Thruples: The Newest Addition to the “Marriage Buffet”
“Three Brazilians in love have their nation up in arms over whether their relationship, now enshrined in a three-way marriage, is legal. The public notary who conducted their marriage says there’s no reason the threesome – or ‘thruple’, as the internet has charmingly labelled it – shouldn’t enjoy the same kinds of rights imparted upon two people who get hitched.”[1] Thrupling (the word combines “three” and “couple” into thruple; also spelled throuple) is a form of “polyamorous triad,” group marriage, wherein there is either one man joined to two women or one woman joined to two men. Of course, other combinations are possible.
The Atlantic, July 2014, magazine title on the same subject reads: “Multiple Lovers, Without Jealousy”. Welcome to the new “marriage buffet.” When same-sex unions became legal in 18 states, including Washington, DC, some said that polyamorous marriage would be the next addition to the “New Normal” in this whatever culture of apathy. And now, marriage thrupling in Brazil, will be coming soon to the US of A and make its presence known in those states that already approve of same-sex marriage (there is already chatter over the internet). If you understand the biblical implications of the normalization of same-sex unions, the New Normal is expanding its horizon to encompass North America and beyond in the future. Of course, this should not surprise you.
Pastors, DCEs, deaconesses, teachers, all church workers, and the laity need to be informed and continue to discuss the biblical implications and their impact on this newest marriage paradigm in light of the doctrine of creation, marriage, procreation, parenting, and the meaning of Christian freedom, just to name a few of the scriptural teachings that take us back to the basics of God the Creator and we, his baptized creatures in Christ Jesus. This isn’t the time to soft-pedal the doctrine of marriage and remarriage. The word of the Lord is crystal clear: marriage is man and woman and their created sexual complementarity in the one-flesh union.
[1] Copied from The Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/aug/30/three-people-get-married-thruple
Darrell Zimmerman October 29, 2014
Thanks, Bob, for keeping us to date on these (very disturbing!) trends. We appreciate your presence at our Pastor’s conference last week. Keep up the good fight!
James W Page October 30, 2014
Sorry, folks. Nothing’s new. In my undergrad days (BA in Sociology, San Jose State, 1965) I had two profs who were living on a boat in a ménage à trois arrangement. (In my naivete I didn’t understand what it all meant but was to learn the frequency of this kind of thing over the years.)
Rev. K Smith October 30, 2014
My question would be when we have a person or persons who are a thruple join the church and repent of this as sin and against God’s plan, how is it rectified? Which man and woman are married and which aren’t? Has that been explored yet?