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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/33295
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

You just show the consequences.

For example, people often say that the Bible supports polygamy. While it legally permits it and does not explicitly make moral prohibitions against it, I believe that it does not support it at all.

It makes its case by showing the outworkings: the jealousy and scorn shown between wives, especially in the common case of infertility; the jealousy and distrust between half-siblings resulting in murders, revenge killings, and even rape. Israel's most famous king, David, outlives most of his sons who died while fighting each other. When read as a whole, the laws permitting it are seen as a concession, and the polemic still stands.

Of course many people would dispute any inherent wrongness with polygamy, and would say that the Biblical stories are just showing that bad people are bad. I raise this to say that readers missing your intended interpretation is a risk facing any polemic which is less than completely explicit.

Original score: 26