Memphis Dwight
Member
When the LORD God said that it was not good that the man should be alone
(Gen 2:18), what did he mean? There are two competing ideas about what is meant. Here they are:
1. God was saying that man should have one other person with him
or
2. God is saying that the man should be more than one upon the earth, he should have family and fill the globe with others.
Choice no. 1 reflects the roman-tic philosophy that has permeated the mind of man for a millenia. It is that age old belief that everyone has a soulmate.
But,
Choice no. 2 is based upon sound exegesis. Look at the word alone. It comes from the combination of all + one. God says it is not good that the man should be all one. The opposite of one is not two but rather it is many. God looked around and saw that the other creatures were in the process of multiplying (Gen 1:22) and knew that man should not be a single creature but that the earth should be full of men.
And if it is the LORD God's will that mankind be many, then isn't it wrong for any institution, including the church, to interfere with man's reproductive endeavor?
God has great desire for the agenda of man's reproduction. He gets very angry at any attempts to thwart this end. Look at what the book says about a woman that would attempt to place her hand upon a man's reproductive unit even if it is for a good cause:
Deut 25:11-12 When men strive together one with another, and the wife of the one draweth near for to deliver her husband out of the hand of him that smiteth him, and putteth forth her hand, and taketh him by the secrets: Then thou shalt cut off her hand, thine eye shall not pity [her].
Man has the right, no, the divine duty to have family unless he is called into ministry, and no other man has the right to strip him of that.
(Gen 2:18), what did he mean? There are two competing ideas about what is meant. Here they are:
1. God was saying that man should have one other person with him
or
2. God is saying that the man should be more than one upon the earth, he should have family and fill the globe with others.
Choice no. 1 reflects the roman-tic philosophy that has permeated the mind of man for a millenia. It is that age old belief that everyone has a soulmate.
But,
Choice no. 2 is based upon sound exegesis. Look at the word alone. It comes from the combination of all + one. God says it is not good that the man should be all one. The opposite of one is not two but rather it is many. God looked around and saw that the other creatures were in the process of multiplying (Gen 1:22) and knew that man should not be a single creature but that the earth should be full of men.
And if it is the LORD God's will that mankind be many, then isn't it wrong for any institution, including the church, to interfere with man's reproductive endeavor?
God has great desire for the agenda of man's reproduction. He gets very angry at any attempts to thwart this end. Look at what the book says about a woman that would attempt to place her hand upon a man's reproductive unit even if it is for a good cause:
Deut 25:11-12 When men strive together one with another, and the wife of the one draweth near for to deliver her husband out of the hand of him that smiteth him, and putteth forth her hand, and taketh him by the secrets: Then thou shalt cut off her hand, thine eye shall not pity [her].
Man has the right, no, the divine duty to have family unless he is called into ministry, and no other man has the right to strip him of that.