Thursday, January 19, 2012

Some research

According to the bible marriage is a lifetime commitment and we know that God hates divorce, but I have studied this topic and this is what I have found- The bible says that divorce is permissible in the following cases:
1. Marital unfaithfulness-
"But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulterous, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery." Matthew 5:32
^^The expression, "marital unfaithfulness" in the original Greek text of this verse, is the word porneia, that in English means pornography. Porneia referred to sexual sin of any kind- adultery, homosexuality, incest, pornography, etc. The Bible says that behaviors like these are morally wrong. That could also include an emotional affair with someone that includes kissing, hugging or fondling.
"And He said to them, 'Whoever divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her; and if she herself divorces her husband and marries another man, she is committing adultery."
Mark 10:10
^^Another way of expressing these words is that Jesus was reminding them, that without a "just-cause" for divorcing, it is, and was not lawful to divorce and remarry without committing sin. Jesus speaking within the First Century "divorcing" environment was recognizing the Roman right of a woman to divorce her husband, applying it to His hearers' lives and He made no suggestion that this would have been an incorrect moral view regarding divorce processes within the divorce right.
^^ Jesus is explaining to His disciples that if a man or woman divorces his or her spouse and remarries without a just-cause, then the man or woman who had divorced his/her spouse without a just-cause, was committing adultery against that spouse. Jesus clearly taught that there was and is a divorce and remarriage right.
"And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, commits adultery: and whoever marries her who is put away does commit adultery."
Mathew 19:9
^^The phrase "and shall marry another" indicates that divorce and remarriage are allowed in an instance of the just cause, whatever it is interpreted to be. According to what I have studied, only the innocent party is allowed to remarry. Although it is not stated in the text, the allowance for remarriage after a divorce is God's mercy for the one who was sinned against, not for the one who committed the sexual immorality.
2. Abandonment-
"If a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him...But if the unbeliever leaves, let him do so. A believing man or woman is not bound in such circumstances; God has called us to live in peace."
1 Corinthians 7:13-15
^^Paul originally specified abandonment by unbelievers as the grounds for dissolving a marriage, since some in that church were experiencing rejection by non-Christian spouses. Sometimes that abandonment is not a physical relocation, but emotional distance created by an addiction to drugs or alcohol or abuse. Scripture doesn't encourage divorce for these reasons, but it does allow it.

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