Who is like God?
New Member
Hello All,
Recently my first wife and I have come into the knowledge that polygamy is not a sin and have in fact been called to it. Here is a condensed version of hte journey that the Lord has taken us on.
My wife and I grew up in two small neighboring towns. We attended the same church throughout our late adolescent and teenage years. The church we attended was pastored by the father of my best friend and college roommate. We were both saved at an early age and have been very passionate about pursuing a relationship with Christ our Lord and Savior. One of the most prominent things we were taught is that the word of God reigns supreme, and studying it is key to understanding who God is and what He has in store for us. We both diligently study the word of God during our teenage years learning how to rightly divide the word of God. Shortly before I left for engineering college at Letourneau University I asked Sue to date me with the intentions that we would some day, marry. We broke up during this time, completely due to a misunderstanding, which would not be resolved till the end of the summer; and during this time Sue considered, although however briefly, the idea of marrying an individual who was polygamous. I was contacted by one of her friends, namely Fey, who at the time was dating my best friend, who was my room mate at college, and asked if I could please talk to Sue because she was thinking about some pretty crazy things, like polygamy. Although I did not have any moral convictions on polygamy being right or wrong. I did relate it to Mormonism because of past dealings with Mormon missionaries and studying to refute their doctrine. I reviewed the subject briefly, but being swamped by my school load, only found that the subject needed more attention. I related to my wife to be that it would be social suicide, but I did not have any moral answers to give her. During my time at college not only was a I required to take 12 additional bible classes, but my theology was challenged again and again, sometimes by the Bible and logic which usually resulted in me changing my mind and other times by mindless emotion rhetoric which usually left me disgusted. Needless to say now, Sue and I got back together at the end of that summer, and after receiving my father’s and her father’s blessing I asked her to marry me at Thanksgiving dinner with her and my family present. We married July 7th of 2007. I finished my last year of college in 08, graduated as an Engineer, and nine months later was a father of a beautiful baby boy; moved back home to live with my father and that fall, under what I would say was the hand of God, accepted the job I currently work. Becoming a father was a huge revelation in understanding who God is, and how he describes himself so much so that I think it should be a requirement for all people in leadership positions. We prayed that God would provide a church were we could get involved in service; and at the end of that summer God directed us to become, or rather apply. for the Awana commander position at the church we currently attended. As you know from the previous email we were given the Awana commander position under the recommendation from our previous pastor who was connected to the church, but that is another story. Sue and I did not feel that we were being fed anything substantial at the church even after a year of attendance and heavy service in Awana. After praying about it for quite some time God answered our prayers by getting us involved in a marriage Sunday school class. Sacred marriage was the material that the class was presenting, written by Gary Thomas, (who from what I can tell is anti-polygamy). God used this class first to show us how blessed we were to have each other, and how blessed we were with the quality of marriage that he had built up in us. Although we had previously discussed and were lightly looking into the subject of polygamy, God really began to move on this subject for us by showing us that one of his many purposes in marriage was to make us holy and this really began the paradigm shift to discover the truth that he was working within our lives. The last class which was titled “Sexual Saints”, some questions about polygamy were brought up in both the men and the women segments of the class and was brushed aside. Just prior to this I had attended an Awana commander college where they had presented the facts that the Bible does not mandate confession to be saved and that it is truly a result of salvation; and it is belief in the Lord Jesus Christ that saves. Although I knew this and knew that we often clutter up salvation with a lot of religious lingo it was a truth that I realized I needed to be more careful in practicing. Thus Sue and I began to look into polygamy even more and discover why people came to the sure fire decision that it was SIN.
Sue looked much more voraciously than I did and quickly confirmed her intial findings that it was not a sin but was blessed and sanctiioned by God. I did not think that it was sin, or rather knew that the arguments that were given for it being sin were completely flawed. Thus, I threw away all man made commentary and looked at all the passages in the Bible, and the Bible as a whole to see what it said about the issue. After several laborious days I came to the conclusion that it was indeed not a sin and that the modern day church was sadly mistaken. I spent several more days studying to make sure that this was the case and then my wife sent me the E-book (which we then bought) written by Tom Shipley, titled “Man and Women under Biblical Law”. I carefully read the book over a period of three days and marveled about how clear and true his arguments rung against the emotional banter that I had ran across in my initial research saying that it was a sin. This brings us back to when my wife emailed you to ask for prayer for the meeting with the pastor that is still rescheduled for the 22nd of this month.
They day after the lady met with the pastor I received and email from him which included a bunch of hasty copied and pasted commentary and website links of why polygamy is a sin. He confirmed that this was his view as well. The arguments did not raise any questions that Tom had not already answered. I wanted to reply that very moment with Tom’s book attached but decided that it was best to pray about it. I sent the book to my brother who is also a pastor and asked him to look it over. Unfortunately he has not had the time to even begin reading the book. Despite my brother having not read the book, I think that I am going to send it to my current pastor, Jim, so that he has a chance to review it before the 22nd. If you could pray that the Lord would prepare the path ahead that would be great.
My wife and I have also felt like we are supposed to act slowly on this new found truth in a very personal way. I want to say right now that I am totally blessed to have a wife that is completly thrilled with the idea of polygyny, and this is a very obvious sign to me that is directing us along this path. The aforementioned girl, Fey, who used to date my best friend but had a terrible break up and is now single, has been put heavily upon our hearts and the Lord is leading us down a path for me to seek her as a second wife. Much, much prayer is needed in this area as really only God can make it work out. Fey comes from the same church as we do and we have known each other for quite some time and are friends of her family. We talked about the idea of polygamy with her, when we were discovering it as truth in our own lives and she was not for it, but she is a God fearing Bible believing women so I know that God could change her mind. Her exact words were, “I don’t think that I could share my man with another women, I am to jealous … I know I could not do it!” I know for a fact that she was not thinking of us (me) in that way, as I was barely even thinking of her in that way at that time. Anyway during this conversation the topic of sex and marriage came up, centered around the idea that sex is the act of marriage, the act of becoming one flesh is sex, which I believe and tis the reason I have only ever had sex with my wife and she with me. Fey mentioned that it would be interesting to study the one flesh idea more as she thought it was one of the main things society was missing. Shortly there after that, in fact I think that it was the next day, my wife emailed me another E-book by Tom Shipley, titled “They shall be one flesh”. I had spent much of the night before praying that God would bring another wife to me and show me clearly who it was to be if polgamy was truly his will for my life at this time. I got the book via email that morning and thought no way. I read the book in two days and was amazed how it concludes with a rather lengthy discussion on polygamy. I did not know how more specific God could be. Fey who is passionate about sex being the marriage act, and yet against polygamy and then here is a book that argues for sex being the marriage act and then defends polygamy logically and biblically. I was like Gideon at this time and asked God for yet another sign as entering into a polygamous relationship with her would, as my wife put it, not just affect three families but three towns and at least two churches. My wife and I were talking to the pastor from our original church, Pastor Rich, two Sundays ago after I had been praying for another sign from an unexpected source. Anyway Rich in abrief conversation, and really not quite on topic, asks us how Fey is doing? Then proceeds to say that someone needs to give that girl some direction; those were not his exact words but they were pretty darn close to that and suddenly I found myself holding a perfectly dry fleece and the ground all around was drenched.
So now not only do I ask for prayer in talking to our current pastor, but I ask for prayer for my second future wife and I ask for prayer in communicating this to my family, and Sue’s father as well as pastor Rich, who was our previous pastor before we moved, and Fey’s family.
Thank you for your prayer and encouragement.
It is now after the 22nd of April and the meeting with pastor went better than expected and he is going to take some time to review the book. Much prayer is needed on this issue.
God is looking for people through whom He can do the impossible. What a pity we plan to do only the things we can do by ourselves." -A.W. Tozer
Recently my first wife and I have come into the knowledge that polygamy is not a sin and have in fact been called to it. Here is a condensed version of hte journey that the Lord has taken us on.
My wife and I grew up in two small neighboring towns. We attended the same church throughout our late adolescent and teenage years. The church we attended was pastored by the father of my best friend and college roommate. We were both saved at an early age and have been very passionate about pursuing a relationship with Christ our Lord and Savior. One of the most prominent things we were taught is that the word of God reigns supreme, and studying it is key to understanding who God is and what He has in store for us. We both diligently study the word of God during our teenage years learning how to rightly divide the word of God. Shortly before I left for engineering college at Letourneau University I asked Sue to date me with the intentions that we would some day, marry. We broke up during this time, completely due to a misunderstanding, which would not be resolved till the end of the summer; and during this time Sue considered, although however briefly, the idea of marrying an individual who was polygamous. I was contacted by one of her friends, namely Fey, who at the time was dating my best friend, who was my room mate at college, and asked if I could please talk to Sue because she was thinking about some pretty crazy things, like polygamy. Although I did not have any moral convictions on polygamy being right or wrong. I did relate it to Mormonism because of past dealings with Mormon missionaries and studying to refute their doctrine. I reviewed the subject briefly, but being swamped by my school load, only found that the subject needed more attention. I related to my wife to be that it would be social suicide, but I did not have any moral answers to give her. During my time at college not only was a I required to take 12 additional bible classes, but my theology was challenged again and again, sometimes by the Bible and logic which usually resulted in me changing my mind and other times by mindless emotion rhetoric which usually left me disgusted. Needless to say now, Sue and I got back together at the end of that summer, and after receiving my father’s and her father’s blessing I asked her to marry me at Thanksgiving dinner with her and my family present. We married July 7th of 2007. I finished my last year of college in 08, graduated as an Engineer, and nine months later was a father of a beautiful baby boy; moved back home to live with my father and that fall, under what I would say was the hand of God, accepted the job I currently work. Becoming a father was a huge revelation in understanding who God is, and how he describes himself so much so that I think it should be a requirement for all people in leadership positions. We prayed that God would provide a church were we could get involved in service; and at the end of that summer God directed us to become, or rather apply. for the Awana commander position at the church we currently attended. As you know from the previous email we were given the Awana commander position under the recommendation from our previous pastor who was connected to the church, but that is another story. Sue and I did not feel that we were being fed anything substantial at the church even after a year of attendance and heavy service in Awana. After praying about it for quite some time God answered our prayers by getting us involved in a marriage Sunday school class. Sacred marriage was the material that the class was presenting, written by Gary Thomas, (who from what I can tell is anti-polygamy). God used this class first to show us how blessed we were to have each other, and how blessed we were with the quality of marriage that he had built up in us. Although we had previously discussed and were lightly looking into the subject of polygamy, God really began to move on this subject for us by showing us that one of his many purposes in marriage was to make us holy and this really began the paradigm shift to discover the truth that he was working within our lives. The last class which was titled “Sexual Saints”, some questions about polygamy were brought up in both the men and the women segments of the class and was brushed aside. Just prior to this I had attended an Awana commander college where they had presented the facts that the Bible does not mandate confession to be saved and that it is truly a result of salvation; and it is belief in the Lord Jesus Christ that saves. Although I knew this and knew that we often clutter up salvation with a lot of religious lingo it was a truth that I realized I needed to be more careful in practicing. Thus Sue and I began to look into polygamy even more and discover why people came to the sure fire decision that it was SIN.
Sue looked much more voraciously than I did and quickly confirmed her intial findings that it was not a sin but was blessed and sanctiioned by God. I did not think that it was sin, or rather knew that the arguments that were given for it being sin were completely flawed. Thus, I threw away all man made commentary and looked at all the passages in the Bible, and the Bible as a whole to see what it said about the issue. After several laborious days I came to the conclusion that it was indeed not a sin and that the modern day church was sadly mistaken. I spent several more days studying to make sure that this was the case and then my wife sent me the E-book (which we then bought) written by Tom Shipley, titled “Man and Women under Biblical Law”. I carefully read the book over a period of three days and marveled about how clear and true his arguments rung against the emotional banter that I had ran across in my initial research saying that it was a sin. This brings us back to when my wife emailed you to ask for prayer for the meeting with the pastor that is still rescheduled for the 22nd of this month.
They day after the lady met with the pastor I received and email from him which included a bunch of hasty copied and pasted commentary and website links of why polygamy is a sin. He confirmed that this was his view as well. The arguments did not raise any questions that Tom had not already answered. I wanted to reply that very moment with Tom’s book attached but decided that it was best to pray about it. I sent the book to my brother who is also a pastor and asked him to look it over. Unfortunately he has not had the time to even begin reading the book. Despite my brother having not read the book, I think that I am going to send it to my current pastor, Jim, so that he has a chance to review it before the 22nd. If you could pray that the Lord would prepare the path ahead that would be great.
My wife and I have also felt like we are supposed to act slowly on this new found truth in a very personal way. I want to say right now that I am totally blessed to have a wife that is completly thrilled with the idea of polygyny, and this is a very obvious sign to me that is directing us along this path. The aforementioned girl, Fey, who used to date my best friend but had a terrible break up and is now single, has been put heavily upon our hearts and the Lord is leading us down a path for me to seek her as a second wife. Much, much prayer is needed in this area as really only God can make it work out. Fey comes from the same church as we do and we have known each other for quite some time and are friends of her family. We talked about the idea of polygamy with her, when we were discovering it as truth in our own lives and she was not for it, but she is a God fearing Bible believing women so I know that God could change her mind. Her exact words were, “I don’t think that I could share my man with another women, I am to jealous … I know I could not do it!” I know for a fact that she was not thinking of us (me) in that way, as I was barely even thinking of her in that way at that time. Anyway during this conversation the topic of sex and marriage came up, centered around the idea that sex is the act of marriage, the act of becoming one flesh is sex, which I believe and tis the reason I have only ever had sex with my wife and she with me. Fey mentioned that it would be interesting to study the one flesh idea more as she thought it was one of the main things society was missing. Shortly there after that, in fact I think that it was the next day, my wife emailed me another E-book by Tom Shipley, titled “They shall be one flesh”. I had spent much of the night before praying that God would bring another wife to me and show me clearly who it was to be if polgamy was truly his will for my life at this time. I got the book via email that morning and thought no way. I read the book in two days and was amazed how it concludes with a rather lengthy discussion on polygamy. I did not know how more specific God could be. Fey who is passionate about sex being the marriage act, and yet against polygamy and then here is a book that argues for sex being the marriage act and then defends polygamy logically and biblically. I was like Gideon at this time and asked God for yet another sign as entering into a polygamous relationship with her would, as my wife put it, not just affect three families but three towns and at least two churches. My wife and I were talking to the pastor from our original church, Pastor Rich, two Sundays ago after I had been praying for another sign from an unexpected source. Anyway Rich in abrief conversation, and really not quite on topic, asks us how Fey is doing? Then proceeds to say that someone needs to give that girl some direction; those were not his exact words but they were pretty darn close to that and suddenly I found myself holding a perfectly dry fleece and the ground all around was drenched.
So now not only do I ask for prayer in talking to our current pastor, but I ask for prayer for my second future wife and I ask for prayer in communicating this to my family, and Sue’s father as well as pastor Rich, who was our previous pastor before we moved, and Fey’s family.
Thank you for your prayer and encouragement.
It is now after the 22nd of April and the meeting with pastor went better than expected and he is going to take some time to review the book. Much prayer is needed on this issue.
God is looking for people through whom He can do the impossible. What a pity we plan to do only the things we can do by ourselves." -A.W. Tozer
