Blog Feed

The “Thlibo” Path of Polygyny Marriage as a Positive

A common objection thrown up by those who argue against Biblical polygyny is the fact that in Biblical polygynous families, we see a lot of family difficulties and sometimes, outright pain. Setting aside the equally common rebuttal that in monogamous families, we see the same kind of pain, there’s something about the difficulties that polygynous families experience that naysayers are not considering, and quite possibly that’s due to a monogamy-only translator bias, as well as the all-too-human reflexive avoidance of pain.

Before we go into the weeds with the Greek-to-English translations, I want to note that a recent story broke about when a Tanzanian miner became an overnight millionaire when he sold two of the largest chunks of Tanzanite ever found in that African country. The BBC article that reported the find also mentioned that the miner had 4 wives and 30 children. The Fox News article that reported the same story linked to the same BBC article mentioned the 30 children but was silent on the 4 wives. This is an excellent current example of how discomfort with polygyny will lead to suppression of relevant facts.

Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

Matthew 7:13-14 KJV
Continue reading “The “Thlibo” Path of Polygyny Marriage as a Positive”

The Epidemic of FatherLESSness

The primary focus of 113Restoration is the Restoration of kol Israel through the restoration of the most basic building block of culture and society: Family. And, more specifically, rebuilding marriage and the man.

Scripture clearly articulates that the ‘sin problem’ stems from Adam (Rom. 5:12-19), and the ‘fix,’ begins with redemption in the Second Adam (Yeshua) and is carried forth through the rebuilding of all ‘Adams’ and their families.

We, at 113Restoration, have focused on marriage and the proper roles of man and woman, and these will continue to be a focus. However, it is necessary to expand our scope to address the broader roles of husband/father and wife/mother. I’ve personally felt the need for this in our fellowship and immediate circle as the Father continues to place GREAT resources in my path that deal with masculinity and its many facets. To that end, some of the fathers and sons in our fellowship are planning a weekend hiking and studying masculinity and the Biblical mandate for dominion. We are taking intentional steps to strengthen the masculinity and sharpen the vision of our sons.

Continue reading “The Epidemic of FatherLESSness”

Marxist Feminism and Weak Men

Until yesterday morning, I’m not sure I would have connected the terms ‘Marxist’ and ‘Feminism,’ but I’ll never make that mistake again!!

Thanks to a GREAT recommendation by The Transformed Wife, I heard Eric Conn’s Hard Men Podcast titled ‘Against Complementarianism.’ This may be the best investment of 39 minutes I have made in the last year!

Eric had my attention from the very beginning when he mentioned, negatively, John Piper and Wayne Grudem’s Recovering Biblical Manhood & Womanhood, A Response to Evangelical Feminism. I began reading the book a year or two ago as part of my study of Biblical manhood, but I never could quite connect with their position. Something was inherently wrong, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.

Continue reading “Marxist Feminism and Weak Men”

Marriage Laws – A Brief Survey of Changes in Modern America

From the colonial period to the second decade of the twenty-first century in the United States of America, marriage has been the subject of legislation and court decisions. Specifically, the question that I am exploring herein is how statutes and court decisions define or permit “who can marry whom?” The following is not intended to be a detailed overview of more than four centuries of history. Undoubtedly, there exist monographs and books written on this topic and the interested reader can search them out. I did a search through DuckDuckGo on “history American marriage laws”, which returned several hits. The first sites, including Wikipedia, contained some information about the changes in American law since the colonial period and several things jumped out at me and that’s what I want to discuss. The reader is warned that this might be “getting into the weeds” somewhat, but the overall trend addressing “who can marry whom?” is what I’m interested in sharing with you.

Continue reading “Marriage Laws – A Brief Survey of Changes in Modern America”

Marriage Laws – What YHVH Has Said

In the opening article in my new “Marriage Laws” series, I made the proposition that Yeshua clearly said that some things belong to YHVH only, and that marriage is one of those things that YHVH has reserved to Himself, and not given to Caesar (the government) to legislate. In forthcoming articles, I will explore how “Caesar” in America and other societies in the past has arrogated to himself the power to regulate marriage. In this second article, I am going to answer the question of what YHVH has said about marriage. It turns out that He has said a great deal, and nowhere has He said that Israel’s rulers have any legal jurisdiction on this topic. If they don’t, how much less jurisdiction do the nations have?

We will begin at the beginning during Creation Week in which we are going to analyze what He said and did through the aftermath of the Fall. Later, we will discuss what He put into the Sinai Covenant and the related statutes and judgments in Leviticus and Deuteronomy.

Continue reading “Marriage Laws – What YHVH Has Said”

Marriage and Sanctification

While I have long understood that one reason God created marriage was to image His relationship with His people (Eph. 5:22-33), to a much lesser degree, I understood that a purpose for marriage is sanctification. It was not, however, until the last couple years of understanding Biblical marriage, that I began to understand how very significant the aspect of sanctification is.

Sanctification, by definition, is the process of ‘making holy.’ Holy means ‘set apart’ or ‘consecrate,’ so ‘sanctification’ means ‘the process of setting apart, or making holy.’ See the following snip from an online dictionary:

Continue reading “Marriage and Sanctification”

Sharing More Than a Meal

“I was hungry, and you gave Me to eat…”
Matt. 25:31-46

The TV or print ads concerning aid for the hungry weigh heavily on the average person’s conscience. We are often quickly moved to open a checkbook or make a donation. Many churches or home fellowships have a system to help the known needs of those in the community. Most would react quickly and easily if they knew of a local family without food. We are familiar with James’ admonition,

If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? (2:15-16).

James 2:15-16 KJV

Or, in more modern English,

Continue reading “Sharing More Than a Meal”

Marriage Laws – God or Caesar?

When people put forth arguments against the polygyny laws of the Old Testament, one of them is that if there are laws on the books that make polygyny illegal, then even if it’s legal in the Old Testament, it’s not legal in the present day, and the secular law is the controlling authority and should be obeyed.

Continue reading “Marriage Laws – God or Caesar?”