I am continually confronted with Christians who have no problem with divorce and remarriage. They have been taught in all the churches that marriage is not completely secure and that if things get too rough we can just bail out and all family members will come alongside and support the bail-out.
We have also heard the excuse that "I was too young", therefore the inference was that they were not mature enough to handle marriage. This argument does not hold water because I was sixteen when I became engaged to my husband and married him when I was eighteen, we are still together after 51 years, all of which were growing years that matured us.
When there is a commitment to remain married and to choose to love your spouse you will work harder at becoming the spouse you should be to keep the marriage together. And, no only one person has to learn from Scripture how to act for the marriage to be decent and even good.
The following paragraphs were my response to the person who was counseling others that divorce was allowed:
Quote:
I agree that divorce may be necessary for serious abuse, however God forbids anyone to remarry. There is a provision in some states where one can get a permanent separation with provision for finances like a divorce but no remarriage.
I have seen the devastation from remarriage too, to the children and the new spouse. The children do not recognize the authority of the new spouse and even resent the divorce of the father even if he is a bad person.
1 Corinthians 7:10-12 "…10 To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband. 11But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife. 12To the rest I say this (I, not the Lord): If a brother has an unbelieving wife and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her.…"
Luke 16:18
“Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery."
The clause in Matthew about "for sexual immorality" is referring to the betrothal before marriage. The Jewish law considered betrothal, that is engagement, to be almost as binding as marriage. They even called one another husband and wife before they lived together. Matthew was written to Jews with the custom of having to divorce from an engagement for unfaithfulness. This is why we don't see this same provision in the other gospels. The other gospels were written to gentiles who didn't have the custom of divorcing from engagement.
Also, When God makes two people one in marriage it is a spiritual glue that cannot be dissolved by any human being or government. This is why God considers it adultery for someone to remarry while having a living spouse. Only death dissolves a marriage covenant.
Marriage is a picture of salvation, when God makes us a new creation no one can undo what He did. These are Spiritual matters that no one can undo by any law of the land.
Romans 7:3
"Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress."
Many pastors today are not preaching from the words of Christ but from their own minds and desired understanding. I have seen divorced women who lived full happy lives as a single adult, even those with children because they had the power to be independent and raise the children in the Lord without the opposition of a man who did not respect her faith.
I think we need to help young people choose wisely to be able to avoid the pitfalls of marriage with a person who does not show good character. Often unsaved people are both guilty of bad character and need to repent and choose to live unselfishly.
Marriage is a serious relationship that is bound by God when we say our vows. Also, I have been married 51 years and it was a struggle in the beginning but God worked on us and we are completely different people today. Had we divorced we would have missed the great blessings we have today in solidarity with one another.
Marriage changes people for the better if they will let the hard times teach them.
Just a few thoughts that I am sure most Christians have not been taught. Do we obey God by following the Bible and seeing blessings or do we choose the easy way of the culture that leads to hell? Do we believe the Bible is the Word and that, Christ is the Word, the very essence of His own word, or do we dismiss Him as having given us a book of unimportant suggestions?
Most Christians today see the Bible more like an amulet, they feel safe carrying it around but have little if any interest in actually seeking Christ within its pages to become holy.
