But, God would never allow that today. Or would he? Of course not. He's gone through a learning curve. Does God even learn?
The "New Light" alibi author -- man of 1,000 wives and concubines
by FatFreek 2005 13 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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NotNew
I would seem to imply that...
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blondie
Am I missing something?
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FatFreek 2005
"Am I missing something?"
I find it ironic that JWs based their new light doctrine on "inspired" words from a man with 1,000 wives and concubines (Solomon).
Oh, but God wouldn't find favor today with such a lech, you may say. Cuz he's set the bar higher with his more modern Christlike followers. As if he's learning.
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blondie
I always wondered if Solomon wrote those words before or after his fall into apostasy; not that it matters in the end run. From the beginning of the bible account, it seemed that god intended
that Adam have only one wife; the WTS even uses Jesus words regarding that. I think the first mention of some man having 2 wives was Lamech in Genesis. Then instead of restoring the original one wife intent (rule), he let that go and even allowed/put it into the law code, and then reinstated the one wife rule in the Christian congregation.
Interestingly, it was not until 1947 that the WTS jw men were allowed to have more than one wife.
*** w95 9/1 p.25***
I married Olabisi Fashugba in February 1941 and knew enough not to take any additional wives. But until 1947 when the missionaries came, polygamy was common in the congregations. Polygamous brothers were told that they had married more than one wife in ignorance. So if they had two or three or four or five wives, they could keep them, but they should not take any more. That was the policy we had.
*** jv chap. 13 p. 176 Recognized by Our Conduct ***
Yet, there were hundreds who accepted the Bible’s exposure of idolatry and gladly embraced what Jehovah’s Witnesses taught concerning the Kingdom of God but who got baptized without abandoning polygamy. To correct this situation, The Watchtower of January 15, 1947, emphasized that Christianity makes no allowance for polygamy, regardless of local custom. A letter sent to the congregations notified any who professed to be Jehovah’s Witnesses but who were polygamists that six months was being allowed for them to bring their marital affairs into harmony with the Bible standard. This was reinforced by a discourse given by Brother Knorr during a visit to Africa that same year. -
FatFreek 2005
Interesting research on JW polygamy, Blondie. Bragging rights to Mormons as JWs abandon polygamy some 50 years after Mormons (1897).
Whooda thunk that!
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Half banana
You make a couple of good points FF, God does not learn or by the attribution given to him as being perfect, he cannot learn.
Secondly how could you grant "godly wisdom" to a man who has many hundreds of concubines?
As a fifteen year long archaeological study of Palestine ending in 1993 found, there was no evidence for most of the events and people of the Bible. At the time of Solomon and David there were so few inhabitants in the Judean highlands that it would have been materially impossible to even make a city and temple, far less a monarchy to be reckoned with internationally. Thomas L Thomson, a leading expert in the textual and archaeological evidence for early Israelite history concludes that the first ten books of the Bible are fiction.
There is of course nothing wrong with reading fiction--- a problem arises only if you believe it to be true.
Solomon, whose description is a burlesque of a middle Eastern potentate, was -- like most Biblical figures -- a fictional character.
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FatFreek 2005
"Secondly how could you grant "godly wisdom" to a man who has many hundreds of concubines?"
Amen to that, Half banana.
Yet, JWs anchor their increasing light doctrine on Proverbs 4:18, a description by this alleged playboy.
Thanks, too, for that archaeological background.
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blondie
His marriages were mostly for political reasons.