A Christian woman who objected to plural marriage told me that society had "evolved away" from polygamy to the superior monogamous relationship. This was after we had examined all the scriptures on the subject and she could not refute what the Bible taught. My answer was that society has also "evolved" into accepting homosexuality and many other sinful practices and I asked her if we should accept homosexuality on the same basis. She had no answer. I also asked her to show me where the Bible teaches anything about social evolution superseding Yahweh's Torah (Law). She could not.
As we saw earlier, Elohim (God) does not change - He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. True, there are some instances where, we are told, Yahweh gave some harsh laws to the Israelites because of the hardness of men's hearts, but these Yah'shua (Jesus) later modified to as to reflect Yahweh's original intent. He tightened up on the lax divorce laws (making them stricter), told people to love their enemies rather than to seek revenge on them, and many other enlightening principles of truth. But nowhere did He ever change the marriage laws which Yahweh originally gave, and which, as we have seen, make provision for plural marriage as an acceptable and divinely ordained institution.
An argument advanced by both Catholic and Protestant writers is that Yahweh 'tolerated' polygamy whilst enshrining monogamy as the ideal standard to which all good, spiritual men should aspire. And whilst such a theory may sound 'reasonable' it is actually a blasphemous libel on the character of Yahweh.
El Elyon, the Most High God, said to His prophet Malachi:
"For I am Yahweh, I shall not change, and you, O sons of Ya'aqob (Jacob), shall not come to an end" (Malachi 3:6, ISRV).
His Son, Yah'shua (Jesus), likewise is "the same yesterday, and today, and forever" (Heb.3:8, KJV). Yahweh's counsel - His thoughts - are applicable to all generations (Psalm 33:11). Solomon knew that, and we should also, if we claim to believe in the same God, when he said:
"I know that whatever Elohim (God) does is forever. There is no adding to it, and there is no taking from it. Elohim (God) does it, that men should fear before Him" (Qoheleth/Ecclesiastes 3:14, ISRV).
Now if Yahweh-Elohim were to change His marriage laws, or to 'tolerate' sinful practices, would people fear Him any more? Would they respect Him? Do you respect those who keep on "changing the rules"? Were He to change in one single thing, Jacob would "come to an end", and that is in contradiction to what He has said about Jacob and Israel in the last days and in the eternities.
Let us oblige those who claim to believe in the Bible to accept that Yahweh does not "change His mind" or "fiddle with the rules":
"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning" (James 1:17, NKJV).
"El (God) is not a man to lie; nor a son of man, to repent [change direction]! He has said, and would he not do it; or spoken, and would not confirm it?" (Bemidbar/Numbers 23:19, ISRV).
To say that Yahweh tolerates polygamy whilst setting up monogamy as the ideal is the same as saying that he does not demand absolute obedience to His commandments or that He gives us the freedom to sin or that man is not capable of obeying them. That is like saying that homosexuality is permissible but that heterosexuality is better. Would you trust such a liberal, wishy-washy God? However you view it, such a proposition is a blasphemy. It is saying that God is incompetent and can't frame absolute rules.
The trouble is He does frame absolute rules - some may be provisional, in which case He says so - but never has He said that plural marriage is 'provisional' or 'permissible' whilst being discouraged. Sin is sin. He says that sin merits death. Would He thereafter tolerate sin? Of course not! Would He deliberately keep people ignorant? Of course not! Is man incapable of being forced to live monogamously, thus requiring a temporary, permissive polygamy statute? Of course not! That is the same as permitting polytheism whilst "recommending" monotheism! We could go on, could we not, and list one preposterous proposition after another based on this foolish, false and blasphemous Western 'Christian' doctrine.
"Thus Eloah (God), determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for Eloah (God) to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast" (Heb.6:17-19, NKJV).
Anyone who claims that Yahweh has permissive, temporary moral laws is a liar and in need of repentance. His morality does not change. And that goes for His marriage laws especially. Marriage always has been - and always will be - one man married to one or more women within sensible limits and according to His will.
Yahweh does not change. That is established beyond dispute if you believe that the Bible is His Word. His moral laws do not change. His ethics do not change. Sin does not change. What was sin ten, a hundred, a thousand, or ten thousand years ago is still sin today, and what was not sin then is not sin today. All that has changed are the shadows and types which the Old Covenant pointed to and which are fulfilled in Christ - those observances which pointed to His death and resurrection such as animal sacrifice, circumcision, and the Levitical Priesthood which administered it. All the rest remains, as He Himself declared:
"Do not think that I came to destroy the Torah (Law) or the Prophets [Old Testament]. I did not come to destroy but to complete. For truly, I say to you, till the heaven and the earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall by no means pass away from the Torah [Law] till all be done" (Matthew 5:17-18, ISRV).
What was it that made the Old Testament incomplete? The Messiah (Christ)! Yah'shua (Jesus) made the pre-Messianic Scriptures complete. His atonement abolished certain ritual ordinances but the moral and ethical law - which includes marriage - is just the same. And there isn't a word in the Bible to refute that truth.
Where, then, have Catholicism and Protestantism gone wrong? They have, quite simply, twisted the meaning of the apostle Paul and given the impression that there are two different sets of rules and - by implication - two different Gods: a harsh Old Testament one and a much kinder New Testament one. But ... Yahweh has not changed! The God of the Old Testament and the God of the New are identical - they are one and the same. As I mentioned earlier, how utterly absurd to think that a polygamous family was "tolerated" by Yahweh until the cross and then, suddenly, that man became a sinner!
Has, as Protestants teach, Yahweh suddenly through Christ eliminated the Torah (Law) so that we are no longer accountable to it? Is that what Paul actually says? Does that mean that everything Yahweh spoke before been replaced by something else - what some call "faith" (as though there had never been any before) and others "Christ's (new) commandments" (as though the previous ones had been defective)? Does this mean we don't have to worry about what is written in the Old Testament any more? And is this what Yah'shua (Jesus) meant in Matthew 15:17-18? Does this mean, after all, that Yahweh does change? Does it mean that He does add and subtract from what He has spoken before, even though He has categorically said He does not? Who are you going to believe - a theologian or God Almighty? What, then, if certain writings of Paul appear to contradict what Yahweh and Yah'shua (Jesus) have said? Shall we reject Paul (as many who are called Ebionites do) or shall we take a closer look at these controversial passages and see what they really mean? What will you do?
These are questions that many honest and sincere believers are doing today. They are challenging the priests and theologians of the churches and taking the time and making the effort to find out for themselves. And they have been more than rewarded.
I do not have time to go into this subject in this book which is about biblical marriage other than to say that Paul never says that the Torah (Law) has been abolished even though this is what we have been told He said since the Reformers came onto the scene 500 years ago and tried to undo the mess made by the Catholic Church but ended up going to the opposite extreme.
I assure you most solemnly that Yahweh, our Father in Heaven, has not changed because He says so and not me. I do assure you that His marriage laws have not changed either. He never tolerated sin and never said that His laws "evolve" at the whim of men. Rather, it is men, influenced by demons, who have changed Yahweh's Laws and made up their own:
"Now the Ruach (Spirit) expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry ..." (1 Tim.4:1-3, NKJV).
If anybody forbids you to marry one wife (compelling you to be celibate) or more than one wife (compelling you to be monogamous), know that they are being led by "deceiving spirits" and the "doctrine of demons". Be patient with them, gently instruct them in love in the truth of Yahweh's unchanging Word as summarised in this and other books, and then leave them to Yahweh with their own consciences. For they must either make peace with the truth or become an enemy of the Cross and of all righteousness, living with a seared conscience.
We both know what Biblical marriage is. It is up to people to accept of reject it, and take responsibility for their actions:
"Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith, from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk, desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm. But we know that the Torah (Law) is good if one uses it lawfully, knowing this: that the Torah (Law) is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed Eloah (God) which was committed to my trust" (1 Tim.1:5-11, NKJV).
