My thinking on this one is that it is possible to bring them to Christ and to provide conditional shelter for them without making them a wife initially. Kind of like the handmaiden in Exodus 21:10 that comes to the family from a position of destitution. Her willingness to submit unconditionally to the headship and leadership of the husband for an extended period of time without any promise but the possibility of becoming a wife in time and safety and compassion while she’s in the home would be the prerequisite for me even considering something like this.
Keep in mind, if you’re considering becoming her covering, you are accepting responsibility for her as is. Maybe Christ considers that more righteous than her sins punishment, and maybe not. Either way, I’d have to be completely willing to accept her punishment to consider her as wife material. For some women, that might be more than I’m willing to do, and thats not just factoring prostitutes. IMO, a woman who’s aborted her baby is in worse need of covering than a prostitute. How do you cover innocent blood?
I am intrigued to hear more about what you speak of. Though I'm not really sure what you mean by this accept her punishment thing.
Perhaps my next six wives will be stinky, balding, dishevelled, dirty, desperate, and a bit gross.
That's a trope in literature; several hundred years old if not far older. Men have a yearning to take that diamond in the rough and make her beautiful. To make an honest woman of her. Taming of the Screw. Pretty Woman. etc. At it's best, it is a living out of Eph 5 bringing her into sanctification. At it's worst, men go on Quixotic quests that result only in damage and destruction in their life and in the lives of innocent bystanders. That's another old tale: the Scorpion and the Frog.
Is a dirty whore so bad? Doesn't she need Jesus too? Or perhaps we want the promise of chapter 4 without the perils of chapter 3?
I feel that if 7 women approached me, I'd be a lot less picky in a number of ways than if it was 1 I was considering. How far that would go though I cannot say.
I know that God can work miracles. Heal the sick. Transform diseased limbs. Cure addiction in an instant. Set people free from the bondage of sin. Transform their nature and motives entirely. I've seen this happen in my life and others, in scripture and throughout church history. I came to that understanding before I was awoken to the realities of women and marriage in society today.
And much to my surprise and immense confusion and disappointment, I've seen none of that at work when it comes to women behaving badly; even among the best of Christians. Why, I do not know. I have only theories, and I don't like any of them.
The sad reality is there is a direct correlation between female promiscuity and chance of divorce; and it only takes a mere handful to balloon the probability of divorce to an almost certainty. Something about it seems to destroy her ability to pair bond. And I have no confidence it would be different for Christians given there is no spiritually significant difference in divorce rates between non-Christians and Christians. And unless you're Amish, spare me the no true Scotsman fallacy.
That said, there is a dramatic difference between our society today and one that is ruined and laid low as in Isaiah 3. The average woman would have to undergo a fair degree of mental change (and maybe genuine repentance?) that she wouldn't if she married a man, even as second wife, in order to come to the place where she'd partner with 6 other women to chase a 1 man on favorable terms to him in desperate plea to remove their own shame. Strong, independent, smart, empowered daughters of the most high God they are not.
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