This is a continuation of a previous post about marriage.
To "fall in love." Now there's a term that gets tossed around a lot. I don't really know when this term was started being used, but i'm willing to bet is was within the last 1000 years or less. Probably for a lack of a better term, we say that we "fall" into this thing called love. It sounds accidental. Hopefully you wouldn't say this is what happened when you started your relationship with Christ by accepting His proposal. It's wasn't a woops-now-i'm-a-Christian thing. You made a concious decision to follow Christ and thus, love Him. So should we in our marriages. We should be the master of our emotions, not the other way around. We should be able to decide and control our emotions saying, "I will (or will not) give my heart to this person." I don't care whether or not people use the term "falling in love," rather i think we should all realize that we shouldn't literally fall in love.
Switching gears: This is just a point i failed to make in my last entry, so it's kinda randomly thrown in here. To advocate premarital romantic relationships is like saying that God would have been ok with us trying out other gods before we accepted His proposal and became betrothed to Him. That's a bold statement. Allow me to explain... To have a spouse that approves of our previous dating relationships is just as crazy as if Jesus, our Husband, said it was ok for the us to worship Baal, or some other false god. Does Jesus say, "Corey, I wasn't offended or jealous when you were worshiping the golden calf before we were betrothed."? No! He hated it. And so should we in our marriages, following His example.
Switching again: Is their ever a justifiable divorce?
Malachi 2:16a "For I hate divorce," says the LORD, the God of Israel..."
Contextually this passage is about Judah's unfaithfulness. She even marries a foreign god in the Lord's sanctuary (v. 11). In spite of that, He states that He hates divorce. In the same way, God could say He hates something, like rape. Because of that, you can't justify it. Can you imagine of God said, "I hate rape, but it's ok if _____."? That's ridiculous. In the same way, if God says He hates divorce, it's not ok, ever.
Matthew 5:31-32 "It was also said, 'Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.' But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery. And whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery."
Matthew 19:3-9 "And Pharisees came up to Him and tested Him by asking, 'Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?' He answered, 'Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, "Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh"? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.' They said to Him, 'Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?' 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. and I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.'"
Jesus is not giving an excuse to divorce. He is not saying, "Divorce is wrong unless your spouse cheats on you. Then it's ok." No! He is saying that it is adultery to divorce your spouse except in the case for sexual immorality. In the case of sexual immorality, divorce is still wrong (v. 6b, "...let no man separate.") but it's just not considered adultery.
Really, the issue of divorce and eternal security are directly linked. Does Christ divorce His Bride? Nor should we. Read Hosea. Israel has played the harlot. She has submitted herself as a servant to Baal, having adultery with him. Yes, God condemns it. He is furious. However, He takes her back, speaking kindly to her (v. 2:14). God even has the prophet, Hosea, marry a prostitute so that he can relate to the Lord's position. God is in love with His Bride and always takes her back. So should we. Divorces is wrong, period. There is no justifiable excuse for it. We are secure in Christ. He will never leave us nor forsake us. We didn't do anything to save ourselves. Nor can we do anything to us save ourselves, and thus walk forfeit our Marriage with Him. I feel like there are greater minds on this subject, if you are interested. Charles Stanley answers every verse that people use to sugest we could ever loose our salvation. I recomend his book Eternal Security.
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