As Aaron started the drive home, Cheryl sat in stony silence slumped in her seat on the passengers side of the sedan with her arms folded across her chest and a wrinkle in her brow.  After several minutes she broke the silence:

            “Does he really expect us to go over there and just approve of what these people are doing?”  She blurted out.

            “I mean . . .I knew third world countries were backward but I had no idea . . .”

            “Hey, wait a minute”  Aaron interrupted Charles is doing the right thing to try to prepare us for the cultural differences before we get there.”

            “Cultural difference?!”  Sherry repeated with disdain.  “You mean, sin!  Don’t you.”

            “Well . . . maybe . . .”  Aaron responded haltingly.  “Let’s do our homework and then we can figure out the approach we should take before we get there.”

            George and Juanita’s conversation on the drive home was also an interesting exchange.

            “Hey, I might like this idea of men having more than one wife.  Let’s see . . . who could I add to my personal harem?”  he chuckled as he teased his wife.

            Juanita was not amused and let him know it in no uncertain terms.

            “You can forget that, buster!”  She retorted.  “The day you start looking at another woman you’ll be out on the streets so fast your head will be swimming.  I’ll sue you for divorce so fast it’ll make lightning looks like it moves at the speed of a turtle!”

            “Hey, hey, hold on sugar, I was just teasing.”

            “Well don’t tease about that!”  She snapped.  “I’m all you need and I’m all you’ll get.  The day you forget that you’re going to the poor house cause I’ll sue you for everything you’ve got and half of anything to get in the future!”  She twisted halfway around in her car seat and put her right hand on her hip for emphasis.

            “Okay, okay!  Okay”  George responded.  “Settle down.  I hope you can show a little more Christian love to the women and men over there in Kenya than you’re showing to me now.”

            Juanita eyed him coldly for a moment as she bit down on her bottom lip.  She considered a response but then thought better of it and turned to look out of the passenger side window.  The final minutes of the drive were spent in icy silence.

            It had been agreed upon by the three couples that they would individually study the Scriptures concerning the matter and then meet together again to discuss their findings before meeting with Charles again.

            Thursday evening, which was the appointed time of the agreed upon meeting, came almost too quickly.  The couples gathered at Aaron’s & Cheryl Cooper’s home, arriving right on time and eager to discuss what they each had found.  After the normal pleasantries and each grabbing his or her cup of coffee or cocoa they sat around the kitchen table.  The tension that the wives had exhibited three days earlier had subsided.

             Aaron offered a short prayer before beginning and almost immediately Terry jumped in. 

             “The Bible says ‘For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and these two shall be one flesh.’  It says that in Genesis 2 verse 24,” she continued, “and it says it in the New Testament in Ephesians 5 verse 31.  That should settle the matter of whether it is sin or not to have multiple wives.  It is sin!  Two become one flesh.  Not three or four or whatever,” she proceeded.  “So it’s in the Old and the New Testaments.  Now, we can figure out how to best help these poor women in Africa get out of the bondage they’ve been put in.”

             “Wait a minute!”  Aaron interjected.  “The rest of us may have some input before we get to that.”  Cheryl took this as her opportunity to jump in.

             “Yeah.  Well, I agree with Terry it’s obvious that the correct form of marriage is one man for one woman and the Scripture in First Timothy 3 verse 2 shows that.  Let’s read it together.  ‘This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of bishop he desireth a good work.  A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of only one wife.”  She repeated it with emphasis on the word “only.”

             What about those that aren’t bishops?”  George asked sheepishly.  “Can they have more than one?”

             His wife Juanita eyed him quickly before reacting verbally.  “Just because you aren’t a bishop don’t get any ideas!”

             “Wait!  I was just asking.  Some of the brethren in Africa might ask the same question and  . . .”

             Terry couldn’t wait any more, so she jumped into the fray with both feet, interrupting the others.  “The word bishop means overseer, right?  So that would certainly mean every leader in the church.  Later on in that same passage in Timothy it gives the same requirements for deacons!”

             Cheryl jumped back in.  “The leaders set the example for the sheep.  If they aren’t supposed to have more than one wife then certainly the lay people can’t.”

 Kyle finally held up his coffee cup to get everyone’s attention and then proceeded.  “However, we should note that there were people in the Old Testament that had several wives.”  He interjected.

 “Yeah, well that’s in the Old Testament!”  Terry continued, “We’re New Testament Christians which requires a greater degree of righteousness and besides” she continued “Every time there was polygamy practiced in the Old Testament there were problems.”  She paused, leaned back in her chair as she lifted her coffee mug to her lips and blew on the strong brew as her eye s darted from one to another to see what effects her words were having.

             Taking a sip and swallowing, she went on “Think about the problems between Sarah and Hagar.  Not to mention Rachel and Leah.”  She paused again, enjoying her moment in the spotlight as she showed off her Bible knowledge.  “And did you know Samuel’s mother’s husband had another wife which also caused jealousy between the two of them?” She questioned.  “We’ve got to show these people a better way.  We must lovingly, gently, but firmly tell these people that if they really want to be saved they must abandon these polygamous practices!”  Terry concluded.

             Aaron finally spoke up and said “Well, maybe when we meet with Charles on Saturday, we can share what we’ve learned and ask his opinion on how we can best get this across to the Kenyans.”

             With that statement the meeting was understood to be at an end, and the men eased into the family room to watch a football game while the ladies piled into one of the sport utility vehicles and headed off to the mall to do some shopping.

             During a commercial George spoke up.  “You know, I was teasing my wife about having another wife and she almost blew a fuse.”

             “Yeah,” Kyle responded.  “the girls do get a little emotional about the subject, don’t they?”

             Aaron, returning from the kitchen with glasses of soda pop and popcorn, joined in.  “Well guys I guess if we want peace in our homes, we best not cross them on this one.”

             “Yeah, but we all know that bigamy is illegal in the United States, so how could she not know I was kidding?”  George questioned as he threw his hands in the air, and dropped his mouth open and raised his eyebrows to express his disbelief.  Though the men’s conversation was revealing, it wasn’t half as much as that of their wives.