He is an article on Divorce and Remarriage. I did not write this article, but I agree with it.
Please note that it is long, but it is well worth the read. This article is broken into 3 parts in order to fit the formatting here.
[FONT="]original composition: December 20, 2005[/FONT]
[FONT="]
15+ hours to compose (as of March 8, 2009)
D/RM = Divorced and Re-Married
Dear Christian Friends:
This matter of who has authority to DECIDE when another person may justly escape and be free from obligation to their marriage; when a person sets themself up to DECIDE when and if another person is free to remarry - this is ultimately the kind of decisions that are made by "Popes" - by people who consider themselves ABOVE The Word of God. These "Popes" do not submit their judgments to the Bible, nor do they feel any obligation to prove to others that their decisions are Biblically supported. What they are about - is POWER, power among men and over men.
To this very day - any divorce (or annulment) in the RCC has to be approved by The Pope. Once again: it takes an approval from the Pope for any divorced (or annulled) Roman Catholic to remarry. What a power!
Now what "some people" want, is for someone ELSE to take responsibility for them in these matters (and of course, to agree to their plans) - and the Roman Catholics finally do not much care all that much. Those with enough money and political connections can usually get an "annulment" - especially if the person requesting annulment promises to be a faithful Roman Catholic after the fact (a sort of unspoken deal between the annulment seeker and the Pope)not a real or good Roman Catholic, anyway.. An ANNULMENT amounts to a declaration that the marriage was fraudulent in the first place, and therefore not a binding contract. How this "fraud" is defined is, well..... there's a lot of ways to describe how you "Never knew about this" or "Never knew about that" - so that you get to walk away as free from all obligation as if you were never married! That means, of course, that you are free to remarry someone else as long as your new spouse they will also play the "good Catholic". DIVORCE is almost never granted in the RCC, and in most cases of authorized divorce, neither person is free to EVER REMARRY (anyone else)! So you see that the RCC maintains quite a grip on it's people by taking total control over and responsibility for who they can marry and when - and YOU CAN get "official sanction" on your new marriage if you dance to the right tune (and make donations to the right people). Henry the 8th of England managed to connive 3 "annulments" out of the Pope - 3 - before the Pope finally got embarrassed enough about the appearance of favoritism and scandal that he said "NO" to the 4th annulment! SO WHAT DID KING HENRY DO? He invented the Anglican Church (also known as The Church Of England and The Episcopal Church) - and appointed himself a bishop who quickly and cooperatively granted Henry not just ONE, but actually 2 more annullments. Henry managed to get "religious sanction" on a succession of 8 marriages to 6 different women - a few of which he just killed offanother "legal annulment". As a widower - he could (of course) marry again - right?
I believe that for someone (like me) to take it upon himself to arbitrarily decide what marriages may be justly annulled or canceled, and to decide (and say) when it is acceptable for a divorcee to remarry - WITHOUT CLEAR AGREEMENT FROM THE NEW TESTAMENT - is to place myself above The Word of God, and therefore above all of you. This is how such a thing as a "Pope" comes into existence. Remember, God said (about marriage) "What God hath joined together, let not man put asunder" (am I still a man???): and I suppose we may now begin to argue about whether or not God actually confirmed a marriage in the first place (thus the annulment clause) - but these words plainly declare that it is not the prerogative of ANY MAN to authorize a divorce. How can I (Dean) know whether or not God affirmed (agreed to) any particular marriage or divorce or remarriage? IS each divorced person the only judge of whether or not they are responsibly at fault for what happened?
The moment that any man sets himself to decide, just upon his own instincts or feelings or "sense of the Spirit" whether or not a divorce and/or a remarriage after divorce is sanctified - that man has made himself into a Pope.
It is SO TEMPTING to play the Pope..... because once you play the Pope, you can make many friends (especially in today's divorce ravaged population). You can become the adored and respected 'man of God' - merely for allowing someone to avoid answering to God and The Bible by inviting them to become answerable only to yourself.
A "Pope" in the evil sense of the word, is someone who inserts himself between the PRESUMED Saint (someone who is acknowledged as saved) AND God. A Pope becomes and plays the role as "mediator" or "deal arranger" between The Saint and The Saint's God. This is to re-establish an Old Testament type priesthood - in which the "ordinary folks" have to apply to God's "formal representative" - a "clergyman" - who manages the business between God and The Saint. In the New Testament, we are ALL called "Priests". There ARE NO "special men" through which any Christian must negotiate with God. Jesus Christ IS our only Priest - we neither have nor need any other. Our Priest IS Our God.
(1 Tim 2:5 KJV) For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
NOT that God never speaks to us through our Brethren - but that we are not allowed to USE our Brethren as "negotiators" between us and God. ON THE CONTRARY - we (Christians) are ALL "priests" between the unsaved people and the Christian God - in that - no one can claim to have come to Christ while ignoring or rejecting "us". But this is a separate subject, which I do not want to have to speak to here and now.
NO MATTER WHAT anyone else says to you about this matter - you have to be reconciled to God on your own in the matter. No man's permission can justify you and no man's condemnation should control you.
The New Testament simply DOES NOT SAY WHAT TO SAY TO D/RM people. I (and others) have strained ourselves to the utmost to find something definite in the NEW TESTAMENT that tells us WHAT TO SAY TO D/RM people who are insecure about their circumstances. It's JUST NOT THERE, my Friends...... it's just not there.
So here is where I have "landed" on the matter (for now, at least): The language of the New Testament does not tell me what to SAY TO anyone who is already D/RM, so therefore, I have nothing to say to them about their marital state. The NEW TESTAMENT seems to speak in a generality to all married people, that upon FIRST hearing these words from the New Testament about their marital state, they are supposed to REMAIN in whatever state those words first find them.
(1 Cor 7:10 KJV) And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband:
(1 Cor 7:27 KJV) Art thou bound unto a wife? seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife.
CONSIDERING THIS - I say, what the Bible does tell ME to say, is that if you are married, stay married to that person. If it's impossible to bear with your spouse because they are so evil, then you may separate from that spouse - but you are told - upon finding yourself in divorced state - to remain both single and celibate, or be restored to your spouse unless you are clearly in the case where your spouse, without provocation by you, has sexual relations with another person.
An "UNreasonable excuse" would be where one spouse, through abuse or sexual denial, literally DRIVES the spouse to infidelity. But only God and that person really knows WHY someone else did what they did.
(1 Cor 7:11 KJV) But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife.
ALSO - this language places the man and the woman on EQUAL footing in respect to their freedom to divorce and remarry. It was obvious in the OT that the man had a certain advantage in matters of divorce and remarriage - but my reading of the New Testament does way with this "advantage". Jesus clearly places both the man and the woman on EQUAL footing in respect to divorce -
(Mark 10:11 KJV) And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her.
(Mark 10:12 KJV) And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery.
I cannot see how this means anything less than that man and woman are under EQUAL restriction and obligation in these matters.
(Continued in the next post)[/FONT]
Please note that it is long, but it is well worth the read. This article is broken into 3 parts in order to fit the formatting here.
[FONT="]original composition: December 20, 2005[/FONT]
PLAYING THE POPE WITH DIVORCE AND REMARRIAGE
15+ hours to compose (as of March 8, 2009)
D/RM = Divorced and Re-Married
Dear Christian Friends:
This matter of who has authority to DECIDE when another person may justly escape and be free from obligation to their marriage; when a person sets themself up to DECIDE when and if another person is free to remarry - this is ultimately the kind of decisions that are made by "Popes" - by people who consider themselves ABOVE The Word of God. These "Popes" do not submit their judgments to the Bible, nor do they feel any obligation to prove to others that their decisions are Biblically supported. What they are about - is POWER, power among men and over men.
To this very day - any divorce (or annulment) in the RCC has to be approved by The Pope. Once again: it takes an approval from the Pope for any divorced (or annulled) Roman Catholic to remarry. What a power!
Now what "some people" want, is for someone ELSE to take responsibility for them in these matters (and of course, to agree to their plans) - and the Roman Catholics finally do not much care all that much. Those with enough money and political connections can usually get an "annulment" - especially if the person requesting annulment promises to be a faithful Roman Catholic after the fact (a sort of unspoken deal between the annulment seeker and the Pope)not a real or good Roman Catholic, anyway.. An ANNULMENT amounts to a declaration that the marriage was fraudulent in the first place, and therefore not a binding contract. How this "fraud" is defined is, well..... there's a lot of ways to describe how you "Never knew about this" or "Never knew about that" - so that you get to walk away as free from all obligation as if you were never married! That means, of course, that you are free to remarry someone else as long as your new spouse they will also play the "good Catholic". DIVORCE is almost never granted in the RCC, and in most cases of authorized divorce, neither person is free to EVER REMARRY (anyone else)! So you see that the RCC maintains quite a grip on it's people by taking total control over and responsibility for who they can marry and when - and YOU CAN get "official sanction" on your new marriage if you dance to the right tune (and make donations to the right people). Henry the 8th of England managed to connive 3 "annulments" out of the Pope - 3 - before the Pope finally got embarrassed enough about the appearance of favoritism and scandal that he said "NO" to the 4th annulment! SO WHAT DID KING HENRY DO? He invented the Anglican Church (also known as The Church Of England and The Episcopal Church) - and appointed himself a bishop who quickly and cooperatively granted Henry not just ONE, but actually 2 more annullments. Henry managed to get "religious sanction" on a succession of 8 marriages to 6 different women - a few of which he just killed offanother "legal annulment". As a widower - he could (of course) marry again - right?
I believe that for someone (like me) to take it upon himself to arbitrarily decide what marriages may be justly annulled or canceled, and to decide (and say) when it is acceptable for a divorcee to remarry - WITHOUT CLEAR AGREEMENT FROM THE NEW TESTAMENT - is to place myself above The Word of God, and therefore above all of you. This is how such a thing as a "Pope" comes into existence. Remember, God said (about marriage) "What God hath joined together, let not man put asunder" (am I still a man???): and I suppose we may now begin to argue about whether or not God actually confirmed a marriage in the first place (thus the annulment clause) - but these words plainly declare that it is not the prerogative of ANY MAN to authorize a divorce. How can I (Dean) know whether or not God affirmed (agreed to) any particular marriage or divorce or remarriage? IS each divorced person the only judge of whether or not they are responsibly at fault for what happened?
The moment that any man sets himself to decide, just upon his own instincts or feelings or "sense of the Spirit" whether or not a divorce and/or a remarriage after divorce is sanctified - that man has made himself into a Pope.
It is SO TEMPTING to play the Pope..... because once you play the Pope, you can make many friends (especially in today's divorce ravaged population). You can become the adored and respected 'man of God' - merely for allowing someone to avoid answering to God and The Bible by inviting them to become answerable only to yourself.
A "Pope" in the evil sense of the word, is someone who inserts himself between the PRESUMED Saint (someone who is acknowledged as saved) AND God. A Pope becomes and plays the role as "mediator" or "deal arranger" between The Saint and The Saint's God. This is to re-establish an Old Testament type priesthood - in which the "ordinary folks" have to apply to God's "formal representative" - a "clergyman" - who manages the business between God and The Saint. In the New Testament, we are ALL called "Priests". There ARE NO "special men" through which any Christian must negotiate with God. Jesus Christ IS our only Priest - we neither have nor need any other. Our Priest IS Our God.
(1 Tim 2:5 KJV) For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
NOT that God never speaks to us through our Brethren - but that we are not allowed to USE our Brethren as "negotiators" between us and God. ON THE CONTRARY - we (Christians) are ALL "priests" between the unsaved people and the Christian God - in that - no one can claim to have come to Christ while ignoring or rejecting "us". But this is a separate subject, which I do not want to have to speak to here and now.
NO MATTER WHAT anyone else says to you about this matter - you have to be reconciled to God on your own in the matter. No man's permission can justify you and no man's condemnation should control you.
The New Testament simply DOES NOT SAY WHAT TO SAY TO D/RM people. I (and others) have strained ourselves to the utmost to find something definite in the NEW TESTAMENT that tells us WHAT TO SAY TO D/RM people who are insecure about their circumstances. It's JUST NOT THERE, my Friends...... it's just not there.
So here is where I have "landed" on the matter (for now, at least): The language of the New Testament does not tell me what to SAY TO anyone who is already D/RM, so therefore, I have nothing to say to them about their marital state. The NEW TESTAMENT seems to speak in a generality to all married people, that upon FIRST hearing these words from the New Testament about their marital state, they are supposed to REMAIN in whatever state those words first find them.
(1 Cor 7:10 KJV) And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband:
(1 Cor 7:27 KJV) Art thou bound unto a wife? seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife.
CONSIDERING THIS - I say, what the Bible does tell ME to say, is that if you are married, stay married to that person. If it's impossible to bear with your spouse because they are so evil, then you may separate from that spouse - but you are told - upon finding yourself in divorced state - to remain both single and celibate, or be restored to your spouse unless you are clearly in the case where your spouse, without provocation by you, has sexual relations with another person.
An "UNreasonable excuse" would be where one spouse, through abuse or sexual denial, literally DRIVES the spouse to infidelity. But only God and that person really knows WHY someone else did what they did.
(1 Cor 7:11 KJV) But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife.
ALSO - this language places the man and the woman on EQUAL footing in respect to their freedom to divorce and remarry. It was obvious in the OT that the man had a certain advantage in matters of divorce and remarriage - but my reading of the New Testament does way with this "advantage". Jesus clearly places both the man and the woman on EQUAL footing in respect to divorce -
(Mark 10:11 KJV) And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her.
(Mark 10:12 KJV) And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery.
I cannot see how this means anything less than that man and woman are under EQUAL restriction and obligation in these matters.
(Continued in the next post)[/FONT]