DIVORCE AND REMARRIAGE

I know this can be a very volatile subject but I am going to start this thread anyway.

Jesus when confronted by the Pharisess over the issue of divorce told them that Moses only agreed to divorce because of the Hardness of their heart. Why did Jesus make this statement? If you study Judaism the Jewish men were allowed to divorce their wives over some pretty frivoulous things even to the point of men writing a bill of divorcment or a GET if she burned his meals too many times. It was never God's intention for marriages to be dissolved so easily.

This is also why the prophet Malachi said what he said about putting away. He told the Jewish men that they had dealt treacherously with their wives. They were frivously divorcing their wives.

We live in a society where people divorce for incompatability. This is a frivoulous reason. So is divorcing because it just is too hard to stay married. Yet, JEsus did give an exception and that exception is sexual unfaithfullness.

Some say because the King James version uses the word Fornication that Jesus was talking about pre-marital sex. If they would study they would understand that this word came from the word PORNEA

 

(sorry for some reason it posted before I finished)

The word Pornea is where we get our word PORNOGRAPHY. In pornography every imaginable kind of sexual act happens. Adultery is committed. So is Fornication. Bestiality. Homosexuality. So when Jesus was saying Fornication it covered UNFAITHFULNESS in its totality.

Even with this I believe each case needs to be judged on each individual circumstance. I know of cases where one partner was unfaithful but the other partner was witholding intimacy and there was no physical or medical reason for this. In this situation there was no innocent victims here.
Yet, this is very rare. Most of the cases where sexual unfaithfulness has happened there is an innocent party yet on many threads there are those who say that there is no reason for Divorce and Remarriage. That the person who is innocent has to suffer for the rest of their lives for the sin of their spouse. These same individuals talk about a God of mercy and of Grace but yet say God demands an innocent party to pay for the sins of their cheating spouses. A life of loneliness and emptiness. Sorry guys, the majority of Bible scholars do not accept your interpretation.

I believe that a Christian must show forgiveness and be willing to try and work through any problem but when the other person refuses to stop the cheating and refuses to change their ways I believe the innocent party has a right to file for divorce and when God leads them to another person they have the right to remarry but only in the Lord.

Those who say no state that there has to be reconciliation. Well most who are constant cheaters have no intention of changing their ways or if they have left they have no desire to reconcile. God does not expect the innocent again to suffer for the sins of their spouse.

 

Yes I am talking about Christian Divorce and Remarriage. Let me state that I believe a person can divorce if they have a spouse who sexually is unfaithful to them only if there has been every attempt to save the marriage. Going through marriage counseling if the person is willing. Being accountable at all times yet if the cheating spouse refuses to quit sinning and won't change then the marriage I believe in God's eyes is over.

I knew of a case where the Pastor of a church who did not believe in divorce told a woman whose husband was cheating on her that she could not leave or divorce him. He also told her she could not refuse sexual intimacy. Her husband acquired a terrible venereal disease, got her pregnant and it passed on to the child and to her. The woman and her child lost their lives because of this pastors beliefs. It was said he had the gall to stand up at their funerals and tell the people she died for the cause of Good.

 

Jesus did not say to believers RECONCILIATION ONLY. "And I tell you this a man who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery unless his wife has been unfaithful." Matthew 19:8.

When Paul was dealing with the issues of marriage he was dealing with believers wanting to leave their unbelieving spouses and divorcing them and remarrying a believer. He was making it pretty clear that if the non believer wants to remain in the marriage then the believer is obligated to stay in the marriage but if the unbeliever chooses to leave then the believer is free from the marriage. Paul did not address the issue of Adultery. Jesus had already addressed this issue so why should Paul address it again.

I read on another thread from someone who is RCC
that the RCC is going back to the original teachings of no remarriage. Well, if the Pope would go back and look at why the church got away from this teaching he would understand that the Popes who said no Remarriage under any circumstances did not do this based on scripture but based on the fact that they being celibate could not care less if someone is lonely etc.
Also since the RCC believes a person can confess their sins to a priest then as long as a confession is made Adultery is acceptable.

 

Raymond: It is hard to write on a Baptist board because of the belief in OSAS. I don't believe in that doctrine therefore I do not believe a person who cheats on their spouse is a believer. They may have been one at one time but now they are backslidden and in deep sin.

The promise of Til Death do you Part is a promise that people are supposed to make. Both parties genuinely believe it is that way but when One party destroys the relationship through unfaithfulness they have broken the promise.
This is not a Biblical statement anyway.
It is not even in the Jewish wedding ceremony.

People take it that when Jesus said let no man put asunder he was talking about divorce but he was talking about any outside influence destroying a marriage for any reason.

I have found so many people who were willing to believe that divorce and remarriage is not an option until their spouse was unfaithful to them then the tide turned and their beliefs changed.

 

I am not saying this is alright. I lived in the heart of Cajun Country in Louisiana for 2 years in the 70's and this is predominately Catholic.
I had many older women tell me that their husbands had mistresses and other children by other women and that was ok because when he got older he would come home to her permanently. I asked them who taught them this is ok and they told me the Catholic Church,

 

I heard exactly what I heard. I did not make this up nor did I want to hear this.

I mentioned this because every man I have ever been in contact with who were RC did not have very good morals. I have known hundreds of Catholic men in my lifetime and everyone of them talked about their affairs etc. This is not made up but truth. Yet, I have heard Baptist men do the same thing. Methodist men. Presbyterian men. Yet not very many of these other churches stand against divorce and remarriage based on unfaithfulness like the RCC does. Point of case: Look at the Kennedy Family. All the affairs that Jack and Bobby and Teddy and Joe Jr. had and then there was Joe Sr. This has carried on from generation to generation but this family is looked upon as great Catholics. Catholics don't need to get upset about truth.