Response To A
Reader Of The Text Above
Shalom Grace
I received your letter after midday on 26 June 2000.
When I gave you my brief it was to request that you give me your feedback,
both positive and negative, on the content of the article "Should Humans
Live According To The Original Marriage Standard?" You have commented only
on the last sections of the article, having ignored all that preceded these
last sections. I therefore do not know whether you received or rejected all
that preceded the last sections of the article. Seeing that I made the request
over a week ago, and reiterated it when we spoke subsequently, there is little
point in my requesting that you honour my request as made. I accept that the
reply you have given is your reply, including the fact that you have not
honoured my request as made, including also no explanation given for your not
honouring it as made.
The Essence Of The
Reader's Comments
In essence, the comments in your letter are simply an expansion of the point
you made over the phone a little over two weeks ago, that my comments in the last
sections of the article were faithless. And you therefore went
on to show, from Scripture, that Yahweh is indeed faithful and that one who
seeks a husband or a wife, a seeking within Yahweh's will, should rely on
Yahweh to provide her or him with one.
The Author's
Response
I now respond to your comments, both those you wrote and those you uttered
over the phone over two weeks ago.
I agree with you that Yahweh is faithful and can provide any man or woman
with a wife or husband respectively. This is a small thing for Yahweh. He has
done it in the past, he is presently doing it for many and he will continue to
do so in future.
Is The Practice Of
Polygyny Equated With Faithlessness?
What you seem to have taken issue with is polygyny. In
other words, because I have said that in a situation where there are more women
than men the women should be willing to be additional wives of married men, you
say that I am faithless, teaching the women to be faithless. For if the women
rely on Yahweh they need not be additional wives to married men, but they can
indeed be sole wives to unmarried men! Implying that if they accept
being additional wives to married men they will in such acceptance not be
acting out of faith, but out of their own will or desires or sight.
Areas Of Agreement
And Disagreement
We are agreed that it is Yahweh's will that men and women marry. We are
agreed that Yahweh answers requests made to him that are in harmony with his
will, such that if a man or woman seeks a marriage partner and at the time the
request is made neither the man nor the woman has a marriage partner, that
Yahweh will indeed grant the requested marriage partner. Where we seem to be
disagreed is whether it is Yahweh's will for an unmarried woman who seeks a
husband to be given, by Yahweh, an already married man as her husband!
If you accept that it is within Yahweh's will for a man to have more than
one wife, even as it is within his will for a man to have one wife, then I
presume that you will not say that it is faithless for a woman who sought
Yahweh for a husband to marry a man already married to another woman, if the
already married man is indeed the one Yahweh has shown her should be her
husband. But if you exclude polygyny from Yahweh's will, as you appear to do,
then you will not accept that such a woman is acting in faith when she marries
an already married man, being his additional wife. For you will say that
actions apparently outside Yahweh's will cannot be actions in faith, but
actions borne out of human will devoid of faith in Yahweh!
The Basis Of The
Author's Disputed Comments
Isaiah 3:16-4:6 formed the basis of the words that I subsequently wrote
after quoting these scriptures. Let us look more closely at Isaiah 4:1-6, which
reads,
4:1Seven
women shall take hold of one man in that day, saying, "We will eat our own
bread, and wear our own clothing: only let us be called by your name. Take away
our reproach."
4:2In
that day, Yahweh’s branch will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the
land will be the beauty and glory of the survivors of Israel. 4:3It will happen, that he who is left in Zion,
and he who remains in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even everyone who is
written among the living in Jerusalem; 4:4when
the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion,
and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from its midst, by the spirit of
justice, and by the spirit of burning. 4:5Yahweh
will create over the whole habitation of Mount Zion,
and over her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming
fire by night; for over all the glory will be a canopy. 4:6There will be a pavilion for a shade in the
daytime from the heat, and for a refuge and for a shelter from storm and from
rain.
Key Matters Isaiah
Speaks About
Both Isaiah 4:1 and 4:2 show that the time period when these events take
place is "in that day". 4:3 shows that those who will be left alive
in Zion or Jerusalem
"shall be called holy". And 4:4 shows that they will be holy because
Yahweh shall have washed away their filth, even that of the daughters of Zion who had previously
been haughty, and therefore filthy!
The Seven Women And
Their One Husband Are All Holy
What you ought to understand is that these seven women in Zion,
these daughters of Zion,
who take hold of one man as their husband, are holy women, for they have been
cleansed of their filth. And the man who is their husband is a holy man, for
only holy people will remain alive in Zion, in Jerusalem, "in that
day". And they will all be in Yahweh's glory, witnessing his glory in
"a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by
night".
Why Should One Call
Faithless Those Whom Yahweh Calls Holy?
Now, seeing that Yahweh has called all of these seven women married to one
husband holy, being devoid of filth they previously had, how can one then say
that they are FAITHLESS, marrying the man they are marrying out of
faithlessness? How can you call faithless those whom Yahweh calls holy - those
whom Yahweh has cleansed of the filth they previously had? How can you call
filthy - faithless - those whom Yahweh has cleansed and therefore are not
filthy or faithless?
Why is your judgement different from Yahweh's? Or do you presume, in
arrogance, to be right in this matter, thereby putting Yahweh's word and therefore
Yahweh in the wrong? Why are you so HAUGHTY?
In my opinion, you are behaving no differently to the haughty daughters of Zion prior to their
cleansing. For just as they are haughty prior to their cleansing, so are you!
Is It The Case That
Christian Women Do Not Practice Polygyny?
When I raised the matter over the phone over two weeks ago that my comments
were based on Yahweh's word in Isaiah 3:16-4:6 you responded by stating that
those were practices permitted in olden times, prior to Christian times. You
also stated that no Christian woman would become an additional wife to a man,
suggesting that such conduct is unchristian. You therefore suggested that
whereas Yahweh permitted polygyny before Christ's coming, he did not permit it
subsequent to his coming.
Reader Rejects
Author's Comments On The Continuing Applicability Of Yahweh's Law
Your comments therefore implied that there was a CHANGE IN THE LAW, with the
law applicable to Christians superseding the law that applied to the children
of Israel
prior to Christ's coming. Nevertheless, this implied view of yours was clearly
negated by the article, for it showed that Yahweh's word on polygyny did not
change with Christ's coming. Just as he permitted polygyny among the children
of Israel
prior to Christ's coming so also he continued to permit it after Christ's
coming. And Isaiah 4:1-6 clearly affirms that not only does he permit it after
Christ's first coming, he will also continue to permit it among the holy
inhabitants of Zion or Jerusalem after Christ's second coming "in that
day". Yahweh's word on polygyny has not changed, contrary to your view.
What Is The Basis
Of The Reader's Belief?
Seeing that the view you hold onto is different from that clearly seen in
Yahweh's word, even as clarified in the article, one wonders what forms the
basis or foundation of your belief!
Reader Inconsistent
In Usage Of Yahweh's Word Alleged No Longer To Apply To Humans
When I give you justification from Yahweh's word in the Old Testament, in
harmony with his words in the New Testament, you respond by stating that I am
using a superseded law to justify my comments. Yet I see you using a number of
Old Testament scriptures to affirm that Yahweh is faithful, including some from
the book of Isaiah, the very book forming the basis of my comments you took
exception to. Does the book of Isaiah, according to your belief, still contain
Yahweh's word valid for our day, or not? Is the book of Isaiah superseded with
respect to Yahweh's word when I quote from it, but still valid for Yahweh's
word when you quote from it?
Grace, why are you not consistent in the usage of Yahweh's word? Why use
what you say is superseded to prove that Yahweh is faithful, but reject it when
it is used to show that Yahweh will indeed permit polygyny among his holy
children in Zion immediately after Christ's return and in his presence? Why are
you rejecting Yahweh's word, on account of your refusal to submit to his will
permitting polygyny among his holy children?
Yahweh's Judgement Against
Those Who Reject His Law And Despise His Word
Isaiah 5:24-25 reads, in part,
Because they have rejected
the law of Yahweh of Hosts,
And despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
5:25Therefore
Yahweh's anger burns against his people,
And he has stretched out his hand against them, and has struck them.
The mountains tremble,
And their dead bodies are as refuse in the midst of the streets.
Grace, why are you placing yourself in a situation whereby Yahweh's anger
will burn against you, and he will strike you? Why don't you submit to his
word, accepting his law on marriage and polygyny, and not despising his word as
having been superseded, when, clearly, it has not. For how can it be superseded
when what he speaks of concerning his holy children is for a time yet to come,
and taking place in the presence of the returned and glorious Christ?
Author's Prayer For
The Reader
It is my prayer Grace that you climb down from your high pedestal of
arrogance and haughtiness, and assume and be clothed with the humility of
Christ. It is my prayer that you be cleansed of your hard heart of rejecting
Yahweh's word and will, and be devoid of filth, even as the daughters of Zion
will be cleansed of their filth and haughtiness, and will subsequently be holy.
And when they are holy they will indeed - seven of them - be married to one man
in the presence of the returned and glorious Christ in Zion.
Application Of
Yahweh's Word To The Reader's Life
Seeing that you say that Yahweh has shown you that a particular man is to be
your husband, and seeing that he has shown this man that his lifestyle is a
polygynous one, if you are to be his wife you must indeed accept the holiness
of polygyny and therefore its acceptability for Yahweh's people. If you refuse
to so accept then he will not marry you. And if you refuse to so accept you
will have rejected Yahweh's will for you as you profess he has shown you.
As I said over the phone last week, I was to determine when we would meet
next after I received your letter. I have now received your letter and have
given you my feedback to it. As we are not walking in agreement in Yahweh's
word, with your calling faithless what Yahweh calls holy, I am not inclined to
meet with you. Nevertheless I leave the line of communication open, praying for
your repentance and our eventual meeting. Should you wish to communicate with
me on this or a related matter please write to me. I prefer not to spend time
on the phone while matters are the way they currently are.
May Yahweh cleanse you and help you accept his will.
Shalom
ISAAC
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