Why divorce is not an option for Christians?

[arunangelo]

To be a Christian is to follow Christ. To follow Him we must love Him. To love Him is to surrender our life to Him. To surrender our life to Him is to live a life that is His, and not ours. This means that we do and think what He does and thinks. We know that God is always faithful to us although we have been unfaithful to Him, and rejected Him by our sins. Furthermore, He sacrificed His own life so that we may be free of sin and have His life. To be a Christian, therefore, is to do likewise. In addition, since it is God who seals the marriage covenant no one can separate what God has joined together (Matt 19:6); and those who attempt to break this seal go against God. Divorce is therefore, absolutely prohibited for believers (Mk 10:11-12, Luke 16:18; Matthew 5: 31-32); and remarriage after divorce is adultery. Furthermore, a person whose spouse is unfaithful to him/her must stay faithful to his/her spouse just as God is faithful to us even when we reject Him (Hosea 3:1).

God hates divorce (Malachi 2:16) and is not pleased with the offerings of those who divorce their spouse (Malachi 2: 13-14). Jesus tells us that before making offering to God, we must reconcile with those with whom we have grievances (Matt. 5: 23-24). Therefore, a divorced person must first reconcile with his/her spouse before making an offering to the Lord.

 

[Boanerges]

God Himself is a divorcee. I do not believe it is His will for families to be shattered but He does permit it under certain circumstances.


Jer 3:6 The LORD said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot.
Jer 3:7 And I said after she had done all these things, Turn thou unto me. But she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it.
Jer 3:8 And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also.

 

[Strypes]

To be a Christian is to follow Christ. To follow Him we must love Him. To love Him is to surrender our life to Him. To surrender our life to Him is to live a life that is His, and not ours. This means that we do and think what He does and thinks. We know that God is always faithful to us although we have been unfaithful to Him, and rejected Him by our sins. Furthermore, He sacrificed His own life so that we may be free of sin and have His life. To be a Christian, therefore, is to do likewise. In addition, since it is God who seals the marriage covenant no one can separate what God has joined together (Matt 19:6); and those who attempt to break this seal go against God. Divorce is therefore, absolutely prohibited for believers (Mk 10:11-12, Luke 16:18; Matthew 5: 31-32); and remarriage after divorce is adultery. Furthermore, a person whose spouse is unfaithful to him/her must stay faithful to his/her spouse just as God is faithful to us even when we reject Him (Hosea 3:1).

God hates divorce (Malachi 2:16) and is not pleased with the offerings of those who divorce their spouse (Malachi 2: 13-14). Jesus tells us that before making offering to God, we must reconcile with those with whom we have grievances (Matt. 5: 23-24). Therefore, a divorced person must first reconcile with his/her spouse before making an offering to the Lord.

God hates divorce. That is true but do you know why?

It has nothing to do with legalism or demands of those that would spin a web of scriptures to entrap a victim. Jesus sets us free. God's love for His children is the reason he hates divorce because divorce hurts people (second part of that Malachi verse).

When my ex husband's affair was exposed, I did a great deal of reading on the subject and what I found was many who judge others by a standard set by man and not by God.

Let me explain.

For example, the bold text in your quote is in error. Your presumptions that it is adultery for a injured spouse to remarry is also in error. In 1 Corinthians chapter seven ( if I recall correctly) it says that if the unbelieving (guilty) spouse leaves, Let them go. In Matthew chapter 19, Jesus says adultery is just cause for divorce.

When Jesus was questioned regarding Moses giving "permission" to divorce, He said that it was not like that in the beginning but that the hardness of peoples hearts was the problem.

God's heart is for his people. He is husband to the husband less. Those that would further harm the victim by imposing legalistic demands under the ruse of righteous indignation are despicable.

Matthew 19:1 Now when Jesus had finished these sayings, he went away from Galilee and entered the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. 2 And large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.

3 And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause? 4 He answered, Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, 5 and said, Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh? 6 So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate. 7 They said to him, Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away? 8 He said to them, Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. 9 And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.

In this passage Jesus says that the one that remarries after divorcing his wife (wife not guilty of adultery) is the adulterer. If she were guilty then he can remarry. I see that as crystal clear.

Malachi 2: 13 This is another thing you do. You drown the Lord's altar with tears, weeping and wailing because he no longer accepts the offerings you bring him. 14 You ask why he no longer accepts them. It is because he knows you have broken your promise to the wife you married when you were young. She was your partner, and you have broken your promise to her, although you promised before God that you would be faithful to her. 15 Didn't God make you one body and spirit with her? What was his purpose in this? It was that you should have children who are truly God's people. So make sure that none of you breaks his promise to his wife. 16 "I hate divorce," says the Lord God of Israel. "I hate it when one of you does such a cruel thing to his wife. Make sure that you do not break your promise to be faithful to your wife." 17 You have tired the Lord out with your talk. But you ask, "How have we tired him?" By saying, "The Lord Almighty thinks all evildoers are good; in fact he likes them." Or by asking, "Where is the God who is supposed to be just?"

God is just and He cares for the wounded and heals their broken hearts. So they can love again.

Tiz true.

 

[PhoenixRising]

God is just and He cares for the wounded and heals their broken hearts. So they can love again.

Tiz true.

I agree. Ditto to all of the above.

God IS fair and just, at all times. His Mercy always, always tempers His judgment.

 

[SpiritLedEd]

Divorce is therefore, absolutely prohibited for believers (Mk 10:11-12, Luke 16:18; Matthew 5: 31-32); and remarriage after divorce is adultery.

Some years ago, a pastor friend of mine said that not all marriages are made in heaven. I think he's right. Many "marriages" are entered into because "its the honorable thing to do" when the girl gets pregnant. Some young couples rush to the altar only to learn that their "great love" was puppy love and they were never meant for each other. In other cases, one or both of them sees the other as a "trophy spouse" who will make up for their personal self esteem problems (co-dependency). Still others come from marriages that were destroyed by substance abuse or alcoholism,

Many of my friends at church came into a saving relationship with Jesus after such failed marriages and fell in love with and married other true Christ followers after being divorced.

For the above noted reasons, I avoid passing judgement on people who remarry after divorce. Whether or not they've sinned in marrying again is God's call, not mine. He alone knows all the contributing factors and circumstances.

SLE

 

[Ed]

Well first of all, marriage shouldn't be an option for Christians.....

Errrr...'scuse me.... what I meant to say is that divorce shouldn't be an option for a Christian. (I know I have my cables crossed, but God is still sorting through the mess)

Let me explain: suppose a man and a woman are Christian before they become one. Now suppose that afterwards...maybe a month, a year, a decade, even twenty years down the line, the man or woman find something that they don't like about their spouse.

Lets just say that the spouse has a very bad, and untimely flatuence problem.

Cause for divorce? Well to a spuse who is easily embarrassed, it would be...especially when the pair have become settled: He finds out she really wears false teeth, false leg, wig, etc. She with his "Miracle Stomach Wrap", eye-liner, shoe lifts, etc. (Hey don't laugh...somehow people are very good at keeping these kinds of secrets from each other)

Anyways, just because there's some small burnt fries in the batch (and I am not refering to the children), does that mean that the whole bag is ruined? No! So how could Christians think of divorce?

I remember a Circuit City commercial once where the young boy comes up to his father, and shows him the paper advertisement of something that he purchased, now at a reduced price. The Father just simply said "Deal with it!" So the young boy goes back to Circuit City and gets back the difference in price.

Unfortunately Circuit City is now pretty much out of business. So the moral of the story? Simple: Deal with it!

I am not advocating staying in an abusive relationship/marriage. But it wouldn't be such if the husband and wife had known each other "in and out" before they said/say their "I do's!"

Basically what it boils down to is courtship! I don't care if you are getting married for the first time when you are 50 years old! You court your future husband/wife before you marry them! I mean, you figure you start out with plans of "til' death do you part" so courting for a good 5-10 years before marriage is a good idea!

What's that? You want to get married just because you can't wait to have sex? Is getting married just for sex a good idea? Oh no! Don't do it then! Believe me, sex can only lead to one thing: trouble! Ok? I mean, a second or two of enjoyment can lead to...a batch of small good fries.... (ok, now I am refering to children)

So divorce is never a good idea for a Christian...because supposedly we all have the "fruits of the Spirit" living within us. Based upon that alone, we should be going into a marriage with all the fruits intact and operational.

If both of you are "in Christ" then you should be able to work things out...praying for each other, and loving each other as Christ loves the church.