In Genesis 4:7, God told Cain, “sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.”(1) Disregarding this, Cain went on to be the first murderer. There is no record of Cain legalizing sin, but I chose this verse to point out that sin needs to be dealt with—not legalized.
Past and present societies have developed their own rules, sometimes godly ones, in regard to wrong actions. However, eventually the sin nature arises in people and soon society finds certain rules to be unjust, overbearing, out of date, and so on. This is the sly way in which the spirit of individuals succumbs to their souls which has be infected by the carnality of their flesh.
Unwanted pregnancy? Use the medical term “fetus” to cover up the fact a human lives, point to back alley abortions, let a human court make some decisions, then write a law or two to legalize murder.
Let us get to church now. Need funds for the treasury? Bingo is a fun way to legalize gambling.
And there are some in churches, denominations and fellowships that have developed a blind eye for the following verses:
“Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery.”–Luke 16:18
“The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord.”– 1 Corinthians 7:39
To justify their stance when adultery is involved they point to Matthew 5:32 and 19:9. However, please carefully read those two verses and ask yourself the following questions. Was Jesus actually saying it was OK to d-i-vo-rce(2) your spouse or was He really pointing out who took the brunt of responsibility for someone who remarries and thus commits adultery? Is there anywhere in those verses that actually gives permission to remarry? Search the New Testament and nowhere will you find permission to marry someone else while your original spouse is still physically alive.
On this, let me give you a brief history of what the Assemblies of God did. Until 1973 their ministers could not perform weddings for the divorced who had a spouse still living. That changed in 1973 with the provision it could be done if it was shown the person getting married was the “innocent” victim of an adulterous affair.
In 2001 they permitted people to get credentials who surrendered to Christ after a divorce and remarriage citing the sin was forgiveable. Sure it is, but human paperwork does not dissolve a marriage nor does grace erase historical fact. And neither of those two things wipes out the children created in earlier unions. Their 2001 decision was a violation of 1 Timothy 3:2 since the credentials I am referring to would permit them to pastor. Too bad they did not make the effort to have a specialized set of credentials where their ministry would be used in areas other than pastoring.
Then, I heard it was in 2007 they really became worse, permitting even more unbiblical scenarios. Well, after seeing other things within the group their 2001 decision was the signal for me to resign my ordination credentials with them, which I did at the end of August 2003. I waited that long hoping in vain the 2001 ruling was overthrown.
People can legislate sin all they want but it does not remove it or any historical facts it produced. There’s only one way to deal with sin—face it, call it what it is, and determine with God’s strength through Christ you will not do it. It is a shame there are some people that actually think a denomination’s constitution and by-laws trumps the written Word of God.
On the other hand, there have been some true Christians that found the grace to live with just Jesus after a d-iv-or-ce.
Now friend, if you are in a situation where you have violated Luke 16:18, God will forgive you if you mean it. For more information I have already addressed these matters at my marriage pages.
Notes:
1 Young’s Literal Translation gives this rendering: “…and if thou dost not well, at the opening a sin-offering is crouching…” While most translations render the verse as stated in the body of this article, I feel the YLT is also valid and God was conveying a double message. A blood sacrifice was available for Cain to use.
2 This word is purposely broken apart to avoid ads I do not want to see. Triond gives you the ability to do this.
God willing, this article will be part of my Bible GemLight series as ruby017.
WHOA! This title sure caught my attention. My immediate thought was hold on Pete, what are you talking about and then I read it. BRAVO and two thumbs up, my friend. If God says it is sin, you better know it is sin and nothing we may think or do is ever going to change that. God made these rules for our benefit, for our sanctity, sanity and good health. Wonderful share and I hope you get many reads and your readers will listen and hear. Great job.
It is human nature to try to override the consience, but it is really sad to see that among believers, especially in church leadership
Generation to generation, sins really developed into a more legalized form. Accept it or not, morality plays a vital role for each of us.
This was bold Pete, Beautiful to see you stand firm on the Word of God. Humanity may see things such as adultery as trivial, or even (in carnal man’s eyes) permissible, but what God says is ALL that really matters. It’s time for all true Believers to be bold, not compromising.
Instead of people cherry picking what to be obedient to, it’s time that people come around to God’s way of thinking.
It is tragic to see denominations that have come to see public opinion and political correctness as their authority rather than the Bible – but they still consider themselves to be Christian. They seek affirmation by society rather than God. To the secular world, they are the ‘nice’ Christians who are tolerant of everyone. They confuse ‘forgiving’ people who have committed sin with condoning the sin – something that they think Jesus taught when He showed mercy to the woman caught in adultery.
You are so right in saying that making something legal is not the same as making it right. Our human nature wants to justify our sin, so we use situation ethics to rationalize our behaviour. In fact, our legal system is based on court cases where defense attorneys work to convince a jury that the one accused should not be held accountable for his actions.
Excellent share. It is satan’s goal to make mankind lose the distinction between good and evil in their minds. It is the only way he can get followers.
I agree the office of pastor is not be assumed by a divorced man, but I’d go a step further to say that divorce disqualifies you for a full time ministry. I believe this because the requirements for a pastor apply to deacons which are not full time ministers. I would draw from that any one attempting to gain more of a ministry than part time should qualify to be a deacon as well.
More and more people divorced and remarry other. They are no longer concerned about sin.
Lets not fail into the legalistic trap of the Pharisees that grilled Christ. Would you rather people get tied together against all odds and probably end in murder or would you rather they separate and let each pursue his/her salvation? What of the issue of Women preaching today? Would you rather women not preach in view of what Paul said? What slavery – would you rather slavery be continued in view of what Paul said? Divorce or no divorce is not a requirement for Salvation -period!
Divorce or not is not a requirement for eternal salvation. Do not fail into legalistic trap of the Pharisees, which outrage Christ. Would we rather allow people stay tied together and probably end in murder or they separate and each pursue his/her salvation? What women that preach today? What slavery – should it be continued because there provisions of scripture that encourage it? All these have nothing to with what matters most – eternal salvation.
Greetings Poplong. Nowhere in my article did I say divorce would affect one’s salvation. Secondly, it was not the purpose of this article to give options, and you sort of assume “staying together” is the only option outside of divorce. The fact is, divorce is wrong, it is never permitted in the Word of God, and remarriage is adultery.
Greetings Sivequest. You raise a very interesting point about full-time ministries. Although not directly spelled out as such in the written word, this is one of the principles about someone holding an office of pastor or deacon.
Thank you all for you comments. Got my taxes done and now I will start some pay back visits tonight and see how far I can get.
Really helps us all.