Fortunately, I do not have to “deal” with that because it is a false accusation.
Polygamy was not acceptable by OT men of God? I suppose that excludes Abraham from being a man of God. Not only did he have more than one wife, but had concubines.
Isaac, Jacob? Plural marriages. David, Solomon? Ditto.
These were all men selected by God, that you are implying they were not men of God.
LDS have a basic misunderstanding of the Old Testament with regards to polygamy. They will often say that God commanded polygamy in the Old Testament, but this is nowhere found in the bible. God never commanded anyone in the bible to take plural wives. So where do they get this idea? It comes from Mormon scriptures–not the bible.
Now it is true that God permitted polygamy in the Old Testament, but that is a lot different from
commanding it, as with the Mormons in modern times. So why did God permit polygamy in the Old Testament? To understand that, one must understand what happened when Israel broke the covenant with God when they made and worshipped the golden calf in the desert. Ever since the Israelites left Egypt, God had been trying to cure them of their addictions to the pagan gods and depraved practices (acquired over 400 years of living among a pagan society). But the Israelites proved to be a stiffnecked people, and the golden calf was the last straw.
The Israelites demonstrated to God that they were unwilling to live as trusting sons and daughters of God. As a result of this rebellion, God in effect put the Israelites on probation by instituting a multitude of new laws as chronicled in Deuteronomy. So what did their probation entail? The priesthood was taken away from all the tribes except the Levites, the only tribe that remained faithful. All kinds of restrictive dietary rules were enacted. Moses now permitted divorce for the first time because the Israelites had proven unable to live out marriage the way God had intended. And polygamy was now also permitted for the same reason. You see, polygamy was a practice of all the pagan kingdoms surrounding the Israelites, and they wanted to be like the other kingdoms, so God in effect said, “You asked for it, now you got it!” Often the punishment for sin is for God to allow us to continue in our sin and suffer the natural consequences. Look at all the mentions of polygamy in the Old Testament. They always end up badly.
What about before Moses? Mormons often claim that Abraham was commanded to be polygamous. This they get from their own LDS scriptures, not the bible. God never commanded Abraham to take multiple wives. God promissed Abraham that Sarah would conceive a child and that Abraham’s decendants would be as numerous as the stars. As time went by and Sarah did not conceive, Sarah lost her faith in God’s promise and told Abraham to take her servant Haggar as a concubine that so Haggar could bear a child for her. Abraham did so reluctantly and Haggar bore Ishmael. How did that work out for Abraham’s family? It tore them in two. After Sarah did eventually conceive (as promissed) and bore Isaac, she didn’t want anything to do with Haggar or Ishmael, so she forced Abraham to send them away from the tribe. Oh, and by the way, Ishmael is the father of the Arab race, and we all know how that family feud has been going on for centuries. If I were LDS I would not point to this instance as any kind of endorsement of polygamy. If anything, it’s just another example of how polygamy spells trouble, both then and now.
In the New Testament Jesus is asked about whether it is permissble for a man to put away his wife (divorce). What was his response? Jesus said that Moses permitted divorce because of the hardness of their (Israel’s) hearts,
but in the beginning it was not so. Jesus says that what God has joined (sacrament of marriage), man is to not put asunder. The superior, and
original, institution of marriage is a permanent, unbreakable bond. In the same way polygamy, like divorce, was permitted because of the hardness of Israel’s hearts. This is a far cry from the Mormon version.
