Selah.

Thoughts From Reconstruction by M.J. Gallant – Epigraph

Thoughts From Reconstruction by M.J. Gallant – Dedication

The Published Works of M.J. Gallant collected and organized in one place for quick and easy access.

Thoughts From Reconstruction by M.J. Gallant – Copyright

M.J. Gallant’s second outing, after Thoughts From Reconstruction, his latest work is a laser focus on the most important part of the previous work: The Greatest Commandment.

M.J. Gallant’s publishing debut, Thoughts From Reconstruction illustrates one person’s pursuit of a faith deconstruction that would not end in annihilation but in reconstruction.

Some cultures and geographical regions practice monogamy (single spouse) and polygamy to greater or lesser degrees over history. Many cultures largely upheld a general form of monogamy, if not in law then in practice, but the advent and spread of Christianity has done much to cement the idea of monogamy around the world. But how do we understand what precisely is the ‘rule’ when the Bible, itself, records polygamy, even Godly examples, and does not plainly prescribe monogamy into law?

Jesus then tells them that a man sins if he divorces and re-marries for any reason except sexual immorality. It is noteworthy that Jesus doesn’t take away the option of divorce, He simply describes the state of a man who does divorce: They are in sin if they marry another woman, except if it is for sexual immorality. Jesus is not attempting to make a new rule here but to confirm, yet again, that the Law was insufficient for men to live righteously…

The taboo against the marrying of close family relations is one of the most widespread taboos in the world, across all major cultural groups [1]. Our visceral reaction makes it all the more interesting that our reason stems from the Bible, Leviticus 18:6, specifically, because this is so long after Adam and Eve, up to 2500 years later. We are given a moral problem, then, when it comes to Adam and Eve, and who their children married, since they lived before any cultural norms had time to rise.

We in the West have generally decided on the age of 16-18 to mark adulthood. Culturally, while things are changing, we tend to be dubious about sex before 16 and marriage before 18. Legally, things are different, and there are ‘close in age’ exceptions. In Old Testament times, the ‘age of consent’, as they would have understood it, would be shockingly low from a modern perspective. So, the real question is, how did we arrive at these ages?