From my perspective, there is nothing wrong AT ALL with a woman (or
man) separating (legally perhaps) from an emotionally or physically abusive
situation. But that leaves divorce
out, still. Izzy
From:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Sunday, July 11, 2004 12:12
AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: [TruthTalk] Marriage,
divorce, remarriage, continued
Well, I have to admit, I jsut learned something knew (to me). The
history on the death penalty for the Jewish people gives a meaningful
perspective to the teaching of Jesus on the issue of divorce and
remarriage. Very interesting.
What about physical abuse. You mary a man or a woman (depending, of
course, as to whether you are a woman or a man -- counter to popular
opinion -- and you "realize" that your new partner is
physically abusive -- perhaps dagerously so. Don't get me
wrong, here. I am not arguing for any one point -- just
asking your opinion.
JD
In a message dated 7/10/2004 6:32:16 PM Pacific Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
writes:
Hello again brother John.
So far, we know that God's plan is one man for one woman, for life. He
joins them together, makes them one, He separates them in His own
time. What God has joined together, no man has any right to
separate.
When I taught this, some argued that this was for the Jews, since the book of
Matthew was primarily a Jewish book. My response was that God not only
made no exceptions for any Gentile, he went to great pains to show that this
also applied to Gentiles. You will recall that John the Baptist lost his
head precisely because he told a Gentile that he could not have his brother's
wife as his wife. The guy was called Herod. His brother was named
Phillip. His brother's wife was named Herodias. Herod was an
Idumean. Not a Jew, not a Christian. John said,"You can't have
her. That ain't right. God don't like that."
I should point out here that the term wife, or husband, or marriage, does not
always mean a relationship approved by God. In the fourth chapter of
John's Gospel we see a woman who has had five husbands. The implication
is that she has not been widowed five times. God has not given her five
husbands. In Hebrews 13:4 by contrast, God speaks of a joining that is
approved by Him. Deut.,chapter seven speaks of marriages that are not
God's doing, and in fact He forbids such actions. The same is true when
the Bible speaks of wives in Ezra 10:44. I said all that simply to point
out that when the Bible says husband or wife or marriage, it does not always
mean an event that was planned by Him. The one thing, or one word I have
found, that seems to most imply a joining together by God, is the word
"Bound". An example is found in Romans 1:2 The woman who has a
husband is bound by the law to her
husband as long as he lives.
First Cor. 7:27 Are you bound to a
wife? Do not seek to be loosed.
So let's sum up what we know so far about marriage. It appears
to me that when you both (groom and bride) enter into your first
marriage, it is God's doing. He expects that union to last for life.. He
has made you one flesh. Only He has the right to end this union. I
say "appears", because there may be something I am assuming, or
something I am missing, but until someone can show me otherwise, this is what I
believe that the Bible teaches.
Someone at this point is possibly thinking, "Under Moses, God allowed
divorce". That is true. That however does not reflect God's
will. Jesus Points out in Matt.19:8,"Moses, because of the hardness
of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning, it
was not so. Jesus does not go back to Moses, or the law. Jesus goes
back before there was a law, to Adam and Eve. He says, "This is
God's plan, for Adam and Eve, for Pharisees and their wives, for Herod and
Herodias, for Terry and Vee. Moses made allowances, to protect the
innocent, not to please the sinner, and it was never pleasing to God to see a
marriage end. Liberal Rabbis added to that until you could divorce for
any reason. Just get the paperwork right and the union is dissolved.
BUT GOD SAYS, "I HATE
DIVORCE"!
I stated before we began this discussion, that there are rare
times when a person can do what God hates without committing a sin. I
also pointed out that there are exceptions to most rules. During old
testament times, the penalty for sexual sin, sex outside of a union blessed by God,
was death. The guilty party was put to death. This freed the
surviving spouse to marry again. When Jesus began His ministry, both He
and the Jews were still under the law. Adulterers at that time should
have been put to death in accordance with the law, but there was a
problem. The problem was that the Jews were not free to rule
themselves. They were under Roman domination, an occupied country.
The Romans did not see adultery as a big deal. They did not see much of
what the Jews considered important to be a big deal. They thought that
the Jews were being too harsh in their penalties, so three years before Jesus
began His ministry, the Romans took away the right of the jews to inflict the
death penalty.
What to do? The law would free the innocent party if it could be carried
out. but it could not be carried out. We have an innocent party who
cannot be free from an adulterous mate, no matter how long that mate wallows in
sin, and we have a sinner who can live any way he or she pleases with no
penalty. The wrongdoer prospers while the innocent suffers. This is
not the way God would have it . That appears to be why, in Matthew 5:32
Jesus makes an exception to the rule."I say to you, that whoever divorces
his wife for any reason except sexual
immorality causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marrys a
divorced woman commits adultery." Maybe you can't stone him to
death, but you do not have to stay with him, and you do not have to live alone
the rest of your life. When the cause of the divorce is sexual sin, you
are free to divorce, and to remarry, just as though the guilty spouse had been
put to death.
"But God hates divorce, for any reason. He did not give a list of
exceptions", someone may say. This is pretty much true. God
does hate divorce, for any reason, but God Himself set the precedent. He
divorced Israel,
for spiritual adultery, and allows the innocent party to divorce for
sexual adultery. Even though God hates it, it is not a sin, because God set the
precedent, and God does not sin.
Thems my thoughts. What's yours?
Terry
