Tom Shipley responding to Jay Adams: “The doctrine of monogamy is treated as an unquestionable premise and first principle.”
The commentators treat polygyny as a pariah that must be avoided at all costs. Adherence to Scripture goes out the window and all things must bend to avoid polygyny. Nowhere in the culture, Christian or secular, is Biblical polygyny allowed to be portrayed; and if it is even referred to it is in the context of things that are clearly defined as perversions by Scripture such as incest, sodomy, bestiality, and pedophilia.
So, to the list of common false gods we may add one more:
- The authority of the church trumps/interprets/amends Scripture – Roman Catholic – traditionalism
- That part of the Bible is something we can just dispense with – dispensationalism
- The state defines right and wrong – statism
- God’s Law is like water but the interpretation is like wine – Phariseeism
- As long as my wife approves – matriarchalism, feminism
- The father’s word is law beyond appeal – patriarchalism
- To each his own – relativism
- Lets vote on it – democracy
- As long as it feels good – hedonism
- Whatever works or Oh that will never work – pragmatism
- Go along to get along – peer pressure – group level humanism
- Why change anything or Don’t rock the boat – existentialism
- I don’t believe it so its irrelevant – solipsism
and now:
- Polygyny (one man with more than one wife) is wrong no matter what – monogamania
In opposition to all of these we stand on Sola Scriptura (the Bible alone) as the revealed Word of God and thus our ultimate source of authority which altogether we call theonomy. It is upon the enscripturated word of God upon which we base our doctrine as did Christ, the incarnate Word of God. It is the two-edged sword of this Word that we bring to bear in our battle for the truth.