Thursday, June 2, 2011

Marriage and Divorce


The definition of marriage has always been understood to mean the union between one man and one woman until death.  Once the contraceptive mentality crept into the Christian culture marriage was doomed to collapse.  As Pope  Paul VI rightly predicted in Humanae Vitae, once contraception was accepted as a legitimate form of birth control then every evil would slink into the  backdoor.  Today we see the effects of contraception in the number of babies aborted, euthanasia has become acceptable by law in many countries, same sex unions are now considered normal and new laws are legislated to facilitate such unions acceptable. 

The seventh commandment, “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” is relegated to antiquity, however it does not change the words of Jesus who said that if a man even looks at a woman with lust in his eyes he has already committed the sin of adultery in his heart.

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 Mark 10:2-12
2Some Pharisees came, and to test him they asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” 3He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” 4They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her.” 5But Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. 6But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ 7‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, 8and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”  10Then in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. 11He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; 12and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.” 

This is a hard saying even today, as marriages are breaking down with increasing frequency.

There were two schools of thought in Jesus’ time where divorce was concerned.  One group was far more free in their interpretation of this law of divorce and they used flimsy excuses to obtain a divorce.

The Church today is firm in its view that if a marriage has truly taken place, no law on earth can dissolve it.

For I hate divorce, says the Lord God of Israel. (Malachi 2:16)

This is why a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh. (Genesis 2:24)


For more in-depth commentary go here
http://www.holyspiritinteractive.net/columns/francisjamieson/hardsayings/marriageanddivorce.asp

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