I do believe, contrary to my past behavior, that one is supposed to select a spouse and stay with them for life except in the case of adultery, but that doesn’t, IMO require a civil contract, only a personal and spiritual commitment. Numerous figures in the Bible had children by their servants, and no mention is made of marriage, just procreation, and no stigma is attached to the offspring. Whoring around however, wasn’t okay. Non-believers were and are free to do whatever they want, at their own risk naturally, and eventually😛
When I was a Baptist, I asked one of the pastors how it was that God permitted the patriarchs and kings to have multiple wives and concubines, yet continued to bless them abundantly, but current theology condemns it. His answer was less than satisfactory, that it just showed the extent of God's mercy. I ain’t buying that. Even Paul, while enumerating the qualifications for service, listed “being the husband of one wife”, for reasons obvious to me in the context, but he didn’t say having more than one was wrong per se. So it appears to me that as long as you don’t ditch the previous wife, it may be entirely acceptable to have more than one, if you can take the heat, and subject to local ordinances of course.
