Right now on TV Larry King is interviewing a few happy-looking women belonging to a splinter sect of the Morman church which has not rejected the original Morman creed of polygamy.  Their hubbies have several better halves (or smaller fractions) and one bitter-looking woman comes on to rant against the practice.\nNo-one mentions it of course, but the root issue is : if a man is highly sexed, should he be legally allowed to have several wives?\nWhat do we think, masterminds?
134256
I believe that the Bible is the best standard of right and wrong.\n\nIn God's word we see:\n\n1) God blesses Leah for giving her husband another wife.\n2) God gave David his wives and would have given him even more if he had not messed with the wife of Uriah.\n3) God uses polygamy as way to describe his relationship with his people in several places.\n4) Most of God's Prophets and holy-men were polygamous.\n5) God gives laws regarding the proper way such a marriage should be handled.\n\nSo no I do not think that polygamy, in and of itself is wicked. \n\nAs far as the "root issue" it has nothing to do with being "highly sexed". All marriages based solely on sex will ultimately fail. Women should not have to settle for left overs, deadbeats that use them and cast them aside like trash. Yet, right now many of them settle for just that. The current "monogamy only" agenda has left us with a record number of divorces both in and out of the church, as well as record number of unwed mothers, and fatherless children.\n\nNow that is wicked.\n\nGod Bless,\n\nRobert
229634
aha! the preacher's in town. sir, with due respect it is no one's prerogative to classify sin or non-sin like this. how about sex without consent with your 'legal' partner of the opposite sex (if you strictly follow the 'natural order')? is that all right to do so? and to mention the countries you are talking about, i think people there are as much randy as anywhere else in the world. maybe a little more repressed too. but all that is changing with the societies opening up to the idea of discussion on sex and sexual health of a society. the last thing we want is a pseudo pundit trying to make matters worse for those who feel there is no release.
92368
it dont in the bible no where you have a woman who just posted that one of your lds missionaries raped her her user name is josnn_46er . i think you lds or mormons ought to really take this not as lightley rape is very much against the law  and as well makes all lds look very bad as well . as for profets that is in . lds doctorine ?  history of there church that is . ?
608922
My question exactly.\n\nhttp://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Av.oiBv4Qa.Cf7C.xVsUIe7sy6IX?qid=20060606132919AAmGtPL\n\nAmerican women are noted to have twice the number of sex partners as the men.\n\nWhen I bring this up I get the old "double standards" nonsense which dodges the issue.  Why are you opening your legs up so much!?  \n\nA couple of friends of mine think its because women usually do the selecting of their mate and they are simply selecting the same guys ....in their youth its typically the guy who is a player jerk because he is "hot" or "cute".  Some get played, some knocked up..etc. \nIts only after they get older and no longer in their physical prime that they look for a good guy to help pay the bills and raise the kids.\n\nI also think that Radio and T.V.  removes natural shame and common sense and makes it look cool to be promiscuous.\n\nP.S.  if she is 21 or 22 and slept with 4 or 5 guys I would say she is quite the slu.t.  And only a slu.t would get mad at that.
43585
I think i would stay single, however, not because of the polygomy.  I have no problem with multiple wives or husbands for that matter.  If everyone in the union is treated equally and have the same imput and respect for the others.  It can be an eriching experience for all involved including the children who have mulptiple parents to love, care for them, and ipart their knowledge and experiences.  My problem would be being the second or third wife, I am to opionated and out spoken.  I would stay in trouble for adding my two cents worth at the wrong time.
320737
Islam puts a limit for the number of wives, but forbids adultery; you people in the west limit to only one wife and have no restrictions or limitations on adultery, what kind of logic is this. Think about it and find which the correct one is. Even the changed Christianity forbids marriage on nuns and priests in this life and deprives them in the eternal life, is this natural or logical? Be fair.
281960
I believe in any and all marriages that are loving and not a burden on society in their nature.  If a polygamist can support his wives and children in both a financial and emotional manner, then I have no problem with it.  If a polygamist and his wives are living of the state in order to support the family, that is wrong and not healthy for them or society.  For example, if Bill Gates wanted to be a polygamist,  he could afford it without outside financial assistance and if he could manage his family without emotionally scarring them... why not.
194620
Polygamy is a very controversial issue when it comes to marriage and the fact is it is not for everyone it take a very selfless woman to share her relationship with another man but the fact remains many monogamous American men cheat on their woman hence our huge divorce rate . There is also the fact that we don not live to solely please one person we live to please our creator with the growing number of the women population versus the male population this is a valid solution for a man to support and care for these women and children also let me inform you this is not about sex or the man feeling like a king with so many women it is about his position as a man to protect his female counterpart as Allah has made him protectors and providers to us.  People in this society are very closed minded to this idea because they only focus on the sexual nature of the arragement if they take the time to learn the responsibility of taking on this very charitable task  they would admire it and not see it as a weird practice.
247148
Okay, I know you requested Christians only, but I have studied the Bible extensively.The Bible was not meant to be taken literally for the most part, and it was written during a time where women were held to be inferior. I'd disregard St. Paul's tirades on women,as a suggestion.Society has changed greatly since biblical times and a fair amount of what was written regarding gender roles no longer applies to today's society.I would suggest treating your wife as a helpmate and with respect,and expect the same from her,as the bible says to do.She should not have to be submissive.St. Paul had some issues with women 2000 years ago.*Sorry,just got your update.Please switch the gender context on what I said regarding yourself.*
540905
In my opinion, it is the highest form of disrespect a man can show his wife! It also opens the door to him partaking in these kind of activities with other females. I don't see how any man can claim to love his spouse when he is willing to share her in bed with other men! Does that make any sense to you?!  He sounds like an unprincipled man to me.
404361
Sex is moral as long as it is between a husband and wife. Doesn't anyone take God's word for anything? God made a man and a woman to be together  as husband and wife. To share with no one else. To reproduce. That is his plan. But way too many don't keep their vows and way too many kids and adults are experimenting with different partners of same sex and opposite sex, and then everyone wants to know why God has let them catch a venereal disease or aids or countless other things that come from sleeping around. His law was simple. Thou shalt not commit adultery. And this applies to people who aren't even married.
2996
Dear SellCar,\n\ni really hope you got a good reason behind those questions, anyways ill answer your question.\n\ni read some strange answer above ;(, so i hope i can make it clear \n\n\nOfcourse every woman hates polygamy, God created woman to hate anyone that shares her love, but in Holy Quran it says and made it clear for men that they should not take more than one wife unless they have their reasons, like for example some wives dont have the ability to be pregnant, its no body's fault of course but as a man everyone likes to be a father, therefore he can marry another wife.\n\nanother reason for men might be that some men need more than one woman and he is not getting enough, therefore he could make sin with other woman which is bad for Islam teachings and social life and reputation, or he can marry another woman that will give him more pleasure and in the same time he is not making any sin.\n\nMoreover, if you now make a study you will find that number of men is much more less than number of women in the world, years ago in Germany they where surprised to find that 1 man is being borned for every 4 women!!\n\nfor a reason that no one knows except God he knew that this will be the case, therefore he authorised to have more than wife, or else we will have more than half of the woman not married for the rest of their lives.(speaking about Islam societies only, western countires men and woman stays with no marriage usually for the rest of their lives)\n\nGod authorised polygamy for more better reasons ofcourse, but i only know these.\n\nand of course there is no polygamy for men in Islam ;), because at that stage we cant know who is son or daughter of whom.\n\nand for a man being with a legal woman is ofcourse much better than being with a new woman everyday or month ;(\n\nIslam makes a great social life by its teachings.\n\n============\n\ni really dont know the exact age of Muhammad(PBUH) when he married Aisha, but i think in 40's.\n\nGod didnt authorise for muslims to marry more than four wives and in a certain conditions, but for messenger of God (Muhmmad PBUH) he authorised for him to marry more, i do know one reason now for this is that Mohammad(PBUH) wanted to make links with the arab tribes across arabia to spread Islam, and as a messenger of God marrying one of the women in a tribe it was a very good impression to make for those tribes, which later he made friendship with them and they followed Islam teachings, therefore marrying more than one wife helped the spread of Islam at that time, and it made for Islam a good base in Arabia.
319241
You're right, I feel it isn't justified at all. While this maybe something that pandered to the primitive people of the past, it just doesn't apply to today's modern and ever-changing society.\n\nI will use Christianity as an example. \n\nChristianity preached monogamy. It gave instructions on how to behave in marriage, and how a husband and a wife should behave to each other.\nIf a man decides to go have mistresses on the side or engage in serial polygamy - it's not Christianity's fault either.\n\nThis is Ano's arguement, that Islam allowed men to have up to 4 wives with the instruction that men should not take another wife if they fear they cannot deal justly with all of them. And that if they stray within these limits its "not Islam's fault".\nFirstly, many Islamic scholars have agreed that a man need not take the permission of his wife (some even go further and say that he needn't even inform her of his marriage) to marry another.\nThis leaves the complete power in a man's hands, and there is little that is provided for that, since we all know how many Muslim men don't follow this rigorously.\nSecond, while a Muslim man may take up to 4 wives, there is little that stops or prevents them from the ease of their divorce, which somewhat encourages them to engage in serial polygamy - this time 4 wives at a time (like King F'ahd of Saudi Arabia who married over 300 women to consolidate the tribes in KSA, 4 at a time), especially since for a man - all it takes for him to divorce a woman is 'talaq, talaq, talaq' (triple divorce).\nIn UAE you're even allowed to text these words of divorce to your wife and be legally divorced.\n\nThirdly, \nabout slavery. It's a hotly debated issue, and many Muslims prefer to shun the subject, or dance around the topic without an answer.\nThe point is, yes, a man can take as many concubines (called "slaves") as he wants, as spoils of war. Supposedly, this is because these women, with the men killed in battle or taken as war prisoners, will not be able to support themselves and it is considered better that a Muslim man take her as a slave (or concubine) and have legal intercourse with her.\nHer children will not become slaves, and he can choose to marry her, which she will then be conferred the status of a Muslim woman.\nHowever, imagine if a man goes on several wars and comes back with several "slave women". How is his wives going to deal with that? Just sit back and be happy that he's taking care of them, or feel somewhat cheated because this man is treating them like cattle that he can 'legally' have sexual intercourse with?\nI feel it's not justified at all.\n\nYou see, the point is, polygamy gives men even more power to abuse women and even treat women like trash using divine 'messages'. Now he can even divorce them 4 at a time (not saying he will, but he will have the option to.), and have full rights over them.\nOf course, there is no way a man can treat his wives equally. He will always love one wife more than the other.\n\nThe prophet's favourite wife was Ayesha, his youngest wife.\n\nSo because it is Sunnah (it is recommended) that you follow the ways and deeds of the Prophet, obviously, the interpretation of the Qu'ran's dictum of treating wives equally does not mean in terms of love, or affection.\nIt is MATERIAL. That means, if he buys a handbag for a wife, he must buy the same handbag for the other wives, or give them a gift of equal value.\nHe must divide his nights among them.\n\nHowever, the Prophet himself did not divide his nights among his wives equally, as many hadith (reports of the Prophet's sayings, deeds, etc.) testified that he was in the bed of another wife during the turn of one of his wives.\nSo, dividing nights equally must be optional as well, as the Prophet himself was only human and did not divide them equally (though we can all say he
646741
Paul writes to Timothy about overseers and deacons that, among other things, they should be the husbands of one wife. (I Timothy 3:2, 12) These are people who are supposed to be an example to the flock, so it is especially important that they really do things by the Book.\n\nFor that matter, while back in Old Testament times the patriarchs did often have more than one wife, God instructed the kings of Israel (whether they obeyed Him is another matter, but still...) that they were not to have multiple wives. This is so their hearts would not be led astray. (Deuteronomy 17:17)\n\nBut as far as we 'ordinary people' are concerned, in Matthew 19:3-6, Jesus takes a very strict view of Genesis 2:24, basically indicating that we should live strictly by the following: leave father and mother, cleave to wife, become one flesh. In this instance, He interprets that to mean no divorce (because that is the matter under discussion). Using the same kind of thinking, it would also mean having only one spouse of the opposite sex.
671454
The Mormon man can marry as many women as he can, as long as he can provide for them and their children.  There are several forms of marriages or relations in the Mormon faith, and some of them are called concubines.  Some practice that rule, such as Smith.  Had several wives, but didn't live with them openly.  Brigham Young had more than 50 wives, 19 were connubial wives, and with all these women had 56 children.\n\nTo answer your questions.  Yes, but many of them don't have multiple wives.  and, Yes Mormons are polygamist.  Same with the Muslims, they are permitted to have four wives at a time, plus the concubine, plus the pleasure wives, but they too, most don't have more than one wife.
556635
An interesting question...with so many contentious answers.\n\nPolygamy is made into a moral issue by the multiple religious institutions around the world...and the laws against polygamy are rooted more in religious reasonings than ones based in economical or societal ones.  The laws could be changed....but it would take a super-majority of US citizens to do so, and it's highly unlikely that the religious right would ever allow such an event to take place.\n\nOne wife is more than enough for me personally...but I say if you're man (or woman) enough...who am I to say differently. \n\nJust my 2 cents worth.
237601
Why is a man allowed to have more than one wife in Islam? i.e. why is polygamy allowed in Islam?\n\nAnswer:\n\nDefinition of Polygamy\n\n1.  Polygamy means a system of marriage whereby one person has more than one spouse. Polygamy can be of two types. One is polygyny where a man marries more than one woman, and the other is polyandry, where a woman marries more than one man. In Islam, limited polygyny is permitted; whereas polyandry is completely prohibited.\n\nNow coming to the original question, why is a man allowed to have more than one wife?\n\n\n2.  The Qur’an is the only religious scripture in the world that says,"marry only one".\n\n\nThe Qur’an is the only religious book, on the face of this earth, that contains the phrase ‘marry only one’. There is no other religious book that instructs men to have only one wife. In none of the other religious scriptures, whether it be the Vedas, the Ramayan, the Mahabharat, the Geeta, the Talmud or the Bible does one find a restriction on the number of wives. According to these scriptures one can marry as many as one wishes. It was only later, that the Hindu priests and the Christian Church restricted the number of wives to one.\n\nMany Hindu religious personalities, according to their scriptures, had multiple wives. King Dashrat, the father of Rama, had more than one wife. Krishna had several wives.\n\nIn earlier times, Christian men were permitted as many wives as they wished, since the Bible puts no restriction on the number of wives. It was only a few centuries ago that the Church restricted the number of wives to one.\n\nPolygyny is permitted in Judaism. According to Talmudic law, Abraham had three wives, and Solomon had hundreds of wives. The practice of polygyny continued till Rabbi Gershom ben Yehudah (95% C.E to 1030 C.E) issued an edict against it. The Jewish Sephardic communities living in Muslim countries continued the practice till as late as 1950, until an Act of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel extended the ban on marrying more than one wife.\n\n\n3.  Hindus are more polygynous than Muslims\n\n\nThe report of the ‘Committee of The Status of Woman in Islam’, published in 1975 mentions on page numbers 66 and 67 that the percentage of polygamous marriages between the years 1951 and 1961 was 5.06% among the Hindus and only 4.31% among the Muslims. According to Indian law only Muslim men are permitted to have more than one wife. It is illegal for any non-Muslim in India to have more than one wife. Despite it being illegal, Hindus have more multiple wives as compared to Muslims. Earlier, there was no restriction even on Hindu men with respect to the number of wives allowed. It was only in 1954, when the Hindu Marriage Act was passed that it became illegal for a Hindu to have more than one wife. At present it is the Indian Law that restricts a Hindu man from having more than one wife and not the Hindu scriptures. \n\nLet us now analyse why Islam allows a man to have more than one wife.\n\n\n4.   Qur’an permits limited polygyny\n\n\nAs I mentioned earlier, Qur’an is the only religious book on the face of the earth that says ‘marry only one’. The context of this phrase is the following verse from Surah Nisa of the Glorious Qur’an: \n\n"Marry women of your choice, two, or three, or four; but if ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly (with them), then only one."\n\n                                  [Al-Qur’an 4:3]\n\nBefore the Qur’an was revealed, there was no upper limit for polygyny and many men had scores of wives, some even hundreds. Islam put an upper limit of four wives. Islam gives a man permission to marry two, three or four women, only on the condition that he deals justly with them. \n\nIn the same chapter i.e. Surah Nisa verse 129 says:\n\n"Ye are never able to be fair and just as between women...."\n\n                                 [Al-Qur’an 4:129]\n\nTherefore polygyny is not a rule but an exception