"regarding the above condemnation of cuckoldry (traditionally interpreted as a wife cheating on her husband with another man behind his back) I am curious of what you think of the gender-inverted "cuckquean" fetishism and how it might relate to the practice of plural marriage (1 husband 2+wives) like we see among Mormons.
Haven't read enough of your blog yet to discern what type (ie Catholic, Prodestant, etc) of Christianity you promote, but am curious of what you think of the practice of a husband taking on more than 1 wife and how it may relate to bible passages about marriage."
This is my response:
First off, I'm a non-denominational Christian. I owe no allegiance to any particular sect or ideology and bear none any hatred or animus. I have no quarrel with them insofar as we all agree on the same basic Biblical principles that tend to be universal to all Christians like loving your neighbor and forgiving your enemies.
On the topic of Mormons, I admit I'm still unsure as the historical and theological basis of a lot of their beliefs, and while some do have a basis in biblical precedent (in some ways Mormons tend to be almost neo-retro in trying to uphold ancient precedent in modern day), which I mostly find superfluous at worst in some ways but nothing to raise any particular objection to either in many regards.
Otherwise, I admit jury is still out on many of their beliefs and having conversed with a Mormon friend at length to gain understand of many topics I admit I was ignorant on concerning their beliefs, I'm still not sure what to make of many of them and am willing to let them go until I can give them a more thoughtful examination and merely respect any differences in opinion in the meantime.
On the marriage subject, though, my beliefs lean towards monogamy as the norm, as here is why.
It's clear from day one Adam and Eve were meant to be a pair. The Bible did allow for a man to have more than one wife, but it was clearly an exception, not a uniform rule, and based on the New Testament, the exception is generally just that. As a student of history, the multiple wives allowance is partially based on the absolutely terrible life expectancy of that period and thus having children with more than one wife was done for reasons of practicality, but the Bible remains clear it was an exception to the general rule, monogamy was considered the default.
Polygamy is illegal in United States, and as I consider that one of Man's laws that does not clash with the Bible, I accept that as I do air being breathable, but I respect anyone who disagrees for reasons of ideological difference.
Me, I have no interest in marriage. I remain single by choice, but do believe those who do get married would be best committing themselves to a stable monogamous relationship, both for personal and religious reasons.
Thanks for answering, I noticed in previous post you mentioned Protestant so I guess that's basically a term encompassing all non-Catholic forms of Christianity?
ReplyDeleteI suppose I'm also wondering where you think the lines should be drawn on what is considered Christianity. Mormonism being one fringey example, but there are other cases where I've seen Jesus involved in various religions. Like apparently in Islam they view him as a prophet, in Raelianism they viewed him as some kind of alien ambassador, in "The Family International" adherents are instructed to fap to him, one of many good teachers in Scientology, etc.
While I think between many branches of Christianity there is some attitude of "our way is truer" compared to other branches, some stick out as more different than others. In some cases you have an actual tree structure with offshoots, and in other cases there isn't any clear lineage and more like independent start-ups which just make a general reference.
Also as a hypothetical example: if someone worshipped Jesus but instead of thinking his dad was Yahweh/Jehovah/etc. they declared something odd like Marduk/Zeus/Odin then how would you rank that in comparison to the previous known examples of modern fringe religions referring to him in terms of how Christian it is?