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Open Suggestions: What Do You Have An Interest In?

Dr. K.R. Allen

Dr. K.R. Allen

Member
Real Person
Alright, here is a chance for you to offer some suggestions for new and upcoming articles.

One of the goals of our teaching articles forum is to write some theologically solid articles on specific topics that you as the reader and newcomers coming into the organism here can read to help further your walk with the Lord and in the journey in understanding godliness, especially in regard to what is a biblical union/family.

I have been receiving some suggestions by others as to what topics they would like to see covered. Here are a few topics that have been requested thus far over the past month or so:

-A Thorough Exegetical Study of 1 Tim. 3:2 and How it Applies to this Subject of Polygyny

-Does The NT Teach a Pro Stance on Polygyny or is it Silent

-A Key Terms and Definitions List

-Can a Man Commit Adultery Against his Own Wife

-Is There a Way to Practice Polygyny and Still be Respectful of the Anti-Polygyny Marital State Government Laws

-How Can One Practice Polygyny without Being a Stumblingblock to Others and Violating Romans 14

Alright those are some of the outlines I am working on for the end of this year and first half of next year in regard to writing some evangelical articles dealing with these issues. These are some of the most common topics that I have been emailed or asked about over the past month or so.

But I'd like to know more about what are some issues that you would like to see a full length article address. Your input will be greatly appreciated, as is those who have made the above suggestions already. The goal is to edify you and give you resources that will not only encourage your heart but also give to you tools whereby you can use in discussing this topic of a biblically based, Christ-centered, gospel focused family.

All of the suggestions will be considered, but please just know that not every idea can be addressed immediately. Research and writing takes time so do not let your feelings get hurt if something you suggest does not show up on the screen in a week or even in a month.

I look forward to what is it that you have an interest in seeing addressed.

Thank you for your suggestions ahead of time. I'll leave this post up for about 7 days or so and then delete it afterwards once the suggestions are retrieved and stored.

Dr. Allen
 
I would like to see the issue of intimacy among wives addressed. Sexuality is a heated and sometimes uncomfortable subject to discuss and so I completely understand if this suggestion is buried under the rug. However, I would love to see an article that is written strictly within the context of what the Bible says, or does not say, about this topic. This is a topic that should be tackled by a Bible scholar and the article should not be open to public debate since the opinions that individuals may share could be hurtful or too detailed for modest readers.

Forgive me for even suggesting this subject if it is considered too inappropriate to address. I have seen that everything from drug use to physical abuse is covered without shame... sexuality is a major part of marriage and I am simply curious to know where the lines should be drawn between sexual intimacy and sexual immorality within a polygamous marriage.

Please folks, do not PM me about my curiosity. I do not want a lecture on morality... :shock: I get enough of those lectures when I share my acceptance of polygyny. I just want the facts according to the Bible!

Thanks!
 
I agree it is something that needs to be addressed. I shall add that one to the list.

And yes it is a sensitive subject due to people's consciences but I think what I'll do on that topic is present the arguments of both sides to be fair, and then I'll write what seems to be the most biblical stance.

Thanks so much for mentioning the need for this study.

Dr. Allen
 
Some are sending suggestions through private message and that is fine as well. I should have placed that in the post as some are not as apt to post some of their questions and concerns out in the open.

Also, you can email your suggestions to me at:

drkrallen@biblicalfamilies.org

Thank you for your suggestions thus far. They are really helpful.

So far the following other ideas/questions have been suggested:

-What Does a Healthy/Biblical Courtship Phase Look Like in a Polygyny Model?
-Is it Accurate to use the term Polygamy and If So or If Not Why?
-The Role of Government in the Regulation or Recognition of Personal Unions
-To What Extent Does a Father's Rule Extend over the Family

Keep them coming. These are very helpful and excellent questions, themes, and subjects that will be explored in due time.
 
Cat's_Curiosity said:
I would like to see the issue of intimacy among wives addressed. Sexuality is a heated and sometimes uncomfortable subject to discuss and so I completely understand if this suggestion is buried under the rug. However, I would love to see an article that is written strictly within the context of what the Bible says, or does not say, about this topic. This is a topic that should be tackled by a Bible scholar and the article should not be open to public debate since the opinions that individuals may share could be hurtful or too detailed for modest readers.

Forgive me for even suggesting this subject if it is considered too inappropriate to address. I have seen that everything from drug use to physical abuse is covered without shame... sexuality is a major part of marriage and I am simply curious to know where the lines should be drawn between sexual intimacy and sexual immorality within a polygamous marriage.

Please folks, do not PM me about my curiosity. I do not want a lecture on morality... :shock: I get enough of those lectures when I share my acceptance of polygyny. I just want the facts according to the Bible!

Thanks!
Click to expand...

If you mean co-wife with co-wife, I do not think the Bible actually says anything about that. Which is kind of funny considering.....

Anyway it is a very important topic, because some women are interested in polygyny for...... and if it is ok we should not criticize them but if it is wrong then we should know how to explain to them it is wrong.
 
I would like an article on divorce and remarriage.

When is it adultery to marry a divorced person and when is it not adultery.

When is divorce permitted and when is it forbidden?
 
I would like an article explaining that sex before marriage is wrong (if that is the case)

I thought the word translated as fornication and fornicators meant sexually immorality and especially premarital sex, but I am not sure anymore. If the Greek word that sounds like porn is not talking about premarital sex, I see no scripture forbidding premarital sex (for a man) in the entire Bible.

Needless to say, this is a very serious and most basic issue.

I am not trying to ask this question as in excuse to do bad things, if that was my plan I would not ask but rather just do. Rather I want to be sure that what I believed is correct and can be scripturally supported. Additionally I do not want to tell someone a bunch of things about words that are not true by accident.

Please explain this from the new testament.
 
How to explain to a woman you like your belief in polygyny, without sounding like..... and losing your opportunity or taking so much time to explain that she thinks you are cheating on her when she finds out you have been talking to other women, before you explain your beliefs.
 
It is probably against policy but......

Why is it a crime to marry someone one day before a certain age but fine one day after. "Christians" are very insistent on this but I see no Biblical basis. Furthermore from what I understand of Asian cultures in Korea, China, and Indian cultures people historically have married under 10 years old in some cases. For instance I heard that originally Britain outlawed marrying women under ten years old in India, indicating that marriages under 10 was a common practice, I also have heard of a Korean movie about an emperor who got married at 7 years old and I heard that one of the Chinese emperors got married at an age of 7. In Hmong culture 12 was a common age for marriage. Additionally it is common in Jewish culture from what I have heard people historically married as young as 13. In Japan it is not legal to marry at 13 but it is legal to ___ at 13 which should only be done if you are married. In Korea people's marriage partner was sometimes determined less than one year after birth, in fact this was even a key element in the plot of a popular modern Korean television series (even though usually Korean women get married really old today :( , in fact so old that North Koreans are having more children than South Korean women, and South Korea is in danger of a decreasing population.) In parables in the old testament God married women who he adopted as babies, a rather large age gap. Many famous "Great Christians" married woman under 18, yet the people who call these Christians "great" would criticize a man today who did the same thing. And who are Christians to slander Muslims for marrying people young if there is no Biblical basis to forbid such a marriage? Furthermore "under-age" marriages were probably common practice in Europe and Africa. Yet, I know not one mention in the new testament of criticism of these "under age" marriages.

http://chnm.gmu.edu/cyh/teaching-modules/230 said:
In addition to class, the intersection of race and age also gave the law a regulatory character. In India, for example, the prevalence of the custom of child marriage among Hindus led the British colonial authorities to apply the age of consent to married as well as unmarried girls, thereby creating a crime of marital rape that did not exist in British law. The 1860 Indian Penal Code set the age at 10 years; in 1891 the age of consent but not the age of marriage was raised to 12 years. As a result, the age of consent regulated the consummation of marriage, ensuring that it was delayed until an age when Indian girls were considered likely to have begun menstruating."
Click to expand...

http://chnm.gmu.edu/cyh/teaching-modules/230
(I did not read the whole context it seemed rather long)

That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,
Titus 2:4 KJV
Referred to married YOUNG women

http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cf ... KJV#conc/4

I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully.
1 timothy 5:14

νέος

neos

1) recently born, young, youthful

2) new


http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lex ... 3501&t=KJV

http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cf ... JV#conc/14

But if any man think that he behaveth himself uncomely toward his virgin, if she pass the flower of her age, and need so require, let him do what he will, he sinneth not: let them marry.
1 Corinthians 7:36

http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cf ... JV#conc/36

ὑπέρακμος

What age is the highly debated greek term. If it means above an age, above what age?

http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lex ... 5230&t=KJV

They found among the people living in Jabesh Gilead four hundred young women who had never slept with a man, and they took them to the camp at Shiloh in Canaan.
Judges 21:12 NIV
There actions do not imply the morality, but they do imply that it might have been commonly considered acceptable to marry young women in Hebrew culture. How old is young?

17 Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, 18 but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man.
Numbers 31:17-18 NIV
Why is there a distinction between woman and girl? They were allowed to marry the girls. This command was from Moses. Was this command from God?

1 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 “Son of man, confront Jerusalem with her detestable practices 3 and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says to Jerusalem: Your ancestry and birth were in the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. 4 On the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to make you clean, nor were you rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloths. 5 No one looked on you with pity or had compassion enough to do any of these things for you. Rather, you were thrown out into the open field, for on the day you were born you were despised.

6 “‘Then I passed by and saw you kicking about in your blood, and as you lay there in your blood I said to you, “Live!”[a] 7 I made you grow like a plant of the field. You grew up and developed and became the most beautiful of jewels. Your breasts were formed and your hair grew, you who were naked and bare.

8 “‘Later I passed by, and when I looked at you and saw that you were old enough for love, I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness. I gave you my solemn oath and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Sovereign LORD, and you became mine.
Or became mature
Ezekiel 16:1-8 NIV

There must be a large age gap if he found her when she was a baby

1 The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 2 Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. 3 They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth.
1 Timothy 4:1-3 NIV

I do not feel that it is right for Westerners and the United Nations to impose their cultural values on these Asian cultures after wartime invasion, when these age has no Biblical basis that I know of.

It is a serious tragedy when children are given condoms but forbidden from marriage.

Oh and also for those who believe in "natural law", why are women able to get pregnant before 18, if it is against God's intended design?

We have a duty to know and proclaim what the Biblical truth about this issue is even if it means arrest. The west has tried to censer the other point of view completely, and yet it should be studied if you are sincere about the truth. It is not right to not even listen to the other side than what the Westerners say, especially if they have no Biblical basis. I fear soon people will not have the freedom anywhere in Non-Islamic countries to even discuss the alternative to the Western value system in this matter. Surely if we are as superior to Muslims in tolerance as Western Islamophobes say we should have more freedom than in Saudi Arabia to discuss such topics, but will we? So please take this post seriously and do not avoid the topic and reprimand me as many people would.
 
DTT,

I don't personally see the point of this topic? What does it prove? There are legal laws that you have to abide by even if you don't agree with them anyway, it is one thing disregarding the frankly discriminatory laws created to control the FLDS population (mostly) but another thing entirely to risk a conviction for a sex crime because people married sexually immature women because "men in the old days could" Which, ignoring all the extrapolation, is basically what you are saying.

In days when the average life span was 30, of course people married younger, but I am concerned that you are confusing young teenage brides of just a few decades ago and previous (a girl of 15, might be young, she might even come to regret marriying young, but she is possibly likely to be sexually mature at least) with Child Brides (children under sexual maturity) and child marriages (under sexual maturity) can I point out that many of these child marriages are actually just another form of arranged marriage where the little children have a first marriage and they go back home, than when they have reached their late teens they have a second ceremony, they then can live together.

The same situation happened with some child brides, Charles Lennox the second Duke of Richmond, "won" his wife at cards, they married when she was 13 and he was 18, but they did not live together until some years later, their first child wasn't born until she was 17.
My point with mentioning this is that the practice of child brides/marriages had a lot more to do with money, family, position and power than a man wanting 'young' wife, these days are gone in this culture, with no dowry to accept, with arranged marriages not being the norm, can you please explain to me why you might think this is a necessary topic to explore unless you feel marrying children without their consent (or informed consent even) is acceptable in this day and age?

B
 
Please, no debates (or ongoing back and forth discussions) on this thread ;)

I am just asking for suggestions of articles. I am writing all of the suggestions down as they come in through email, pm, and posts here.

DTT I got your suggestions and will include this in the list of articles at some point.

Thanks.

Dr. Allen
 
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