I didn’t make the law. God did. I agree that the law is just but that mercy is of course a higher option. But the application of mercy may be more complex than just leaving a captive alone. What if they would have a better life with you?—and so on. Either way, my point was that God made a clear provision for it.Sarah wrote: ↑January 30th, 2023, 3:59 pmThe higher law is to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Would you like to be captured and forced into a sexual relationship you didn't agree with? This law allows a man to marry a captive, but if he had a conscience, he wouldn't force this woman to remain against her will, or deny her food in her poor condition in exchange for sex or marriage. So reading the law, it allows something in the name of justice, but it also allows mercy if the Israelite chose to extend it. That was their test with the laws they had, as there were provisions for mercy mixed in. I think living the higher law is more ideal and definitely more charitable.Luke wrote: ↑January 30th, 2023, 3:31 pmWhich God condoned:Shawn Henry wrote: ↑January 30th, 2023, 1:35 pm Also, one of BY's wives does seem to be a captured war or trade victim,
Deuteronomy 21
10 When thou goest forth to war against thine enemies, and the LORD thy God hath delivered them into thine hands, and thou hast taken them captive,
11 And seest among the captives a beautiful woman, and hast a desire unto her, that thou wouldest have her to thy wife;
12 Then thou shalt bring her home to thine house, and she shall shave her head, and pare her nails;
13 And she shall put the raiment of her captivity from off her, and shall remain in thine house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month: and after that thou shalt go in unto her, and be her husband, and she shall be thy wife.
14 And it shall be, if thou have no delight in her, then thou shalt let her go whither she will; but thou shalt not sell her at all for money, thou shalt not make merchandise of her, because thou hast humbled her.
Martin Luther commenting on this:
“Here you see how the Law permitted soldiers not only to have several wives but even, where love demanded, a Gentile woman captured in war. For when he describes them as soldiers not newly married, it is plain that almost all the husbands who fought in the war were married no less than one year, and that these married soldiers were also allowed to take a Gentile woman to wife. What is more, if she proved unsatisfactory, it was lawful to dismiss her; but she was free to marry another man, and she could not be sold or made a prostitute. For it is a violation of civil uprightness to sell or prostitute one who has been humiliated.” (Luther’s Works 9:210)
My main problem with your argument is that men and women just aren’t equal, and there’s no point trying to argue that they are. The Scriptures are unequivocal on this, and so was the Prophet Joseph Smith.