Married Only Once

Lemuel G. Abarte lemuel at bcd.weblinq.com
Fri Feb 26 17:54:05 EST 1999


It seems the issue here is digamy.  At least that may be what Cary Perdue suggests based on 5:9.  
It is also repeated in 3:12.  
The questions are:  Was Paul referring to the status of pastors and deacons in a different light than widows?  That is, they should not be polygamous in the technical sense of marriage according to the civil laws of SPQR but that divorcees should be included as acceptable?  Does this rule apply for widows?  But why would Paul "honor widows who are widows indeed" and encourage younger widows to marry?  
Or, is this rather a cultural injunction?  
A recent convert in Thailand has 2 wives.  He has 2 kids from the first wife, and 2 kids from the second wife.  They all live in the same house, and unlike in other cultures where world war 3 is the order of the day, this man has his family in perfect harmony.
Unlike adulterous marriages, where a man may have left his first wife and family, and not allowed to return, in my understanding of Biblical principles, should this man keep his 2 wives, since he was converted at the time he has 2 families at the same time?  
Perhaps this subject is foreign to B-Greek as an issue, but it seems that the culture in the time of Paul is quite remote as well.
Regards,
Lemuel          
 ----
From: Jonathan Robie <jonathan at texcel.no>
To: Biblical Greek <b-greek at franklin.oit.unc.edu>
Date: Friday, February 26, 1999 1:06 AM
Subject: Re: Married Only Once

Since some people seemed to be interested, the polyandrous society I was
thinking of was the Nyinba people of Nepal, a Tibetan tribe. Here's a link
to a paper a student wrote, based on the work of Levine (which is what we
had read in the anthropology class):

http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/d/b/dbs143/Report.html

The Ladakh also seem to be polyandrous, and this page is better written and
has nice pictures:

http://www.pugmarks.com/d-india/ladakh.htm

The Loba also seem to be polyandrous:

http://www.premier.net/~bethany/profiles/p_code/1336.html

A list on a web page says the Yodi and the Nayar are also polyandrous. I
was unable to find any reference to polyandry in urban America.

Jonathan
___________________________________________________________________________

Jonathan Robie jwrobie at mindspring.com

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