Tony Iwuoma

I got into a fight with one of my dear friends recently. The cause of the brouhaha centered around a post advocating polygamy Christians, which he forwarded to me.

The offensive post had copious scriptural quotations from both the Old and New Testaments, justifying polygamy, which the writer believes is the ‘leeway’ for Christians to counter rapid population explosion of Muslims that is threatening the Faith.

He raised some posers:. Is polygamy a sin? Did God condemn polygamy? Those that engaged in polygamy, are they in hell? What is the fate of the polygamous children? Why do Christians condemn polygamy?

What are the effects of polygamy in Christendom? Has God changed?

He went on to cite polygamists in the Bible from Lamech to Ezra, positing that there were not fewer than 40 godly and ungodly polygamous men in the Bible.

He claimed that, in all the cases cited, God did not condemn the men, except for David, who snatched Uriah’s wife.

According to him, there was marriage before religion, contending that monogamy was purely the tradition of the western world, who were our religious colonial masters.

Again, he claimed that even Jesus condemned only divorce, not polygamy in the New Testament and that Paul admonished Timothy on how to appoint Church leaders, which should exclude men with more than a wife.

The writer itemised the effects of polygamy and argued that statistics had shown that there were far too many single women, including widows, in the society, leading to increased infidelity, adultery and fornication and bitter fights among ladies over ownership of a man.

He further contended that monogamy had caused more harm than good for Christendom because it limits God’s command in Gen 1:28 for man to be fruitful, multiply and replenish the earth, and so condemned family planning and monogamy.

The writer described former military president Ibrahim Babangida’s family size policy as crafty and against Christians. He reasoned that, if monogamous Christian homes bore only four children as the policy stipulated, every polygamous Muslim man would have 16 children, four from each of his four wives, leaving a ratio of one Christian child to four Muslim children, a reason he feared that, if left unchecked, Christians and Christianity would become endangered in the next few decades.

He warned: “Nigeria is trailing the path of Turkey and North Sudan … Our children will be denied admission/appointment and forced to embrace Islam … and Sharia law would be adopted in full to undermine the Christians’ fate.”

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He warned: “Pastors, as a way out, should stop preaching against polygamy and thereby destroying Christianity. Hosea 4:6 says ‘my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children’.”

There is sense in the argument of this writer and I share your concerns, but superior authorities may address all that. However, God does not make sense and we get fooled when we try to make sense out of a ‘senseless’ God; humanly speaking, we can’t.

Definitely, God abhors polygamy but merely tolerated it (permissive will) when man derailed. Or do you think God was incapable of making more than one Eve for Adam from that single rib? He chose to create one man for one woman and vice versa. Or did you not read it in the Bible that a man (not men) leaves his parents to cling to his wife (not wives) and they two (not many) shall become one flesh (not multiple flesh). That was (is) God’s standard.

The advocacy for polygamy is dangerous and borne out of self-interest, perhaps, in a sweet Lolita loitering around the neighbourhood, not out of concern for the Christian faith.

As for the Muslims who build harems, they are no threat at all. I have often said unapologetically that we are their own problems by neglecting to live lives worthy of our God.

Consider how tiny Israel is surrounded by hostile and inflammable neighbours and yet they are thriving because of The Covenant. Consider the incident a couple of weeks back when God threw the enemy’s missile into the sea after the Israeli defence system failed to intercept it. The enemy was overheard, saying: “Their God has saved them again.” That is how it should be when we provoke God’s Covenant into action through good conduct.

However, we have bowed our head to Baalim and consorted with Jezebel, hence God has turned His back on us, and we erroneously want to resort to combating evil with sin. What is the guarantee that your multiple wives would even conceive? Is it not this same ‘impotent’ God that moulds children out of blood or do you think it is your twerks on the laps of ravishing beauties?

Nigeria can never be another Turkey if all those that name the name of the Lord uphold God’s word and watch Him drown our Pharaoh and his armies in the Nile River. Yes, God has not changed! Didn’t He kill the firstborn sons of Egypt? If He did then, can’t He do so again? How many bombs did David detonate before Goliath came down? How many troops did Israel deploy to decimate the armies of Sennacherib? How did the wall of Jericho fall?

Let all believers trust in our God and not the cannons of twisted nozzles, firing blank bullets into leaking tanks of multiple wives.

Jesus corrected the issue of divorce because that was the matter raised. Using His silence on the matter to validate polygamy is most wrong because the issue never came up. Polygamy is a sin because it denigrates God’s order. The issue of whether or not polygamists will go to hell is in the realm of God to decide. Only He has the template for who qualifies to make heaven. However, it is stated clearly that sinners have no place there. Nevertheless, we must not overlook the ‘grace’ that He, in His sovereignty, dispenses as He pleases. That is how come the thief on the cross with Jesus had that last-minute chance. We are not all that lucky though, a reason we must live right always, all ways for we know not the minute of our recall.

You never even can say if those Old Testament saints will be judged differently. Remember, they lived under a different dispensation. Nevertheless, what does the tearing of the temple veil after Jesus died signify to you? Did you go into the grave with Jesus when he released those bound saints and eventually held captivity captive? So, it remains as ordained by God, one man, one wife; one Adam, one Eve.

If we yoke ourselves with polygamy, it will be too late to ask Jesus His views by the time we see Him on the other side of life; you may not even see Him if you are headed in the wrong direction as a result of polygamy. So, beware, dear brother; make a U-turn NOW.