By Elizabeth Prata
SYNOPSIS
For the past two days I’ve written about marriage or divorce. Today I compiled other essays about marriage, divorce, or singleness I’ve written into one spot. In various links, I highlight the sanctity of marriage as ordained by God and examines contemporary issues surrounding divorce in the Christian community, calling for thoughtful consideration of this common yet serious topic.
Why is this on my mind? Our pastor is preaching through the gospel of Mark. We are up to chapter 10 and he entered into a two-part series covering the scriptures where Jesus presents his answer to the Pharisees about divorce. He will conclude next week. It is a good sermon, here is the link to it on sermonaudio-
What the Lord says about divorce (Mark 10:1-12).
Divorce, marriage, singleness… it is a big topic. It is no wonder I have written several times over the years about different aspects of this holy union. What God established in the Garden in Genesis 2 is His intention for marriages up to this day: one man, one woman, united in holy matrimony for life. Divorce only came about because Moses was dealing with such hard-hearted people. (Mark 10:5).
I thought this scientific article was interesting. The ancient Romans figured out a way to make their shipping piers stronger than our modern concrete. In fact the ancient ones are stronger than modern piers and many of these ancient Italian piers are still used to this day. Based on what scientists know about this concrete, I make a comparison to how we can protect and solidify our own marriages.
Marriage and children is the destiny for many Christian men and women. After all, God said to Adam and Eve in Genesis 1:28 to be fruitful and multiply. But not for all. While most of us are single during different periods of their lives, some are ordained to be single all their lives. Jeremiah comes to mind. (Jeremiah 16:1). Also the 144,000. (Revelation 14:4). Here is a 4-part series I wrote on what the Bible says about singleness:
Joy in Singleness part 1
Joy in Singleness part 2
Joy in Singleness part 3
Joy in Singleness part 4
When a divorce happens within a marriage of believers, it is usually quiet, off the radar. But there were two divorces that were more public between professing couples. One was Summer White Pinch White Jaeger. Another was Melissa Fitzpatrick Moore ? (she remarried but I do not know her new name). Summer is famously the daughter of James White, and Melissa is famously the daughter of Beth Moore. Both parents have a long-running ministry. Both adult daughters are also involved in Christian ministry. IF a divorce must occur, is there a right way and a wrong way to go about it? Are ALL Christian divorces a sin? Are there good reasons for it to happen?
In this essay I take note of the fact that while the more flagrant cultural sins of homosexuality and transgenderism often make the news, we have become so “used to divorce” that it rarely rates a murmur, never mind church discipline. But is that the right way to go about dealing with what might be just as flagrant a sin in God’s eyes? And what about remarriage?
It is January as I write this, and it’s the month that many engaged women are looking to plan their wedding for the spring or summer. I found this good article online from Aileen Challies, wife of speaker, elder, and blogger Tim Challies. Sexuality is a topic many people hesitate to bring up during pre-marital counseling sessions. But it’s important. Maybe if a godly bride reads this she might have a way to frame such questions with her counselor or her groom after the wedding ceremony.
It’s titled FALSE MESSAGES: A GUIDE FOR THE GODLY BRIDE. It’s a pdf made freely available on the internet. In 2009 Tim wrote a book called Sexual Detox, a book for men about pornography and what it does to a marriage. Aileen said that she received many emails from women asking about the topic from the female perspective. Her booklet was born. It deals with the topic of a biblical view of sexuality. It is a .pdf
FALSE MESSAGES: A GUIDE FOR THE GODLY BRIDE
Further Resources
For more articles on the topic of marriage and gender, The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood has a variety.
The Association of Certified Biblical Counselors has 399 search results when you search for “marriage” at their site.
the-end-time.org 