:4-5 (NRSV) 
    her first husband, who sent her away, is not permitted to take her again to be his wife after she has been defiled; for that would be abhorrent to the Lord, and you shall not bring guilt on the land that the Lord your God is giving you as a possession.
    [5] When a man is newly married, he shall not go out with the army or be charged with any related duty. He shall be free at home one year, to be happy with the wife whom he has married.

Deut. 25:5 (NRSV) 
    When brothers reside together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the deceased shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her husband's brother shall go in to her, taking her in marriage, and performing the duty of a husband's brother to her,

Deut. 25:9 (NRSV) 
    then his brother's wife shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, pull his sandal off his foot, spit in his face, and declare, "This is what is done to the man who does not build up his brother's house."

Deut. 25:11 (NRSV) 
    If men get into a fight with one another, and the wife of one intervenes to rescue her husband from the grip of his opponent by reaching out and seizing his genitals,

Deut. 27:20 (NRSV) 
    "Cursed be anyone who lies with his father's wife, because he has violated his father's rights." All the people shall say, "Amen!"

Deut. 28:54 (NRSV) 
    Even the most refined and gentle of men among you will begrudge food to his own brother, to the wife whom he embraces, and to the last of his remaining children,

Joshua 15:16-17 (NRSV) 
    And Caleb said, "Whoever attacks Kiriath-sepher and takes it, to him I will give my daughter Achsah as wife." [17] Othniel son of Kenaz, the brother of Caleb, took it; and he gave him his daughter Achsah as wife.

Judges 1:12-13 (NRSV) 
    Then Caleb said, "Whoever attacks Kiriath-sepher and takes it, I will give him my daughter Achsah as wife." [13] And Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, took it; and he gave him his daughter Achsah as wife.

Judges 4:4 (NRSV) 
    At that time Deborah, a prophetess, wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel.

Judges 4:17 (NRSV) 
    Now Sisera had fled away on foot to the tent of Jael wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between King Jabin of Hazor and the clan of Heber the Kenite.

Judges 4:21 (NRSV) 
    But Jael wife of Heber took a tent peg, and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple, until it went down into the ground--he was lying fast asleep from weariness--and he died.

Judges 5:24 (NRSV) 
    "Most blessed of women be Jael,
        the wife of Heber the Kenite,
        of tent-dwelling women most blessed.

Judges 11:2 (NRSV) 
    Gilead's wife also bore him sons; and when his wife's sons grew up, they drove Jephthah away, saying to him, "You shall not inherit anything in our father's house; for you are the son of another woman."

Judges 13:2 (NRSV) 
    There was a certain man of Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. His wife was barren, having borne no children.

Judges 13:11 (NRSV) 
    Manoah got up and followed his wife, and came to the man and said to him, "Are you the man who spoke to this woman?" And he said, "I am."

Judges 13:20-23 (NRSV) 
    When the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar while Manoah and his wife looked on; and they fell on their faces to the ground. [21] The angel of the Lord did not appear again to Manoah and his wife. Then Manoah realized that it was the angel of the Lord. [22] And Manoah said to his wife, "We shall surely die, for we have seen God." [23] But his wife said to him, "If the Lord had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering at our hands, or shown us all these things, or now announced to us such things as these."

Judges 14:2-3 (NRSV) 
    Then he came up, and told his father and mother, "I saw a Philistine woman at Timnah; now get her for me as my wife." [3] But his father and mother said to him, "Is there not a woman among your kin, or among all our people, that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?" But Samson said to his father, "Get her for me, because she pleases me."

Judges 14:15-16 (NRSV) 
    On the fourth day they said to Samson's wife, "Coax your husband to explain the riddle to us, or we will burn you and your father's house with fire. Have you invited us here to impoverish us?" [16] So Samson's wife wept before him, saying, "You hate me; you do not really love me. You have asked a riddle of my people, but you have not explained it to me." He said to her, "Look, I have not told my father or my mother. Why should I tell you?"

Judges 14:20-15:1 (NRSV) 
    And Samson's wife was given to his companion, who had been his best man.
    [15:1] After a while, at the time of the wheat harvest, Samson went to visit his wife, bringing along a kid. He said, "I want to go into my wife's room." But her father would not allow him to go in.

Judges 15:6 (NRSV) 
    Then the Philistines asked, "Who has done this?" And they said, "Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he has taken Samson's wife and given her to his companion." So the Philistines came up, and burned her and her father.

Judges 21:18 (NRSV) 
    Yet we cannot give any of our daughters to them as wives." For the Israelites had sworn, "Cursed be anyone who gives a wife to Benjamin."

Judges 21:21-22 (NRSV) 
    and watch; when the young women of Shiloh come out to dance in the dances, then come out of the vineyards and each of you carry off a wife for himself from the young women of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin. [22] Then if their fathers or their brothers come to complain to us, we will say to them, 'Be generous and allow us to have them; because we did not capture in battle a wife for each man. But neither did you incur guilt by giving your daughters to them.' "

Ruth 1:1-2 (NRSV) 
    In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to live in the country of Moab, he and his wife and two sons. [2] The name of the man was Elimelech and the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion; they were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They went into the country of Moab and remained there.

Ruth 4:10 (NRSV) 
    I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite, the wife of Mahlon, to be my wife, to maintain the dead man's name on his inheritance, in order that the name of the dead may not be cut off from his kindred and from the gate of his native place; today you are witnesses."

Ruth 4:13 (NRSV) 
    So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When they came together, the Lord made her conceive, and she bore a son.

1 Samuel 1:4 (NRSV) 
    On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters;

1 Samuel 1:19 (NRSV) 
    They rose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord; then they went back to their house at Ramah. Elkanah knew his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her.

1 Samuel 2:20 (NRSV) 
    Then Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, and say, "May the Lord repay you with children by this woman for the gift that she made to the Lord"; and then they would return to their home.

1 Samuel 4:19 (NRSV) 
    Now his daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant, about to give birth. When she heard the news that the ark of God was captured, and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed and gave birth; for her labor pains overwhelmed her.

1 Samuel 14:50 (NRSV) 
    The name of Saul's wife was Ahinoam daughter of Ahimaaz. And the name of the commander of his army was Abner son of Ner, Saul's uncle;

1 Samuel 18:17 (NRSV) 
    Then Saul said to David, "Here is my elder daughter Merab; I will give her to you as a wife; only be valiant for me and fight the Lord's battles." For Saul thought, "I will not raise a hand against him; let the Philistines deal with him."

1 Samuel 18:19 (NRSV) 
    But at the time when Saul's daughter Merab should have been given to David, she was given to Adriel the Meholathite as a wife.

1 Samuel 18:27 (NRSV) 
    David rose and went, along with his men, and killed one hundred of the Philistines; and David brought their foreskins, which were given in full number to the king, that he might become the king's son-in-law. Saul gave him his daughter Michal as a wife.

1 Samuel 19:11 (NRSV) 
    Saul sent messengers to David's house to keep watch over him, planning to kill him in the morning. David's wife Michal told him, "If you do not save your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed."

1 Samuel 25:3 (NRSV) 
    Now the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. The woman was clever and beautiful, but the man was surly and mean; he was a Calebite.

1 Samuel 25:14 (NRSV) 
    But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, "David sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute our master; and he shouted insults at them.

1 Samuel 25:37 (NRSV) 
    In the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him; he became like a stone.

1 Samuel 25:39-40 (NRSV) 
    When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, "Blessed be the Lord who has judged the case of Nabal's insult to me, and has kept back his servant from evil; the Lord has returned the evildoing of Nabal upon his own head." Then David sent and wooed Abigail, to make her his wife. [40] When David's servants came to Abigail at Carmel, they said to her, "David has sent us to you to take you to him as his wife."

1 Samuel 25:42 (NRSV) 
    Abigail got up hurriedly and rode away on a donkey; her five maids attended her. She went after the messengers of David and became his wife.

1 Samuel 25:44 (NRSV) 
    Saul had given his daughter Michal, David's wife, to Palti son of Laish, who was from Gallim.

1 Samuel 30:22 (NRSV) 
    Then all the corrupt and worthless fellows among the men who had gone with David said, "Because they did not go with us, we will not give them any of the spoil that we have recovered, except that each man may take his wife and children, and leave."

2 Samuel 3:5 (NRSV) 
    and the sixth, Ithream, of David's wife Eglah. These were born to David in Hebron.

2 Samuel 3:14 (NRSV) 
    Then David sent messengers to Saul's son Ishbaal, saying, "Give me my wife Michal, to whom I became engaged at the price of one hundred foreskins of the Philistines."

2 Samuel 11:3 (NRSV) 
    David sent someone to inquire about the woman. It was reported, "This is Bathsheba daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite."

2 Samuel 11:11 (NRSV) 
    Uriah said to David, "The ark and Israel and Judah remain in booths; and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field; shall I then go to my house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do such a thing."

2 Samuel 11:26-27 (NRSV) 
    When the wife of Uriah heard that her husband was dead, she made lamentation for him. [27] When the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife, and bore him a son.
    But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord,

2 Samuel 12:9-10 (NRSV) 
    Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. [10] Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, for you have despised me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.

2 Samuel 12:15 (NRSV) 
    Then Nathan went to his house.
    The Lord struck the child that Uriah's wife bore to David, and it became very ill.

2 Samuel 12:24 (NRSV) 
    Then David consoled his wife Bathsheba, and went to her, and lay with her; and she bore a son, and he named him Solomon. The Lord loved him,

2 Samuel 17:19 (NRSV) 
    The man's wife took a covering, stretched it over the well's mouth, and spread out grain on it; and nothing was known of it.

1 Kings 2:17 (NRSV) 
    He said, "Please ask King Solomon--he will not refuse you--to give me Abishag the Shunammite as my wife."

1 Kings 2:21 (NRSV) 
    She said, "Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to your brother Adonijah as his wife."

1 Kings 4:11 (NRSV) 
    Ben-abinadab, in all Naphath-dor (he had Taphath, Solomon's daughter, as his wife);

1 Kings 4:15 (NRSV) 
    Ahimaaz, in Naphtali (he had taken Basemath, Solomon's daughter, as his wife);

1 Kings 9:16 (NRSV) 
    (Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up and captured Gezer and burned it down, had killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and had given it as dowry to his daughter, Solomon's wife;

1 Kings 11:19 (NRSV) 
    Hadad found great favor in the sight of Pharaoh, so that he gave him his sister-in-law for a wife, the sister of Queen Tahpenes.

1 Kings 14:2 (NRSV) 
    Jeroboam said to his wife, "Go, disguise yourself, so that it will not be known that you are the wife of Jeroboam, and go to Shiloh; for the prophet Ahijah is there, who said of me that I should be king over this people.

1 Kings 14:4-6 (NRSV) 
    Jeroboam's wife did so; she set out and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. Now Ahijah could not see, for his eyes were dim because of his age. [5] But the Lord said to Ahijah, "The wife of Jeroboam is coming to inquire of you concerning her son; for he is sick. Thus and thus you shall say to her."
    When she came, she pretended to be another woman. [6] But when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet, as she came in at the door, he said, "Come in, wife of Jeroboam; why do you pretend to be another? For I am charged with heavy tidings for you.

1 Kings 14:17 (NRSV) 
    Then Jeroboam's wife got up and went away, and she came to Tirzah. As she came to the threshold of the house, the child died.

1 Kings 16:31 (NRSV) 
    And as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, he took as his wife Jezebel daughter of King Ethbaal of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshiped him.

1 Kings 21:5 (NRSV) 
    His wife Jezebel came to him and said, "Why are you so depressed that you will not eat?"

1 Kings 21:7 (NRSV) 
    His wife Jezebel said to him, "Do you now govern Israel? Get up, eat some food, and be cheerful; I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite."

1 Kings 21:25 (NRSV) 
    (Indeed, there was no one like Ahab, who sold himself to do what was evil in the sight of the Lord, urged on by his wife Jezebel.

2 Kings 4:1 (NRSV) 
    Now the wife of a member of the company of prophets cried to Elisha, "Your servant my husband is dead; and you know that your servant feared the Lord, but a creditor has come to take my two children as slaves."

2 Kings 5:2 (NRSV) 
    Now the Arameans on one of their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served Naaman's wife.

2 Kings 8:18 (NRSV) 
    He walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for the daughter of Ahab was his wife. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.

2 Kings 14:9 (NRSV) 
    King Jehoash of Israel sent word to King Amaziah of Judah, "A thornbush on Lebanon sent to a cedar on Lebanon, saying, 'Give your daughter to my son for a wife'; but a wild animal of Lebanon passed by and trampled down the thornbush.

2 Kings 22:14 (NRSV) 
    So the priest Hilkiah, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to the prophetess Huldah the wife of Shallum son of Tikvah, son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe; she resided in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter, where they consulted her.

1 Chron. 2:18 (NRSV) 
    Caleb son of Hezron had children by his wife Azubah, and by Jerioth; these were her sons: Jesher, Shobab, and Ardon.

1 Chron. 2:24 (NRSV) 
    After the death of Hezron, in Caleb-ephrathah, Abijah wife of Hezron bore him Ashhur, father of Tekoa.

1 Chron. 2:26 (NRSV) 
    Jerahmeel also had another wife, whose name was Atarah; she was the mother of Onam.

1 Chron. 2:29 (NRSV) 
    The name of Abishur's wife was Abihail, and she bore him Ahban and Molid.

1 Chron. 3:3 (NRSV) 
    the fifth Shephatiah, by Abital; the sixth Ithream, by his wife Eglah;

1 Chron. 4:18-19 (NRSV) 
    And his Judean wife bore Jered father of Gedor, Heber father of Soco, and Jekuthiel father of Zanoah. [19] The sons of the wife of Hodiah, the sister of Naham, were the fathers of Keilah the Garmite and Eshtemoa the Maacathite.

1 Chron. 7:15-16 (NRSV) 
    And Machir took a wife for Huppim and for Shuppim. The name of his sister was Maacah. And the name of the second was Zelophehad; and Zelophehad had daughters. [16] Maacah the wife of Machir bore a son, and she named him Peresh; the name of his brother was Sheresh; and his sons were Ulam and Rekem.

1 Chron. 7:23 (NRSV) 
    Ephraim went in to his wife, and she conceived and bore a son; and he named him Beriah, because disaster had befallen his house.

1 Chron. 8:9 (NRSV) 
    He had sons by his wife Hodesh: Jobab, Zibia, Mesha, Malcam,

1 Chron. 8:29 (NRSV) 
    Jeiel the father of Gibeon lived in Gibeon, and the name of his wife was Maacah.

1 Chron. 9:35 (NRSV) 
    In Gibeon lived the father of Gibeon, Jeiel, and the name of his wife was Maacah.

2 Chron. 8:11 (NRSV) 
    Solomon brought Pharaoh's daughter from the city of David to the house that he had built for her, for he said, "My wife shall not live in the house of King David of Israel, for the places to which the ark of the Lord has come are holy."

2 Chron. 11:18 (NRSV) 
    Rehoboam took as his wife Mahalath daughter of Jerimoth son of David, and of Abihail daughter of Eliab son of Jesse.

2 Chron. 21:6 (NRSV) 
    He walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done; for the daughter of Ahab was his wife. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.

2 Chron. 22:11 (NRSV) 
    But Jehoshabeath, the king's daughter, took Joash son of Ahaziah, and stole him away from among the king's children who were about to be killed; she put him and his nurse in a bedroom. Thus Jehoshabeath, daughter of King Jehoram and wife of the priest Jehoiada--because she was a sister of Ahaziah--hid him from Athaliah, so that she did not kill him;

2 Chron. 25:18 (NRSV) 
    King Joash of Israel sent word to King Amaziah of Judah, "A thornbush on Lebanon sent to a cedar on Lebanon, saying, 'Give your daughter to my son for a wife'; but a wild animal of Lebanon passed by and trampled down the thornbush.

2 Chron. 34:22 (NRSV) 
    So Hilkiah and those whom the king had sent went to the prophet Huldah, the wife of Shallum son of Tokhath son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe (who lived in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter) and spoke to her to that effect.

Esther 5:10 (NRSV) 
    nevertheless Haman restrained himself and went home. Then he sent and called for his friends and his wife Zeresh,

Esther 5:14 (NRSV) 
    Then his wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, "Let a gallows fifty cubits high be made, and in the morning tell the king to have Mordecai hanged on it; then go with the king to the banquet in good spirits." This advice pleased Haman, and he had the gallows made.

Esther 6:13 (NRSV) 
    When Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened to him, his advisers and his wife Zeresh said to him, "If Mordecai, before whom your downfall has begun, is of the Jewish people, you will not prevail against him, but will surely fall before him."

Job 2:9 (NRSV) 
    Then his wife said to him, "Do you still persist in your integrity? Curse God, and die."

Job 19:17 (NRSV) 
    My breath is repulsive to my wife;
        I am loathsome to my own family.

Job 31:10 (NRSV) 
    then let my wife grind for another,
        and let other men kneel over her.

Psalm 109:9 (NRSV) 
    May his children be orphans,
        and his wife a widow.

Psalm 128:3 (NRSV) 
    Your wife will be like a fruitful vine
        within your house;
    your children will be like olive shoots
        around your table.

Proverbs 5:18 (NRSV) 
    Let your fountain be blessed,
        and rejoice in the wife of your youth,

Proverbs 6:24 (NRSV) 
    to preserve you from the wife of another,
        from the smooth tongue of the adulteress.

Proverbs 6:26 (NRSV) 
    for a prostitute's fee is only a loaf of bread,
        but the wife of another stalks a man's very life.

Proverbs 6:29 (NRSV) 
    So is he who sleeps with his neighbor's wife;
        no one who touches her will go unpunished.

Proverbs 12:4 (NRSV) 
    A good wife is the crown of her husband,
        but she who brings shame is like rottenness in his bones.

Proverbs 18:22 (NRSV) 
    He who finds a wife finds a good thing,
        and obtains favor from the Lord.

Proverbs 19:14 (NRSV) 
    House and wealth are inherited from parents,
        but a prudent wife is from the Lord.

Proverbs 21:9 (NRSV) 
    It is better to live in a corner of the housetop
        than in a house shared with a contentious wife.

Proverbs 21:19 (NRSV) 
    It is better to live in a desert land
        than with a contentious and fretful wife.

Proverbs 25:24 (NRSV) 
    It is better to live in a corner of the housetop
        than in a house shared with a contentious wife.

Proverbs 27:15 (NRSV) 
    A continual dripping on a rainy day
        and a contentious wife are alike;

Proverbs 31:10 (NRSV) 
    A capable wife who can find?
        She is far more precious than jewels.

Eccles. 9:9 (NRSV) 
    Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that are given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun.

Isaiah 54:6 (NRSV) 
    For the Lord has called you
        like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit,
    like the wife of a man's youth when she is cast off,
        says your God.

Jeremiah 3:1 (NRSV) 
    If a man divorces his wife
        and she goes from him
    and becomes another man's wife,
        will he return to her?
    Would not such a land be greatly polluted?
    You have played the whore with many lovers;
        and would you return to me?
says the Lord.

Jeremiah 3:20 (NRSV) 
    Instead, as a faithless wife leaves her husband,
        so you have been faithless to me, O house of Israel,

says the Lord.
 

Jeremiah 5:8 (NRSV) 
    They were well-fed lusty stallions,
        each neighing for his neighbor's wife.

Jeremiah 6:11 (NRSV) 
    But I am full of the wrath of the Lord;
        I am weary of holding it in.

    Pour it out on the children in the street,
        and on the gatherings of young men as well;
    both husband and wife shall be taken,
        the old folk and the very aged.

Jeremiah 16:2 (NRSV) 
    You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place.

Ezekiel 16:32 (NRSV) 
    Adulterous wife, who receives strangers instead of her husband!

Ezekiel 18:6 (NRSV) 
    if he does not eat upon the mountains or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor's wife or approach a woman during her menstrual period,

Ezekiel 18:11 (NRSV) 
    who does any of these things (though his father does none of them), who eats upon the mountains, defiles his neighbor's wife,

Ezekiel 18:15 (NRSV) 
    who does not eat upon the mountains or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor's wife,

Ezekiel 22:11 (NRSV) 
    One commits abomination with his neighbor's wife; another lewdly defiles his daughter-in-law; another in you defiles his sister, his father's daughter.

Ezekiel 24:18 (NRSV) 
    So I spoke to the people in the morning, and at evening my wife died. And on the next morning I did as I was commanded.

Ezekiel 33:26 (NRSV) 
    You depend on your swords, you commit abominations, and each of you defiles his neighbor's wife; shall you then possess the land?

Hosea 1:2 (NRSV) 
    When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, "Go, take for yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord."

Hosea 2:2 (NRSV) 
    Plead with your mother, plead--
        for she is not my wife,
        and I am not her husband--
    that she put away her whoring from her face,
        and her adultery from between her breasts,

Hosea 2:19-20 (NRSV) 
    And I will take you for my wife forever; I will take you for my wife in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love, and in mercy. [20] I will take you for my wife in faithfulness; and you shall know the Lord.

Hosea 12:12 (NRSV) 
    Jacob fled to the land of Aram,
        there Israel served for a wife,
        and for a wife he guarded sheep.

Amos 7:17 (NRSV) 
    Therefore thus says the Lord:
    'Your wife shall become a prostitute in the city,
        and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword,
        and your land shall be parceled out by line;
    you yourself shall die in an unclean land,
        and Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land.' "
 

Malachi 2:14-15 (NRSV) 
    You ask, "Why does he not?" Because the Lord was a witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. [15] Did not one God make her? Both flesh and spirit are his. And what does the one God desire? Godly offspring. So look to yourselves, and do not let anyone be faithless to the wife of his youth.

Matthew 1:6 (NRSV) 
    and Jesse the father of King David.
    And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah,

Matthew 1:20 (NRSV) 
    But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 1:24 (NRSV) 
    When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife,

Matthew 5:31-32 (NRSV) 
    "It was also said, 'Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.' [32] But I say to you that anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

Matthew 14:3 (NRSV) 
    For Herod had arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife,

Matthew 18:25 (NRSV) 
    and, as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, and payment to be made.

Matthew 19:3 (NRSV) 
    Some Pharisees came to him, and to test him they asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause?"

Matthew 19:5 (NRSV) 
    and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'?

Matthew 19:9-10 (NRSV) 
    And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for unchastity, and marries another commits adultery."
    [10] His disciples said to him, "If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry."

Matthew 22:28 (NRSV) 
    In the resurrection, then, whose wife of the seven will she be? For all of them had married her."

Matthew 27:19 (NRSV) 
    While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, "Have nothing to do with that innocent man, for today I have suffered a great deal because of a dream about him."

Mark 6:17-18 (NRSV) 
    For Herod himself had sent men who arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, because Herod had married her. [18] For John had been telling Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife."

Mark 10:2 (NRSV) 
    Some Pharisees came, and to test him they asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?"

Mark 10:7 (NRSV) 
    'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife,

Mark 10:11 (NRSV) 
    He said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her;

Mark 12:19 (NRSV) 
    "Teacher, Moses wrote for us that 'if a man's brother dies, leaving a wife but no child, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother.'

Mark 12:23 (NRSV) 
    In the resurrection whose wife will she be? For the seven had married her."

Luke 1:5 (NRSV) 
    In the days of King Herod of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly order of Abijah. His wife was a descendant of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.

Luke 1:13 (NRSV) 
    But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John.

Luke 1:18 (NRSV) 
    Zechariah said to the angel, "How will I know that this is so? For I am an old man, and my wife is getting on in years."

Luke 1:24 (NRSV) 
    After those days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she remained in seclusion. She said,

Luke 3:19 (NRSV) 
    But Herod the ruler, who had been rebuked by him because of Herodias, his brother's wife, and because of all the evil things that Herod had done,

Luke 8:3 (NRSV) 
    and Joanna, the wife of Herod's steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their resources.

Luke 14:26 (NRSV) 
    "Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.

Luke 16:18 (NRSV) 
    "Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and whoever marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.

Luke 17:32 (NRSV) 
    Remember Lot's wife.

Luke 18:29 (NRSV) 
    And he said to them, "Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God,

Luke 20:28 (NRSV) 
    and asked him a question, "Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother.

Luke 20:33 (NRSV) 
    In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her."

John 19:25 (NRSV) 
And that is what the soldiers did.
    Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.

Acts 5:1 (NRSV) 
    But a man named Ananias, with the consent of his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property;

Acts 5:7 (NRSV) 
    After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened.

Acts 18:2 (NRSV) 
    There he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them,

Acts 24:24 (NRSV) 
    Some days later when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, he sent for Paul and heard him speak concerning faith in Christ Jesus.

1 Cor. 5:1 (NRSV) 
    It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not found even among pagans; for a man is living with his father's wife.

1 Cor. 7:2-4 (NRSV) 
    But because of cases of sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. [3] The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. [4] For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.

1 Cor. 7:10-12 (NRSV) 
    To the married I give this command--not I but the Lord--that the wife should not separate from her husband [11] (but if she does separate, let her remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and that the husband should not divorce his wife.
    [12] To the rest I say--I and not the Lord--that if any believer has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her.

1 Cor. 7:14 (NRSV) 
    For the unbelieving husband is made holy through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy through her husband. Otherwise, your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.

1 Cor. 7:16 (NRSV) 
    Wife, for all you know, you might save your husband. Husband, for all you know, you might save your wife.

1 Cor. 7:27 (NRSV) 
    Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife.

1 Cor. 7:33 (NRSV) 
    but the married man is anxious about the affairs of the world, how to please his wife,

1 Cor. 7:39 (NRSV) 
    A wife is bound as long as her husband lives. But if the husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, only in the Lord.

1 Cor. 9:5 (NRSV) 
    Do we not have the right to be accompanied by a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?

1 Cor. 11:3 (NRSV) 
    But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the husband is the head of his wife, and God is the head of Christ.

Ephes. 5:23 (NRSV) 
    For the husband is the head of the wife just as Christ is the head of the church, the body of which he is the Savior.

Ephes. 5:28 (NRSV) 
    In the same way, husbands should love their wives as they do their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.

Ephes. 5:31 (NRSV) 
    "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh."

Ephes. 5:33 (NRSV) 
    Each of you, however, should love his wife as himself, and a wife should respect her husband.

Rev. 21:9 (NRSV) 
    Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, "Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb."


 


Post Edited (sparknheart) : 5/10/2005 2:32:54 PM (GMT-5)

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PhilTheThrill
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   Posted 5/10/2005 2:15 PM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
That's neat. I don't find any mention in the Bible of anyone playing video games. Does that mean the Bible forbids it?

I'm looking for a positive case here.
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markporter
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   Posted 5/10/2005 2:29 PM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
I think that if we take the Genesis account of creation as our model then the one man one woman thing does rather seem to be what it is teaching.
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   Posted 5/10/2005 2:40 PM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
markporter said...
I think that if we take the Genesis account of creation as our model then the one man one woman thing does rather seem to be what it is teaching.

Don’t you know about the limitation in design?  Adam was a little short on ribs.

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   Posted 5/10/2005 2:50 PM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.

Darn, I forgot about the new covenant.  Sorry Phill.

 
Matthew 19:8 (NRSV) 
    He said to them, "It was because you were so hard-hearted that Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.

 
 
It's a good thing I kept my receipt for the new threads!

Post Edited (sparknheart) : 5/10/2005 3:03:48 PM (GMT-5)

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Similitude
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   Posted 5/10/2005 6:58 PM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
It was not thus from the beginning. Don't the rest of the verses testify to this basic idea? The polygamies that were permitted were about inheritance and what not - no indication that it was intrinsically better than monogamy. That said, if a polygamist converted to Christianity, I don't know that he should divorce any of his wives, therefore. Because something is not profitable doesn't mean it is intrinsically unlawful.


wjs

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Tom
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   Posted 5/11/2005 1:09 AM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Phil-

It's not explicitly forbidden. You're right. But one can make a case that it's not what God intended and ought not to be the chosen style of life. As a missionary in the Middle East, for example, I know Muslim men who have two, three, some four wives. The question arose, what are these men to do with their wives when they embrace faith in Christ and commit themselves to pursuing God's intentions for themselves and theire families? Should they divorce all but one wife? The feeling is that they should NOT divorce any of their wives. They should remain as they are and provide for them all.

Ya just can't ORDAIN the guy! icon_brows2

Phil, anybody ever tell you that you look like Charlton Heston in the movie "Planet of the Apes"? Anybody else see that? Come on now.

Tom

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Similitude
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   Posted 5/11/2005 5:57 AM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Tom: Phil, anybody ever tell you that you look like Charlton Heston in the movie "Planet of the Apes"? Anybody else see that? Come on now.

Jeff: Yeah, but more thrilling looking!!


wjs

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Laika
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   Posted 5/11/2005 8:05 AM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Fill-the-Thrill,
 
the bible may not forbid polygamy but the U.S. government and my wife do!
 
Aye, there's the rub.
 
 
 


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PhilTheThrill
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   Posted 5/11/2005 1:08 PM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
TGB -

Well, actually that's Will Ferrell playing the Cowbell in the hit song "Don't Fear the Reaper" in an SNL sketch. :-)

Laika -

Certainly we are to follow the laws of the land and of our house. I'm just thinking out loud about preconceived notions of what is a sin and what isn't. I find that when you ask people about this issue, they do what Sparky did and quote 10 billion versus that say "wife" instead of "wives" as if that means anything. As I said before, just because the Bible doesn't come right out and support something, this does not mean that that thing is to be considered a sin.

And as TGB said, it's really just not a good idea. I could definitely agree with that. Paul wasn't to thrilled with the idea of being married to one woman, he'd probably puke at the thought of being married to two or three.

I'm just throwing it out there to see the different takes on the sinfulness of polygamy. Sparknheart has deftly shown that the Bible clearly sees monogamy as the ideal. Nowhere in there has it been shown that polygamy is a sin. That's all I'm drivin' at. :-)
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might-be-don
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   Posted 5/12/2005 7:54 AM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Sin isn't about a list of rules we can derive from scattered scripture passages.

"But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin" (Rom. 14:23).

I like Outback Steakhouse's take on it, "No rules, just right" .

peace ,don


I know all the right shibboleths.

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   Posted 5/12/2005 11:13 AM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
PhilTheThrill said...
I'm just throwing it out there to see the different takes on the sinfulness of polygamy. Sparknheart has deftly shown that the Bible clearly sees monogamy as the ideal. Nowhere in there has it been shown that polygamy is a sin. That's all I'm drivin' at. :-)
 
 

The key word here is “ideal”.  Ideally, If only the first covenant with Adam and Eve would have worked, ideally, if only the covenant with Noah, ideally, if only the covenant with Moses, et cetera and et cetera.   The deal is this; God works his best out of whatever mess we give him.   Because man keeps screwing up, God works with the outer perimeter of the target.   God keeps trying to turn man around, pulling him back towards Him.  God is always turning us towards the target so we can at least shoot in the right direction; otherwise we’re shooting our self in the foot. 

 

So if you want to shoot your self in the foot, go ahead and get your self another wife.   Just remember to think of the consequences, like...umm.. multiple divorces! eek  

Divorce? It will cost you! $$$$

 

 

A mustard seed of sins,

 

Mark

 

Post Edited (sparknheart) : 5/12/2005 11:31:04 AM (GMT-5)

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Laika
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   Posted 5/12/2005 11:40 AM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
PhilTheThrill said...
TGB -

Well, actually that's Will Ferrell playing the Cowbell in the hit song "Don't Fear the Reaper" in an SNL sketch. :-)
That's who I was going to say it looked like.
 
 
 
 
 
 


Post Edited (Laika) : 5/12/2005 11:43:44 AM (GMT-5)

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PhilTheThrill
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   Posted 5/12/2005 12:10 PM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
The key word here is “ideal”.  Ideally, If only the first covenant with Adam and Eve would have worked, ideally, if only the covenant with Noah, ideally, if only the covenant with Moses, et cetera and et cetera.   The deal is this; God works his best out of whatever mess we give him.   Because man keeps screwing up, God works with the outer perimeter of the target.   God keeps trying to turn man around, pulling him back towards Him.  God is always turning us towards the target so we can at least shoot in the right direction; otherwise we’re shooting our self in the foot. 

So if you want to shoot your self in the foot, go ahead and get your self another wife.   Just remember to think of the consequences, like...umm.. multiple divorces! eek  

Divorce? It will cost you! $$$$

What the heck did I do to screw up the "Quote" function up there? yeesh...
 
Anyways, far be it from me to condone misopedism (hatred of your foot). I definitely agree with you about the ideal/versus actual and God's response and all that.
 
And I agree with Might_be_don that sin isn't about rules, but rather doing things in good faith. I'm just trying to make the case that theoretically, someone could be a polygamist in good faith. I'm doing it mostly for shock value, but also for the mental exercise of confronting your beliefs and thinking thru your preconceived notions.  
 
Besides, what else is there to do all day at work if not try and justify being married to many women?
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bryan mccarthy
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   Posted 5/13/2005 2:20 AM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
okay, phil, hopefully i'm going to help you out here.

the christian polygamist's answer is (in part) thus: sure, genesis provides a "model" for marriage, but this is not the exclusive model. we know this becuz if we were to read only the genesis account, we would assume that every man is to get married and that singleness is either not an option or severly discouraged (which actually, would be pretty close to the truth in ancient near-eastern culture). however, we know that paul says singleness, for the one who can do it (what's that about? like we can't control ourselves or something -- actually, given the corinthian's sexual lifestyle, it makes sense.), is the best lifestyle (1 cor 7). this has always made me laugh cuz if everyone decided suddenly that they could do it, the end of civilization would ensue. so i guess that's how it ends, huh? perfection? any post-millienealists out there that wanna take up this view?

anyway, back to the point. so we see that, though genesis provides us a good model, it is not all that is available to us. therefore, possibly, polygamy, along with singleness, could be another such model.

next, we have paul's command to timothy about eldership -- "husband of one wife." actually, this is an interpretive translation of that text. it actually reads something like "one-woman man." we use this phrase to refer to a guy who's not taking up spark's pimpin' lifestyle, but hold on. this very same commandment is given in reverse in timothy for qualifications for WOMEN who are widowed as far as whether they are eligible to receive support from the church -- "one-man woman" (sorry, i don't have the verses right now -- if you need them, let me know). now it should be noted that in greek culture at this time monogamy was the norm. (remember "troy" 's love your woman creedo?) polygamy was actually quite rare. but in a society who viewed women as something like pets (greeks like ephesus where timothy was ministering, and incidentally, jews as well), polyandry (a woman having more than one husband) would be UTTERLY unheard of. laughable even. since paul was nothing if not relevant and practical, my guess is that he did not mean to make sure the widow had not had a bunch of simlutaneous husbands (who had all died!) before they gave her food and thus, since it's the same phrase, probably didn't mean elders couldn't have been polygamists either. so what does the phrase mean? well i have read that they used to put this on tombstones to honour people who had never been divorced. in greek culture, divorce, unlike polygamy, was rampant, and "sticking it out" was considered virtuous just like now. so the fact of the matter, in my view, is if two men wanted to be elders, one being a polygamist and the other a divorced man, the church, all else being equal and good, should've ordain the former and not the latter, which of course is the opposite of what would actually happen in a modern (at least western) ecclesiastical context. is this okay? are our rules the same as theres? is the passage too fuzzy and idiomatic to even discern its meaning for sure? i dunno. these are tough questions.

i don't know how many of the verses that spark quoted he also read (contextually). my guess is he wouldn't have had time to read many, but there are lots of issues to be discussed there, which we can go into later, maybe, if you're interested, but i'm out of time now.

i've thought about this a lot and i think that monogamy is the best lifestyle, but possibly becuz of our culture. what a husband entails and what he provides for a woman and what a wife entails and what she provides for a man are different right now than at other times and places in history. i don't think it's possible to provide what we all desire to provide (becuz we've grown up seeing it and wanting it) and have multiple spouses. therefore, it's not going to work for us, though this DOES NOT MEAN that it is anti-biblical (cuz it's not) or even that it's not ideal, just not ideal in our culture.

for what it's worth,


bryan


"Being religious means asking passionately the question of the meaning of our existence and being willing to receive answers, even if the answers hurt." -- Paul Tillich

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Similitude
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   Posted 5/13/2005 6:18 AM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Bryan: well i have read that they used to put this on tombstones to honour people who had never been divorced. in greek culture, divorce, unlike polygamy, was rampant, and "sticking it out" was considered virtuous just like now. so the fact of the matter, in my view, is if two men wanted to be elders, one being a polygamist and the other a divorced man, the church, all else being equal and good, should've ordain the former and not the latter, which of course is the opposite of what would actually happen in a modern (at least western) ecclesiastical context. is this okay?

Jeff: Bryan, how does a polygamist amount to a one-woman man in any sense at all. It seems to me that the only way to make sense of it is that the elder had to be monogamous AND have never divorced, by your reasoning.


wjs

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bryan mccarthy
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   Posted 5/13/2005 11:00 AM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Jeff,
 
Jeff: Bryan, how does a polygamist amount to a one-woman man in any sense at all. It seems to me that the only way to make sense of it is that the elder had to be monogamous AND have never divorced, by your reasoning.
 
bryan: yeah, you're right.  i thought of that as well.  but you gotta remember it's not a logical argument paul is utilizing; it's an idiomatic expression.  they didn't have polygamy then.  this expression was a linguistic thing which meant he hadn't divorced.  it may be (although probably not) that if paul had thought of it and it were relevant to the culture, he would have added, "oh yeah, and no multiple wives either."  that is, it may be that you can argue against polygamy on other grounds, but not from passage.  the phrase doesn't apply to polygamy becuz it's not seeking to say anyone who falls within the realm of this ever having been married to more than one individual thing can't be an elder.  it's addressing divorced peoples.  it's an expression like "cherry picker," etc.  it would have been read as "man/woman who has not been divorced."  anything beyond that is too technical and logical, something an idiomatic expression is not intended to be.  ya follow me? 
 
 
bryan


"Being religious means asking passionately the question of the meaning of our existence and being willing to receive answers, even if the answers hurt." -- Paul Tillich

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   Posted 5/13/2005 11:31 AM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
bryan mccarthy said...
i've thought about this a lot and i think that monogamy is the best lifestyle, but possibly becuz of our culture. what a husband entails and what he provides for a woman and what a wife entails and what she provides for a man are different right now than at other times and places in history. i don't think it's possible to provide what we all desire to provide (becuz we've grown up seeing it and wanting it) and have multiple spouses. therefore, it's not going to work for us, though this DOES NOT MEAN that it is anti-biblical (cuz it's not) or even that it's not ideal, just not ideal in our culture.
 
 

Genesis 16:3 (NRSV) 

    So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her slave-girl, and gave her to her husband Abram as a wife.

 

Genesis 3:6 (NRSV) 

    So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate.

 

 

I find the parallels (and gave to her husband) in the wording in these two versus interesting.   In both cases, man failed to trust God and His promises.

 

 

Genesis 16:4 (NRSV) 

    He went in to Hagar, and she conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress.

 

Sarai gave Abram the slave Hagar for selfish reasons.  Hagar being a slave accepted.  The whole ordeal caused a huge domestic fight. This dysfunctional family would hardly be called “IDEAL” by any standards, then or today.  So go ahead, start a harem and let the feline fights begin.  shakehead  

 

 

Note:

Even though Islam, Judaism and Christianity, all hold to the same Monotheist God.  Christians view Allah more like a kind Father, contrary we find the Islam view of Allah being more of a harsh Master. The differing views stems from genealogy, the covenant blessing passed down to the line of Isaac (heir of Abraham) instead of Ishmael (son of Hagar).  I believe Moslems follow the line of Ishmael, claiming the text was altered.

 

So yes, dysfunctional families have been around for some time,

 

Mark

Post Edited (sparknheart) : 5/13/2005 1:12:40 PM (GMT-5)

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bryan mccarthy
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   Posted 5/13/2005 12:16 PM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
hey, stark.

Stark: I find the parallels (and gave to her husband) in the wording in these two versus interesting. In both cases, man failed to trust God and His promises.

bryan: yeah, but that's the deal isn't it? is it about trusting god (and more than that, obeying god) or is it about monogamy? i'd say the former. they were wrong becuz they disobeyed and didn't trust, not becuz they were not monogomous (in the case of adam and eve, of course, they were). you can do this with many morally neutral, or even [normally] morally laudable, acts. ploygamy could be one of them (barring the illegal thing of course).

Stark: So go ahead, start a harem and let the feline fights begin.

bryan: yeah, you have a point, but there are plenty of christian polygamists and their wives who will tell you polygamy is the greatest thing since instant brownies. since you have both chaos and order within this system, supposed inevitable chaos can no longer be an argument for and order cannot be used for an argument against. then when we look at scripture. the case against it is nebulous at best, as i gather you're discovering, and i think we begin to see, no matter what we've always thought to be the case, polygamy, becomes, at least in theory (mostly becuz it's illegal in the states and, as i've argued, unworkable in our culture), a morally-neutral thing.


bryan


"Being religious means asking passionately the question of the meaning of our existence and being willing to receive answers, even if the answers hurt." -- Paul Tillich

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   Posted 5/13/2005 1:46 PM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Mark or Spark but please, not Stark! biggrin
 
 
"Instant Browines!"  haha rotfl
What Brownies are you on!  icon_bandit

Post Edited (sparknheart) : 5/13/2005 4:29:50 PM (GMT-5)

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Similitude
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   Posted 5/13/2005 8:29 PM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Bryan: anything beyond that is too technical and logical, something an idiomatic expression is not intended to be. ya follow me?

Jeff: Yeah, I do follow you. Never thought of it that way, but it makes as much sense as the other now that you mention it. It was probably just a given that a polygamist was too busy to be an elder! :0)


wjs

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