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Concerning our article refuting polygyny, Simon Altaf wrote in his newsletter that the whole thing can be refuted "by one little line in Exodus 21:10."
10 If he marries another woman, he must not deprive the first one of her food, clothing and marital rights.
That comment clearly reveals Altaf's lack of Bible knowledge because, when read in context, we can see a different picture emerge:
Exodus 21: 1 "These are the laws you are to set before them: 2 "If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free, without paying anything. 3 If he comes alone, he is to go free alone; but if he has a wife when he comes, she is to go with him. 4 If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the woman and her children shall belong to her master, and only the man shall go free.
5 "But if the servant declares, 'I love my master and my wife and children and do not want to go free,' 6 then his master must take him before the judges. [a] He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life. 7 "If a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as menservants do. 8 If she does not please the master who has selected her for himself, he must let her be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to foreigners, because he has broken faith with her. 9 If he selects her for his son, he must grant her the rights of a daughter. 10 If he marries another woman, he must not deprive the first one of her food, clothing and marital rights. 11 If he does not provide her with these three things, she is to go free, without any payment of money.
The context reveals that YHWH is addressing the sins that were already committed by Israel for which HE is making allowances and thus laying down some extra rules for these HEATHENS to follow from now on. Rather than to kill all those men who had "foreign" wives (thus opening themselves up to foreign gods, etc) He, showing mercy and grace, made allowances. He did NOT say it was "okay to marry other women" but, rather, He was telling these Torah breakers NOT to ignore their existing wife/wives - that there was an obligation to take care of them!
YHWH never condoned slavery, either, but He set down rules to protect the slaves because MAN had decided to take slaves. If you'll notice, YHWH seems to condone the killing and raping of innocent women and children, but when read IN CONTEXT, you'll find what He was REALLY talking about....
Altaf, Koniuchowsky and Schaefer have completely taken out of context EVERYTHING YHWH said in order to justify their desires to mate with other women, thus breaking the laws of Western civilization, which explicitly forbids polygamy. One has to wonder whether they also ignore speed limits or traffic lights or signs that warn us not to climb into a lion pit at the zoo....
What this ungodly trio don't seem to realize in their frenzy to mate with other women is that YHWH created Adam and Eve: One woman, one man. Then, when He decided to destroy all life except for Noah and his ONE wife and their children, any polygamy from Lamech's murdering line was DESTROYED. The new world that emerged after the Flood was to be monogamous...
Furthermore, this trio has repeatedly posted a supposedly UNANSWERABLE question to the world: "Show us one scripture that gives wives any authority to divorce their husbands."
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RESPONSE FROM THE REFINER'S FIRE: Show us one scripture that says she CAN'T! Also, show one scripture that suggests you can break the Law of the Land! You guys attempt to use Scripture to show Torah allows you to commit adultery, and at the same time you ignore the clear scriptures that tell you to abide by the Laws of the Land:
Numbers 30: 2 When a man makes a vow to the LORD or takes an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word but must do everything he said.
Read that one VERY CAREFULLY, Simon! Did you or did not stand before YHWH and promise to be faithful to your wife? If so, you've broken your oath to YHWH because you've not only lusted after another woman, but have let the cat out of the bag that you are ALREADY married to her, thus breaking your oath to YHWH and also breaking the Laws of the Land....
On your wedding day, your wife made vows before God. So, check out the following:
Numbers 30: 11-16 has to do with the woman making a vow. It says the husband must let her vows stand if he holds his peace after the day he heard them, but if HE makes them null and void after he has heard her vows then HE will bear the consequent guilt. Your wife promised to be faithful to you....
Since YOU are nullifying your wife's vows, she certainly has grounds for a divorce. Now check this one out:
Matthew 5: 27 You have heard that our fathers were told “Do no commit adultery.” 28 And I tell you that a man who even LOOKS at a woman with the purpose of lusting after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
In order for you to even consider marrying another woman, you first must have "checked her out" and lusted after her in your heart. Therefore, YOU have already committed adultery! If you have indeed married this other woman already, then you are guilty on several levels.
I Cor. 7: 2. But, on account of sexual temptation, let each have his own wife and let a woman have her own husband. 3. And let the man render to his wife the kindness which is due; and so also the woman to her husband. 4. The woman is not the sovereign over her body, but her husband: so also the man is not the sovereign over his body, but the wife.
Now check this out from the “Christian Marriage” website:
"Romans 7: 3 So then if, while [her] husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man."
So if a woman can't divorce her husband then what are her options when she is married to a man who is unwilling to treat her as a wife or to a man who has defiled himself? Let's take the simplest case; a woman who is married to a man who has defiled himself. In such a case it would not be surprising that a wife would no longer want sexual relations and if she did not want any further sexual relations with the defiled husband then she would be left in a horrible situation of being married but with no outlet for her sexual needs. Here are some examples of defiled men from which such a wife might want a divorce. The penalties for these defilements are also given.
-A husband who has defiled himself sexually by laying carnally with another man's wife. [An adulterer]
Penalty: Death by stoning for the man as well as for the other man's wife. [Leviticus 20:10]
-A husband who has defiled himself sexually by laying carnally with the widow of his father.
Penalty: Death for both the widow and for the stepson. [Leviticus 20:11]*
-A husband who has defiled himself sexually by laying carnally with the widow of his son.
Penalty: Death for both the widow and for the father-in-law. [Leviticus 20:12]*
-A husband who has defiled himself by laying with a man as with a woman. [A homosexual - The Bible calls this an abomination and calls such men dogs.]
Penalty: Death Penalty [Leviticus 20:13]
-A husband who has defiled himself sexually by laying carnally with both a woman and her daughter.
Penalty: Death by fire for both the man and the two women. [Leviticus 20:14]
-A husband who has defiled himself by laying with an animal. [The Bible calls this confusion.]
Penalty: Death [Leviticus 20:15]
These are clear cases of defilement and the complete list is much longer than this. If a woman asked her husband to give her a Bill of Divorcement in such cases she would not be sinning nor would the husband be sinning by giving her a Bill of Divorcement. Jesus forbade men to give a Bill of Divorcement for the hardness of their hearts but He did not forbid them to give a Bill of Divorcement out of the tenderness of their hearts. In a moment of tenderness for a wife, a wife who does not deserve a defiled husband, the defiled husband may even desire to give his wife a Bill of Divorcement.
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We at The Refiner's Fire beg each and every one of you men who wants to "take another wife" to check out the entire Bible before doing anything stupid. Your WILLFUL and DELIBERATE sinning will cost you your salvation:
Hebrews 10: 26 For if we deliberately continue to sin after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but only the terrifying prospect of Judgment, or raging fire that will consume the enemies.
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