Commandment #7

Commandment #7 - Thou shall not commit adultery.

Our general belief is that adultery is limited to sexual activity of an illicit or extramarital nature and would include immodest, non-virtuous, and impure behavior. First I thought this did not include the act of polygamy if all partners agreed to the inclusion of another wife, there would be no deceit. But, I decided that all sexual encounters outside of marriage, including internet photographs and sexting (84% of GMA’s poll said sexting is cheating) as well as pornography and polygamy if not included here, is included in commandment #10. The modern adultery term includes behaviors of infidelity, disloyalty, falseness, (dishonesty/lying), treachery (fraud, deception, or treason), deceit, or faithlessness which are also included in other commandments. Since this commandment is not specific in limiting the cheating or betrayal to a partner, I believe modern adultery to include acts against anyone including God. 

We don’t prosecute adulterers cheating on their partners. However, in 1879 the Supreme Court decided to ban polygamy saying – It may be a religious practice but it doesn’t deserve Constitutional protection anymore than human sacrifice. I’m okay with this as I think polygamy violates either this or the 10^th commandment. We have the TV polygamist and others that aren’t arrested until someone gets away from the group and yells about child abuse or some other crime. Some wives of polygamists are saying there is no happy polygamist relationship for a woman. I know that the government identifies religious groups that are acceptable tax donations and I don’t know if any of these are on the radar. I find it difficult to believe that there is no way to determine if such a group exists prior to someone going to the police. I know we have laws against human trafficking and my thought is that if polygamy becomes legal there may be more forced relationships.