Chapter 42

              Saturday came and Shawanda was the first to arrive.  Juanita answered the door and sent her downstairs where George awaited the group.  "Go on down," she said. "You two would probably enjoy some time alone."

            Shawanda thought it curious that Juanita would make such a statement.  "Hey muscles," she blurted out as she came bouncing down the stairs.  "What's with Mrs. M?"

            "What do you mean?"  George asked as he glanced at what she wore.  Ladies' slacks, two inch pumps, and a yellow blouse made her look more dressed up than the school kid but less than the professional that had entered his office a few days before.  Neither mentioned the visit.

            "What's this about us being alone?"  She asked.  "Are you trying to get me in trouble with Mrs. M?"

            "No," George smiled, his wife's progress was a wonderful surprise.  "She knows I have a thing for you and she wants me to enjoy it."  He said teasingly even though it was true.

            George walked over to her side, put his arm around her waist and said, "You are one of my best girlfriends, aren't you?"

            "Whoa!  Look out muscles,"  she laughed as she pushed away from him.  "You're a good man but I'd hate to hurt your feelings."

            George was coming to know more and more that Shawanda was to belong to him.  He only wished she knew it.  A few minutes later, Aaron, Cheryl, Charles, Juanita, Judy, and Tabaitha were all downstairs.  After prayer and a couple of choruses of praise and worship songs, Aaron prepared to begin the Bible lesson for the evening.

            "Pastor," Judy began before being interrupted.

            "Why don't we drop this pastor stuff?"  Charles interjected.

            Even Aaron was caught off guard but knew enough not to challenge Charles in his Bible knowledge.

            "There is no one in the Bible that used Pastor as a title.  We are not some stultified organization that has to use designated titles to gain respect like some of the denominations.  Why don't you just call him Aaron or if that sounds too informal, call him Brother Aaron.  Peter referred to Paul as Brother Paul, but nobody ever called him Apostle Paul.  Even he himself says Paul, an apostle.  So the apostle part was not a title but a job description like the word Pastor should not be a title but a job description."  Charles ended his sermonette and let Judy continue.

            "Uh...Brother Aaron. tell us more about this polygamy stuff."

            Now Aaron was becoming very irritated; he didn't want the group centered around a belief in plural wives and he was determined to let them know it.  "Wait a minute," he started.  "Listen, our fellowship is centered around Jesus Christ.  There is a lot more to the Gospel than discussion on plural wives.  So let's not get bogged down in that.  We can't remove it from scripture, but most people are not going to be involved in it so let's drop it for now and go on."

            "But..." Judy persisted.  "Suppose there's a Christian man who is married who wants to marry me, Should I?"  She questioned.

            Aaron was now visibly showing his frustration with the topic and sought to give a quick answer so he could go on to what he felt were more important topics.  "Well, first pray and consider.  Consider a lot of things.  Like what will people say?  What will the neighbors say?  What will your friends and relations think?  How will you explain it to most Christians who will think you are in sin and will it be stumbling block to others?  All those things need to be considered, so I wouldn't rush into anything."

            He paused a moment hoping there would be no further comment and then proceeded.  "Let's talk about more important things."

            "Like love,"  Charles offered.

            "Yes," Aaron said.  "Love.  We must love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and our neighbor as ourselves."

            "In fact," Charles jumped in again.  "How we love God is often expressed through how we love each other.  If a man loves God enough, he'll help take care of those that God loves, like widows."

            Aaron looked at Charles with his mouth dropped open.  He couldn't believe he was going right back into the topic he was trying to steer away from.

            Charles continued, "Yes there are many considerations, but the ultimate consideration is am I more willing to please God or man?  Do I love Jesus enough to take up my cross and follow him even though it may mean persecution of one type or another?  In the Gospel of John it says there were certain Jews that believed in him that did not confess him because they loved the praises of men more than the praises of God.

            "There are many today that love the praises of men and therefore many many millions of single Christian women and widows go unloved and uncovered spiritually by a husband because of traditions of man and the fact that most Christian men yield to peer pressure.  We all like to be accepted, but to be accepted by man and rejected by God is too high a price to pay."

            "But Brother Charles," Judy answered.  "When you say it, it sounds good but there's a part of me that seems to say it's just not right!"

            "I'll tell you why that is," George interjected.  Aaron leaned back in his chair.  His wife Cheryl was quiet, looking down at the floor.

            "We are brainwashed into believing that monogamy is the only right system.  We are programmed from little children that it is the only right thing."  George said before his wife Juanita joined the fray to help him out.  “Every fairy tale, every romance novel, every soap opera, and every romantic song essentially indoctrinates and re-indoctrinates that monogamy is right and anything else is wrong.  Then the churches confirm this erroneous lie as well.  So obviously when plural wives in a marriage is considered, it will seem wrong.  It will by many even seem sinful.  Why?  Because we've been told over and over that it is."

            "But what does the Bible say?"  Charles asked jumping back in again.  "The Bible is our plumb line.  Not church traditions, not our feelings, not even what society or our laws say.  The word of God stands supreme in all matters of life!" 

            Charles went on.  "Think of all the Christian women who'll be tempted to go out to bars looking for a man and end up with a non-saved man who will abuse them.  How many thousands or hundreds of thousands of times has that happened.  Then instead of growing up in God, these women are put down, beaten unnecessarily and even turned away from God when a Godly man who already had one or more wives could have taken them in and been a blessing."

            "Then women’s lib hasn't helped either."  Juanita interjected again.  "We've been fed the lie that men and women are equal in every respect.  So obviously, if a woman can only have one husband, the man can only have one wife.  That keeps us equal, they say.  But it's out of God's order and therefore wrong."

            Judy was gradually warming to the idea, while Shawanda sat back shocked.

            Shawanda thought to herself, I thought only fundamentalist Mormons or David Koresh type cult groups believe in this multiple wives stuff, but these seemed like good decent and ordinary Christians except in the one respect.  She finally decided to speak up.  "Well, if you guys are so right about this stuff, why is it almost every other Christian church or group disagrees with you?"

            "Because," Charles began to answer.  "They fail to study the Bible and they fail to study history."  He said.  "You're a student," he went on.  "I challenge you to study it for yourself with an open mind and I can almost guarantee you'll come to the same conclusions as we have."

            Though the evening's discourse began to ease Judy's thoughts about the matter, it would be bringing new tensions between the two old friends.