10 Quotes From the Bible Which "Teach" Us About Marriage

Many conservatives, especially those who are affirmed Christians, may see the DOMA and Prop 8 rulings at the Supreme Court as a loss. To this faction, the Supreme Court has gone too far by reversing democratically voted laws, but it has also gone too far by redefining the traditional norms of marriage.

Although some opponents of gay marriage often point to the fact that Bible seems to explicitly condemn male homosexuality (Leviticus 20:13), the Bible also says a lot of other things about marriage and relationships. Here are 10 Bible quotes which, if taken out of context, could just as easily be used to prove the Bible endorses all kinds of other relationships outside a traditional union between a man and woman." 

1. You have to marry your brother-in-law

"Now Er, Judah's first son, did evil in the eyes of the Lord, so that he put him to death. Then Judah said to Onan, Go in to your brother's wife and do what it is right for a husband's brother to do; make her your wife and get offspring for your brother." (Genesis 38:8)

2. Get to "know" your wife's maid

"And Sarai said to Abram, See, the Lord has not let me have children; go in to my servant, for I may get a family through her. And Abram did as Sarai said. So after Abram had been living for ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai took Hagar, her Egyptian servant, and gave her to Abram for his wife." (Genesis 16: 2-3)

3. Marry your half-sister

"And, in fact, she is my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife." (Genesis 20:12)

4. Kill the woman who is not a virgin when she's married

"But if what he has said is true, and she is seen to be not a virgin, Then they are to make the girl come to the door of her father's house and she will be stoned to death by the men of the town, because she has done evil and put shame on Israel, by acting as a loose woman in her father's house: so you are to put away evil from among you." (Deuteronomy 22: 20-21)

5. Marry the virgin woman you rape

“If a man sees a young virgin, who has not given her word to be married to anyone, and he takes her by force and has connection with her, and discovery is made of it; Then the man will have to give the virgin's father fifty shekels of silver and make her his wife, because he has put shame on her; he may never put her away all his life.” (Deuteronomy 22: 28-29).

6. Invade a village and kill everyone but the female virgins

"And this is what you are to do: every male, and every woman who has had sex relations with a man, you are to put to the curse, but you are to keep safe the virgins. And they did so. Now there were among the people of Jabesh-gilead four hundred young virgins who had never had sex relations with a man; these they took to their tents in Shiloh in the land of Canaan." (Judges 21:11-12).

7. King David had eight wives

That is, according to 1 Chronicles 3: 1-8. Oh, and he also had concubines, according to 2 Samuel 16:21. 

8. King Solomon had over 1000 females around him

"He had seven hundred wives, daughters of kings, and three hundred other wives; and through his wives his heart was turned away." (1 Kings 11:3)

9. Give your daughter to your male servant

"Now Sheshan had no sons, but only daughters. And Sheshan had an Egyptian servant, whose name was Jarha. And Sheshan gave his daughter to Jarha, his servant, as a wife; and she had Attai by him" (1 Chronicles 2: 34-35).

10. Abandon your family for heavenly reward

"And everyone who has given up houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or child, or land, for my name, will be given a hundred times as much, and have eternal life." (Matthew 19:29)