Featured Divorce before conversion able to marry

I realise that he wants to uphold the purity of Christian marriage, but think that he is stressing it way to severe, as he is making divorce/remarriage as being the Unpardonable Sin!

 

Absolutely, not.

There is not a single scripture that presents such as you endorsed in this post as being accurate.

The Lord Jesus was talking to UNSAVED in Mark 10:

4They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away.” 5And Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. 6But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ 7‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife,a 8and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. 9What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”
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Again, there is no believer qualifier in the above passage.

It matters not if they are heathen or believer. Marriage is "until death you do part."

Paul states that the unbelieving may certainly leave the marriage, but that does not allow for the believer to be free to marry another. The "not under bondage" is not expression of freedom to again marry, but that of one no longer physically, emotionally, financially responsible for the safety and security of the other.

 

What then do we say about all the Baptist Churches that offer "Divorce Care" and in many (most?) instances don't happen to agree with the more hard-line viewpoints expressed in this thread? Just curious....

 

No, it is not the "unpardonable sin."

A couple (man and woman) may live together and never have intimate relations, therefore no adultery.

The once divorced and remarried must come to terms with the Scriptures as it applies to them and their circumstances. It is not how the emotions, the hormones, the culture drives the teaching, it is what the Scriptures actually teach.

 

Simple. "Divorce Care" means that folks attend not looking to "hook up" with another, but learn how to contain the sensual drives and turn their lives into "reasonable service" to the Lord of Lords.

 

Here is the Unpardonable Sin from the pen of John Gill.

but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, shall not be forgiven unto men: by which is meant, not every ignorant denial of, and opposition to his deity and personality; nor all resistance of him in the external ministry of the word; nor every sin that is knowingly and wilfully committed; but it is a despiteful usage of the Spirit of grace, an opposing, contradicting, and denying the operations wrought, or doctrines revealed by him, against a man's own light and conscience, out of wilful and obstinate malice, on purpose to lessen the glory of God, and gratify his own lusts: such was the sin of the Scribes and Pharisees; who, though they knew the miracles of Christ were wrought by the Spirit of God, yet maliciously and obstinately imputed them to the devil, with a view to obscure the glory of Christ, and indulge their own wicked passions and resentments against him; which sin was unpardonable at that present time, as well as under that dispensation then to come, when the Spirit of God was poured down in a more plenteous manner.

This does not apply and cannot be committed by any one in this century only when Jesus walked on this earth... Brother Glen

 

I will just give you my case... My previous wife a Christian and I also were married for 30 years... Fifteen years ago I lost her to kidney cancer, after watching her die for four years... One month after her passing I met another Christian and we fell in love... I had no intention too but the Lord had other ideas, but I will leave it there... She is a divorcee and has scriptural grounds as her husband committed adultery and was living with the woman while married to her... She brought it up in her church saying her husband was living in adultery and they swept it under the rug, and told her she was at fault and not him... When I married her his name was still on the church books and he stopped going to church more than ten years ago to the date we married... So we have now been married for fourteen years... I feel we are both married in Gods eyes and have committed no wrong... I know I'm free as my spouse died and I know she is free because her husband broke his vow of marriage to her and was living in adultery... I would like to know your thoughts on the matter... What you say will not affect my marriage one way or the other... Comments... Brother Glen

 

My thoughts should be obvious. I am many things ... but subtle is not one of them.

 

That is true with a lot brethren on here, that's just they way they are... Brother Glen

 

What I mean is that the Law has them condemned ALREADY, right from birth, as they were born dead in Adam. If they go to hell, its not due to adultery, fornication, rejection of the gospel, taking the Lord's name in vain, &c. They go to hell because they died as unrepentant sinners. Many went to hell and never committed the act of adultery in the flesh, but they did commit adultery in their heart if/when they lusted after someone.

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.[2 Corinthians 5:17] When God saves someone, whether they had never been married or married 15 times with 14 divorces, those sins have been blotted out by the blood of the Lamb. God now sees them through His Son.

 

And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”[Matthew 19:9]

If my wife cheats on me and I seek a divorce, then I have the right to remarry, but only in the Lord.

 

Divorce was an Old Covenant provision. And Adultery punishable by death. So if they killed the adulterer the innocent spouse was free to remarry in this passage. But even then notice. The innocent wife divorced from the adulterer (many think this is grounds for remarriage) still commits adultery when she remarries in this passage.

Divorce does not exist in the New Covenant. And the pagan laws mean nothing in God's sight. People are married until the death of their spouse.

 

Can any still practice any of the above and expect to go to heaven? If you tolerate adultery, you must tolerate all.

 

Adultery is adultery to be repented of. And if we allow this, we must allow all sin. Moses includes adultery along side of Sodomy and Bestiality.

 

Romans 8:1 says there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

 

Hebrews 10:26

Hebrews 10:26

26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,

 

1). The Jewish custom was to marry then live separate until the husband had prepared a place for the bride then come and take her (unceremonially) to that prepared place that they be one flesh. There was ONE time that divorce was permitted. It was between that time of public ceremony and them becoming one flesh. If either were adulterous during that time (prior to being one flesh) they were free from the marriage obligations and could be divorced.

Example: Joseph was willing to divorce Marry privately when he found she was with child by another source than his own issue.

2). If I had a couple comes with the circumstances of Tyndale, the wise council was to allow them into the fellowship with open confession in a business meeting of the assembly as to their situation. They would then have that wonderful living testimony to the young about life choice consequences. Their ministry by example would bring glory to the Father, and no rebuke from the gossip mongers.

3). Believers are to remember that there is no such thing as an unpardonable when it comes to them, for Romans states that absolutely nothing can separate the believer from the love of God in Christ Jesus. That is no license to sin, but that assured certainty that although rewards may be sacrificed on the altar of the immediate, the soul remained safe and secure.

4). Living and life is full of human tragedy yet it must be a life lived. It is the power of the assembly to recognize living in this world brings all manner of evil, yet by acknowledging iniquity, sin, trespass and embracing the repentance of the repentant as the righteousness of God at work, they are also to lay no rebuke before those that fail, but restore as God allows and gives wisdom.

5). One of the saddest and most shameful is that assembly that would be so haughty and high-minded as to look with scornfulness upon others. Such ungodly piety is worthless and can be used for evil. Such have no true burden for the Lord, the Father's glory, the ministry of truth, and carry in their own bodies that lack of the work of the Holy Spirit which is first peaceful, and brings loving kindness, love, joy, long-suffering, gentleness...

 

Actually, Mikey, the audience were those who lived under the old testament customs. Typically, in the time of Christ, there was a marriage supper or lunch followed by the "wife" being taken back to the parental home until the groom had prepared a place for her. At the time the grooms father (or family authority figure) stated that the place was prepared, the groom would go to the home of the bride's parents, take the bride from her "chamber" and to that prepared place and become "one flesh."

It was during that time between the marriage supper and the "one flesh" that divorce was allowed.

Hence the words by Christ, "What God has joined to gather, let no man put asunder."

It is so very unfortunate that so many believers do not take seriously the statement "one flesh" and grab almost as a demand that betrayal be met with a break not only in fellowship but no longer a union.

Such thinking betrays the very picture of security found in Christ who states "I will never leave you nor forsake you." He never "divorces" the bride. No matter how unfaithful we are, He remains faithful.

Too sad is this not the truth in human relationships.

 

When spoken Jesus was teaching under the Old Covenant. The New Covenant replaced the Old at Calvary.