Justifying divorce

In spite of all my years in this world, I am still occasionally surprised by the sinister nature of the human heart. Right now, I'm surprised by how people attempt to justify divorce, and even try to put a "godly" spin on things.

I have a friend who, several years ago, started doing some soul-searching and began looking for the Lord. In the process of entering into fellowship with believers and studying the Bible with them, he somehow came to a bizarre conclusion: he had never loved his wife. Even more bizarre is the fact that he went and told her this after he was converted, adding that he didn't think he would ever love. Needless to say, this declaration tore through their lives like a Kansas tornado. He never recanted his statement, and eventually she (I believe) filed for divorce. He was sorrowful about the whole thing, but never remorseful. A couple of years later, some mutual friends of ours made claims to the effect that, even though the Lord hates divorce, the situation wasn't good, and He had to provide a way out of the situation (the solution being to divorce).

...

The other day, in the process of contending with her spiritual advice (frequently unsolicited) in the past, my stepmother declared that she firmly believed that my dad's marriage to my mom (which ended in divorce) was not God's perfect will for him, and that she (my stepmom) was. Basically, instead of crediting the grace of God in bringing them together after the marriage, she attempted to say that, somehow, the Lord allowed the right thing to happen in the end. The conclusions of her statement also imply that my older brother and I are mistakes here in this world, and that whatever she has done for us has been out of her copious grace and self-sacrificing nature (heavy sarcasm intended).

In both cases, people nullified the power of the Word of God in their lives. They chose to exalt themselves instead of admitting their sinful nature and asking for God's power to overcome it. In the case of my friend, I believe that the Christ-like thing to do would have been to stay in the marriage and learn to love his ex-wife as Christ loves the church. In doing so, he may have won her to Christ in the end. But this is not what happened.

In the case of my stepmom, I believe the Christ-like thing would be to see that they, too, are part of a forever broken family that has at it's center my dad. They should have a pretty acute understanding of how destructive divorce is, and that they are merely survivors of it. And they should do everything in their power to counsel anyone against it and help see them through rough spots in marriage in the future. But this is not what happened.

Before I continue on to my final example, I feel I should state that, though the people mentioned above attend church regularly, the churches aren't Churches of Christ. That shouldn't matter, however. They claim to believe in the authority of the Word of God in the Bible, and that should be enough.

That being said, my final example is one of a preacher I know. He has said on more than one occasion that he knows that God hates divorce - it's in the Bible for all to see. Yet, he has also stated on more than one occasion that he believes that, while divorce is viewed as such by God, it's "sometimes necessary." He wasn't talking about cases of adultery or an unbelieving spouse sending away the believing spouse, either. He has counseled people in his congregation to divorce over matters such as "mental anguish" and other irreconcilable differences.

This is just a snapshot of cases in my microverse. I can only imagine other examples there are out there of such things.

In the end, I have but one question: when my children are grown, who (other than my wife and I) will be there to defend the sanctity of marriage to them? If they hear the clamor of people justifying divorce in such ways, will they even hear the gentle voice of the Lord telling them to stick with it...forever?

Jesus was a....liberal?

My wife and I saw this bumper sticker on a car on Sunday at lunch, and both of us were floored.
I can't understand how anyone would mistake Jesus for a liberal, and it would be nice if someone at least attempted to explain it.

I could easily say that Jesus was a communist, with just as much accuracy. The heart of communism isn't a ogliarchical regime, but rather "from those with means to those with the need". Everyone is supposed to share, no one is supposed to be wealthy and lord it over others (not even government officials), and every person is equally necessary to the structure and survival of society. Those given the most authority also have the most responsibility live on a precipice of accountability. That very message is contained quite nicely in the letters to the churches (epistles).

But it's far from the truth.

The difference is in the heart behind what's being done, and, ultimately, who is glorified by the doing. Communism exalts the state, and will sacrifice all for the glory of the state. The goal of the liberal is to glorify the individual. Sacrifice everyone for the sake of one person's rights, no matter how much each person's rights tend to conflict with each other's.

As Christians, our mission, our heart should be to glorify the Lord, and give all for His glory.

If the poor are provided for and the hungry are fed, and the credit is given to the government, rather than to the Lord, then it's all in vain. If personal responsibility and morality are discarded in order to benefit one person, then truth becomes irrelevant.

If anything is exalted above the Lord, then it's idolatry. Removing our dependence on the Lord (and His chosen method for doling out his provision for the world - the CHURCH) is not just wrong, it's sinister. It is a herald of the antichrist (whether that's a person or an ideology that's coming is irrelevant).

Jesus wasn't "conservative" or "liberal". He was and is godly (He IS God), and in order to follow Him, we need to understand His heart in all things.

The fool says in his heart "there is no God" - signs of the last days #2

Combined with James Cameron's latest attempts, I think this could be considered another sign of the last days...

http://www.thegodmovie.com/



The blurb on this web ad says "irreverantly lays out the case that Jesus Christ never existed" (credited to Newsweek magazine).



At this point, I don't know how much publicity this will get (and maybe I'm wrong in adding to that with this post), but little things like this have a way of gaining a cult following and festering (much like the Michael Moore films reference on the page).

signs of the last days, part 1

Crazy human behavior can always be explained away by our sinful nature. But when animals start going crazy, it's something to take note of.

The start of something big?

This is a bizarre story. There's a couple in Germany fighting for their "independence" from persecution of their relationship. They're being persecuted because they're siblings. Yes, they are brother and sister, from the same biological parents. And they've had kids. Four of them, in fact. They want the German incest laws repealed based on it infringing on their human rights. Their lawyers are arguing that only acts which harm society may be made illegal, and incest doesn't harm anyone.



Try telling that to their first two kids, who were born with birth defects and were taken away from them due to the illicitness of their relationship. I presume that either the government (read: everyone) or another couple is bearing the responsibilities of caring for the children. So, it has made a dent in society.



The resulting legal battle could have implications that might tear gaping holes in society.

Jesus loves me

Earlier, I had posted on what it means to love Jesus. Today, I'm pondering the other side of that coin.

Thanks to a strange but brave man (or is it a group that's doing it these days?) carrying a simple sign quoting John 3:16 to football games and public events of all kinds, it is widely known that God loves us. And recently, I've had...a discussion with someone who fell back on that as justification for professing some fairly worldly views.

While it is true that the Lord loves us, it is equally true that He loves ALL of us. He loves Osama bin Laden just as much as He loves me. But that doesn't mean Osama is in His kingdom, or is living a godly life. And the Bible warns against anyone falling away from the truth, because falling away from the truth is departing from God and His salvation. It is true that the Lord will never leave us or forsake us. But He also gives us the freedom to walk away from Him, His protection and promises. We can be sure of our salvation as long as WE don't elect to walk away from it.
And those who follow the ways of the world clearly are walking away from Him (James 4:4).

The Richland Hills Church of Christ has recently decided to add a single service that utilizes musical instruments in worship, and the range of opinions I've heard on this matter has sent me reeling. Most of the arguments against it have been vocalized many a time before. But recently I heard one that really made me scratch my head.

Some friends made the point that it was important to preserve our heritage of a cappella worship, and said that changing that was not something the founding fathers of the church would have wanted. My question, though, is this: who are the founding fathers of the church? Stone and Campbell? The church didn't begin in the 18th or 19th century - it began at Pentecost (and, I would argue, at the start of Jesus' ministry on earth). So the "founding fathers", at most, should refer to Peter, John, James, Paul, etc.......the inspired authors of New Testament epistles. So why would my friends desire to return to the wishes/intent of men who lived in the past couple of centuries? I guess the heart behind it is similar to those others I've had debates with in the past who turned to commentaries for supporting statements rather than turn back to the Word. They want to understand and do things a certain way, and will find a way to justify themselves. Truth is secondary.

Well, here's one more case where the Word proves itself:

2 Timothy 4:3
For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.

If we don't take everything back to the Bible, seeking the heart of God and His intents for things, then what are we even doing here?