Debunking the Christian Myths About Polygamy
A Berean reply to Once Lost Ministries' case against polygamy. Their myths about Abraham, David, and Genesis 2:24 are tested against Scripture, exposing eisegesis and the failure to show one verse forbidding plural marriage.
Once Lost Ministries set out to debunk polygamy but, as this reply shows, only debunked a straw man of their own making. Going through their arguments one at a time, this video demonstrates the eisegesis, the disparaging of Abraham, and the central failure they never overcome: not a single verse of Scripture commands against or condemns a man taking more than one wife. The burden lies on the one claiming sin to prove it, and they cannot.
The myths answered
- The straw man that defenders argue because the patriarchs did it, it must be acceptable, which no serious case actually makes
- The myth that Abraham taking Hagar was a sin, built on words read into the text that Scripture never records
- The David and Bathsheba confusion that blames plural marriage for curses that came from adultery and murder
- The claim that polygyny only causes headaches, when problems plague monogamous homes too and prove nothing about righteousness
- The cult-leader smear used in place of any actual scriptural argument
- The Genesis 2:24 proof text, which by the same logic would forbid celibacy, multiple children, and second houses
- The picture of one God and many people, which mirrors polygyny rather than monogamy
Scriptures examined
- Genesis 12 and 15-16 — the promise to Abram and the taking of Hagar
- Genesis 30:18 — Leah says YAH rewarded her for giving her maid to her husband
- Exodus 21:10 — provision for a man who takes another wife
- 2 Samuel 12:8 — YAH gave David his master's wives and would have added more
- 2 Chronicles 24:2-4 — Joash given two wives and called right in YAH's sight
- Ruth 4:11 — the blessing of Rachel and Leah upon Ruth
- Ezekiel 23, Jeremiah 3, Jeremiah 31 — the Father portrayed as husband of two
- Matthew 5:17-20 and Matthew 19 — the law not abolished; the question was unlawful divorce, not plural marriage
Why it matters
To brand the patriarchs as sinners is to read a prohibition into the text that YAH never wrote, and Scripture warns that disparaging Abraham invites a curse. Test every claim against the whole counsel of the Word rather than inherited tradition — and for the recurring “it always ends badly” objection, see our article on whether polygamy always ended in disaster in the Bible.
