Marriage Is Only Between One Man And One Woman . . . Or Is It?

Ethics, Morality, and Sin

Moderator: Moderators

Post Reply
User avatar
Miles
Savant
Posts: 5179
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2009 4:19 pm
Has thanked: 434 times
Been thanked: 1614 times

Marriage Is Only Between One Man And One Woman . . . Or Is It?

Post #1

Post by Miles »

.



Quite often it's claimed that according to the Bible marriage is only meant to be between one man and one woman. Why? Because it forestalls fornication:


1 Corinthians 7:1-2
7 Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” [Anyone here on D C and R care to venture a guess as to why?] But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.

So we have remedial verses such as:

Genesis 2:24
24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall become united and cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
and
1 Corinthians 7:1-2
1 Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman.
2 Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband
.

However, from what I can determine, the word "only" never enters into the instruction, just a "shall" and "let." And, as it turns out, as used in the USA “shall” is not a word of command or obligation. In addressing its meaning, in Gutierrez de Martinez v. Lamagno 515 U.S. 417 (1995). the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that “shall” really means “may.” More importantly, if "shall" was an imperative, a command, it wouldn't leave room for bachelors and spinsters, neither of which are denounced in the Bible or, to my knowledge, by conservative Christians----just consider Jesus who was accepted as a 30 year-old bachelor.

So marriage only between a man and a woman is not commanded, just strongly suggested, which is no doubt why the Bible is replete with accepted exceptions, and provides further evidence that "shall," as used in the Bible verse above, is not a command or expresses any obligation.

The exceptions: (source: video below)

"There's polygamous marriages, like Lamech who married two women, Adah and Zillah. And Ashur who had 2 wives, and Esau who had 3 . In fact, Gideon, a leader of the Israelites had enough wives to bear him 70 sons., and David, of David and Goliath, had 8 wives. So there are many Biblical marriages that go beyond one man and one woman. Sometimes by large orders of magnitude. But the Bible doesn't go out of its way to say those people are doing anything wrong. There's no judgement or condemnation. Sometimes god is even proud of it. In fact, Jacob had two wives. Now god could have punished him, but no." So going against his suggestion in Genesis 2:24 is no biggie.



More on this issue in the following video.



.............................



.

User avatar
Purple Knight
Prodigy
Posts: 3465
Joined: Wed Feb 12, 2020 6:00 pm
Has thanked: 1129 times
Been thanked: 729 times

Re: Marriage Is Only Between One Man And One Woman . . . Or Is It?

Post #2

Post by Purple Knight »

The video paints a strawman of Christians who is hypocritical and then concludes that because of the strawman's hypocrisy, Christians shouldn't be able to point to the Bible and declare others immoral.

If some of them are hypocrites then nobody has to listen to them, even though pointing out hypocrisy is a form of ad hominem, as I've said in other threads, hypocrites don't have the moral high ground, shouldn't be allowed to tell others what to do, and saying so shouldn't be a fallacy.

However, not all conservative Christians are hypocrites and I don't buy the video's assertion that someone who is the staunchest ally of a rule is only more likely to be breaking that rule in secret. There are some people who genuinely believe in some rules.

There are no gay or lesbian marriages in the Bible. There's just polygamy. And Mormons did fight for their right to have polygamy. They fought and they lost, and they ultimately had to submit to the law. There are no tolerance videos defending Mormons, even though a few remain polygamous. Documentaries about Mormon polygamy are critical or neutral. So by not only ignoring the Christians who do want polygamy, but also by talking only about Christian hypocrites, the video has pulled a massive switcheroo and at once denied the sort of tolerance to those needing it as well as shoehorned them into the role of the stereotypical intolerant Christian. The video is guilty of the sin it accuses Christians of.

nobspeople
Prodigy
Posts: 3187
Joined: Wed Nov 11, 2020 11:32 am
Has thanked: 1510 times
Been thanked: 824 times

Re: Marriage Is Only Between One Man And One Woman . . . Or Is It?

Post #3

Post by nobspeople »

[Replying to Miles in post #1]

Quite often it's claimed that according to the Bible marriage is only meant to be between one man and one woman.
I've often found that when people start claiming what the bible 'means' or 'meant', that leads to trouble ahead in the sense of multiple disagreements within said church or religious institution.
Which, to me, is perfectly fine. I'm more than content to let them bicker amongst themselves - it lets the rest of us live our lives as we see fit. Which seems fine to me, if we are, indeed, ultimately responsible for our own actions, as Christians claim.
Have a great, potentially godless, day!

User avatar
thomasdixon
Apprentice
Posts: 241
Joined: Sat Jun 06, 2020 3:19 pm
Location: usa
Has thanked: 22 times
Been thanked: 26 times
Contact:

Re: Marriage Is Only Between One Man And One Woman . . . Or Is It?

Post #4

Post by thomasdixon »

nobspeople wrote: Wed Jul 14, 2021 12:26 pm Which, to me, is perfectly fine. I'm more than content to let them bicker amongst themselves - it lets the rest of us live our lives as we see fit. Which seems fine to me, if we are, indeed, ultimately responsible for our own actions, as Christians claim.
Thank you for your well thought out thoughts
:P

Post Reply