1. Guest: 'Polygamy is superior to monogamy in fulfilling the Creation Ordinance in that more women would be married, and thus more children would be born. In terms of God's procreative intent for the human species, polygamy is more true than is monogamy.'

I went to your website (pretty interesting) and found this quote above. With 6 billion people on the earth now, do you think it is truly necessary to interpret God's "be fruitful and multiply" to such a degree, still?

1.1. Stanisław: In the sense in which you mean, no, I agree - there is a population explosion. And I would absolutely not recommend a worldwide practice of polygamy by all and sundry. Though this will sound partisan from your point-of-view, the purpose of polygamy scripturally was to multiply Elohim's (God's) people and not unbelievers.

2. Guest: When I think of these words "be fruitful and multiply" I have to think of the time and settings over the history of the world ~ did God intend for the human beings to take over the earth and make it ours such that the rest of God's creations shall suffer due to our human-ness? (eg., species becoming extinct every day due to man's presence and development). We are the only creatures who do not totally rely on nature to govern our population ~ we manufacture it ourselves through sciences, etc.. and I'm not saying that these are all bad things, but it does leave me to wonder what our populations would be like without any technological advances, etc.. In nature, there seems to be an unseen balance, when there is not enough food available, populations decrease naturally, just as they increase when the populations multiply ~ species who have a very hard time keeping their population up usually produce many offspring naturally due to the mortality rate, and species whose populations are too many usually find a disease or something that will bring the population down to a more manageable rate...I often wonder where the humans fit into the plan of nature, with the mortality rate continually being pushed back due to medical advances, etc..

2.1. Stanisław: I'm not entirely sure what point you were trying to make exactly, unless you regard humans as just another animal species and no more. If you see these things as merely random and purposeless then of course you will see polygamy in an entirely different light to us. I'm sure it is true to say that we don't rely on nature - at least not on part of it. As for the disappearance of species - whether that's a good or bad thing, tens of thousands of them have already disappeared, the majority in the Great Deluge. Frankly, I don't miss most of them - I can't imagine what it would be like defending my poultry against the likes of Velociraptors and the like Furthermore, the major species that Elohim (God) destroyed was Homo sapiens whose genome had become corrupted by Nephilim genes and whose behaviour was worse than the animals.

3. Guest: But I digress.. getting back to the topic at hand ~ You probably know this better than I ~ Were polygamous communities brought about at a time (times) where the populations were needed in order to survive? Your page talked about some mathematical calculations to determine how many firstborn sons ~

'An example of this fact is the near universal practice of polygamy by the Israelites during their captivity in Egypt and following the Exodus. Numbers 3:40-43 provides us with a census of the firstborn in Israel. The number given is 22,273 firstborn sons. We may safely conclude there were at least 22,273 families in Israel, since a family cannot have more than one firstborn son. There were, no doubt, families which had no sons.'

~ without a doubt, I can see how the practice of polygamy would increase the population following the Exodus...

3.1. Stanisław: That polygamy played a major rôle in preserving the Israelite people that they would not be swamped by invaders from hostile neighbouring countries is almost certain, but that it's only purpose was to "fill the earth" I do not necessarily accept. As a Christian/Messianic I cannot but fail to notice how Elohim (God) repeatedly uses the marriage - and especially polygynous marriage - as an allegory of the intimate spiritual relationship that exists between Him and His people both on this earth and in the eternities. This tells me at once that this is a spiritual principle that sheds light on a mystery about life and the creation as a whole. If it is true, it ought to explain why we are, why we behave the way we do, the impulses that drive us, and the solution to social problems generally. The whole of the HEM website tries to elaborate on this hypothesis.

4. Guest: Now, I realize that in this day and age, there are probably not as many people living in a polygamous lifestyle as there have been in other times, and I am not trying to say that a polygamous lifestyle of a few will result in more children in the world that there would be with strictly monogamous relationships... would one measure this by the number of children males father, or the number of children women bear? Number of children resulting from a union? I'm not a very religious person, so I struggle a bit with the word of God anyways.. and when you add in everyone's interpretations, well, I have a great deal of skepticism for people's interpretations ~ like statistics, I think people can say a lot about what someone meant to say, and sometimes lose the intention of the language as it was meant to be.

4.1. Stanisław: Truly I am sorry that you have problems with the Word of God which, if allowed to speak and interpret itself without massive man-made philosophical injections, is, I think you will find, crystal clear. I know there was a time when I was confused because I wasn't doing my homework properly. Part of the problem over all the disagreement lies in people interpolating their pet theories into the Bible, their cultural prejudices, and their personal preferences instead of letting it speak for itself in its proper historical and cultural context. It is an organic whole, internally consistent, and doctrinally harmonious. It is true that you need to do a bit of linguistic research because Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek don't always translate easily into English or other modern languages.

It is true, as you say, that not as many people are living polygamy today as anciently, at least relative to the total propulation, though there are tens of millions of polygamists worldwide. In your country (USA) the number is still small (about 50,000) but it is growing rapidly. Here in Europe there are over half-a-million.

5. Guest: I have no doubt that a polygamous relationship is an economic liberation, as you've stated it is for yourselves ~ it is certainly no economic liberation for me in my monogamous relationship to work and raise children for the two of us, perhaps you do have something there.. hehe..

5.1. Stanisław: Well, maybe now's the time to convert your husband

6. I think it is difficult for many of us who are raised in a monogamous environment to picture ourselves in this type of relationship ~ many questions come to my mind.. how do you handle jealousy? How do you handle er.. sex? Do you all live in the same house? These are some questions I have (probably many more in there, too, LOL) ~ and probably none of my business, either..

6.1. Stanisław: You will find many articles on the HEM website that answer all of these questions at great length. And no, I do think they're your business - up to a certain point.

Yes, we all live in the same house. Some polygamists like separate households but to me that is just multiple monogamy.

7. What a very interesting subject ~ thank you for sharing.

7.1 Stanisław: You're most welcome.

Author: SBSK