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"THIS MEANS EVERLASTING LIFE"
Roth .) One of the signs of a falling away by some from true faith in later times was foretold to be their "forbidding to marry". (1 Timothy 4 :3) The married Christians were not required to oppose the purpose of marriage, childbearing . But to qualify for appointed service in the congregation it was required of overseers and ministerial assistants to preside over their children in a right way, controlling them in such a way as to let no reproach be brought upon the congregation and its representatives .-Titus 1 :5, 6 . 4 In this way, although polygamy, a man's having two or more living wives, with even concubines besides, was allowed among Jehovah's ancient people, and the Mosaic Law covenant sanctioned it for natural Hebrews, it was disposed of for the Christian congregation . Jesus ruled that a man would have two living wives if he divorced a wife on improper grounds and then married another. The Jewish Pharisees asked him : "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife on every kind of grounds?" Jesus replied that in Eden God provided for no divorce of the perfect man from his wife. "They said to him : `Why, then, did Moses prescribe giving a certificate of dismissal and divorcing her?' He said to them : `Moses, out of regard for your hardheartedness, made the concession to you of divorcing your wives, but such has not been the case from the beginning . I say to you that whoever divorces his wife except on the grounds of fornication and marries another 4 . What did Jesus rule concerning polygamy and adul-
tery?