Immorality in Ministry

Amen!! It does seems that God is working in their lives. Their willingness to become legally married is a testimony of lives turned around. GOD IS GOOD!

 

What some are missing here is that common law marriage IS legal marriage in some jurisdictions, such as Colorado. You can also have a ceremony, marry yourselves, have an officiant, or whatever you want. It is just as legal as someone who runs down to the county courthouse or to a church. State laws vary.

 

I guess you better get reading then.

 

Common Law marriage laws were enacted because of the mess that cohabitating was causing. When folks have lived in sin for many years and one dies for instance. Another is when the couple has children out of wedlock, but they live together.

In other words, common law marriage is just the state's way of dealing with a sinful mess.

Do you know of anybody that decided "before" they cohabitated that would have a common law wedding? No, common law marriage happens after living in sin.

Using your logic, gays would be considered common law married in several states that have actually banned gay marriage in their constitution....Oklahoma for example. They only recognise common law marriges that "began" before 1998 I believe, yet they have banned gay marrige in their state constitution. why arent gay people that have lived together for 20 years challenging this in court?

Common law marriage may be legal in some states, but it involves sinful cohabitation to make it come about, it is just another way the progressives are trying to justify sin.

AJ

 

Put blame where blame belongs.

Why does the loyal long time servant of a congregation need to live in sin to pay her bills?

Sorry but that's what I see.

God bless and forgive

 

She doesn't. The point is that she is getting money from her husband's pension that she would apparently lose if she got married. She could pay her bills just fine apparently if she wasn't living in sin.

 

Ask your husband.

 

Well said. We should ALWAYS consider how our decisions affect and appear to others around us.

 

What I would wonder is where the lady's children are.

When I was pastoring there was a lady in the church who was losing her mind quite quickly. I contacted one of her children and told the child about her mother's condition. The children had wondered about their mother but when I told the child about her mother the kids acted immediately.

 

She confided in a deacon; that sounds like a plea for help.
This is a poor widow - you help them regardless.
If a congregation doesn't look out for its own then something is truly wrong.

My allegiance to Caesar ends where he begins substituting his laws for God's.
Then I am absolved from obeying him. Believing that I couldn't later claim that a state law absolved me from God's ordinance.
Cohabitation law is placing a bandaid on a tumor.

God bless

 

But it sounds like she has refused to obey the Scriptures. I don't konw the whole story, but it is unquestionable that she should not be living with this man. If she continues, she is living in sin.

Not according to 1 Tim 5. Other passages as well address helping people, like 2 Thess 3.

Not sure what you mean here. The biblical position is that we are to obey government unless and until the government requires us to disobey God. I see nothing in this case where disobedience to God is being required. Can you think of a biblical command that is disregarded by having a marriage license? I have asked before and no one seems to have one.

No one is suggesting that.

Cohabitation is creating the tumor.

 

If I find a drunken barefoot man asleep on a freezing sidewalk, I put my shoes on his feet, my coat over him, and my shirt under his head.

That only because I wasn't capable of taking him home to sleep in my warm bed while I take the couch.

We disagree there pastor for better or worse.

God bless you

 

Was that directed to me? I am not sure I am following the relevance there.

 

Hate to inject the Bible into this, but the older women are to be examples to the younger women. (Titus 2) They are to be teaching what is good. From what the woman has said she knows she shouldn't be living with the man.

From a more pragmatic view, if this woman is suffering from some memory issues, the man may be taking advantage of her. This may be something for the state's elder abuse hotline if her children will not step in. We have a lot of elderly here in SW Florida and there have been times we have had to force grown children to do the right thing.

About the financial issue 1 Timothy 5:9-16 tells the church NOT to help those widows who have children who ought to be taking care of them, so that the church is free to help financially those who have no one.

 

That is so true. The very nature of the opening of the op assumes guilt. Lots of people live in the same house. Brothers and sisters live in the same house, as do many different types of families.

Why is it that our first thought about a situation goes to the most filthy possibility there is? Sometimes I wonder if it because the ones bringing it up have such an appetite for gossip. Now who is sinning?