POLYGAMY - OBJECTIONS, Q & A (7) ONLY ONE WIFE WAS GIVEN TO ADAM

God created only one wife for Adam. Moreover, the righteous Noah and his sons were all having only one wife each. Surely it is the original plan of God that all righteous men should be monogamous. Thus polygamy is not the perfect will of God.

This is by far the most common objection, but it is based on an "assumption" kind of erroneous reasoning. For by the same reasoning, the following falsehood and presumption are implied:

1. Because only one woman was given by God to Adam, so monogamy alone is the perfect intent and will of God. It would then mean that celibacy, not just polygamy is also not of the perfect will of God. Thus implying that Jesus Christ, John the Baptist, Elijah and the rest of the saints who were celibates were also not in the perfect will of God in this matter. If monogamy is God’s intent and perfect will for all men, then Jesus and all the saints must need be monogamously married too. Did Jesus conform to the monogamous status of Adam as God’s perfect marital status? Certainly not. The argument here is that if this reason is used to disqualify polygamy, then it must also in like manner disqualify celibacy. More so against celibacy, because God said that it was not good for man to be alone.
     
2. Applying the same rationale, since the life of Jesus is God’s perfect example of what a man should be and since He was a celibate, does it mean that we all would have to be celibates too, otherwise we will be out of God’s perfect will? Certainly not. Thus we cannot use God’s marital plan for Adam to be God’s will for everybody. Who should we follow then, Adam or Christ? Christ of course. So should we then forsake God’s plan for Adam and strive to be a holy celibate like Christ? Of course not, for this is again another ritualistic blind following and a pitfall, a deception that has crept into some church orders and kept the Church bound for centuries, even to this day – the portrayal of celibacy and virginity as holiness and sex and women as sinfulness, implying that the lesser wives a man has, the holier he is, and thus polygamy equals more sins. This is the infiltration of heathen mysticism that has taken roots in the hidden recesses of the Christian mind.
     
3. Such assumption also implies that going back to the God means that whatever were not practiced by Adam or Noah would also be wrong for us, and whatever they were not given to them in their righteous state, we cannot have. Which means that we should all be walking around naked like Adam before he sinned, should not use computers, neither surf the Internet nor drive a car for God did not explicitly give them to Adam nor Noah too. We know this is totally absurd. Thus we can still continue to surf the Net in peace, drive a car and be well clothed even though we are restored to the original state before the fall, and even higher. Thus it is fallacy to assume that all men must be monogamous just because God did not give Adam another wife.
     
4. Last but not least, and indeed the worst fallacy of this objection is the implication that God would have to create more women out of Adam and give them to him in order to endorse polygamy. For if God so gave Adam more wives and endorsed polygamy this way, then by the same rationale of this objection, we would have to consider monogamy as not of God. We cannot use the marital status of Adam alone as God's endorsement of His will for all men because the same Adam could not be both monogamous and polygamous. Also, if more wives were given to Adam, does that mean that all men should have more than 1 wife? Of course not. It is therefore a fallacy to use only Adam's marital status as the standard of God's will for all men.

Thus we cannot assume that man cannot have a second wife just because Adam and Noah were monogamous anymore than we can assume that all men should be polygamous just because Abraham who was supposed to teach the world righteousness was polygamous. Neither can we assume that all men should be celibate just because Jesus Christ was a celibate. What about King David, a man whose heart was after God and Moses who was hailed by the author of Hebrews as a servant who was faithful to God in all his household? They were polygamous. What about you and me? The right answer should be to each according to the grace of God given to him with no discrimination whatsoever against each other’s conviction and calling.

Copyright © Israel CS Lim, 1998