Opus 2022-026: 46 and Counting

I have been married 46 years.  I remember the wedding ceremony that established a covenant before God and man.  It declared that we would remain faithful “until death do us part.”  Not the nonsense they spout in the soaps of “as long as we both shall love.”  It is a covenant.  It is for life.

My wife comes from a long line of divorces.  In her background divorce is a common thing.  I don’t know how many times when we were going through a rocky time I had to remind her that “divorce is not an option.”  She has even quoted me to me on that a few times.  Through the grace of God and an understanding of covenant we have made it this far.

On to 47.

God hates divorce.

(Mal 2:16 NAS77) "For I hate divorce," says the LORD, the God of Israel, "and him who covers his garment with wrong," says the LORD of hosts. "So take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously."

The only exception given to this condemnation is in the case of adultery.  That is because the covenant has been broken.

My thinking started with the question about breaking the marriage covenant.  I cannot, or is it just will not?  Does it make any difference?  This led me to think about the character of God and the covenants He has established with Israel and modern believers. The Bible uses the picture of marriage to represent the covenant between God and His church.  This is described in Ephesians 5.  Believers as a group are referred to as the bride of Christ (Revelation 19:6-9).   

Many Christians believe that once you are saved then there is nothing that can get God to break the covenant He establishes with them.  They like to use parts of Romans 8 to back up this thinking.

(Rom 8:35 KJV)  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

That is a strong statement, but there is more.

(Rom 8:38 KJV)  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Very impressive and to be honest these verses give me a sense of security.  I don’t see them as secure as the Calvinists.

The verses don’t say anything about you changing your mind.  They don’t mention apostasy or backsliding.  They are understood to put God in a box and I don’t think God likes to be in a box.

God will not break His covenant.  The question is will He allow us to break it.  How do you tell the difference between “will not” and “can not”?  I again refer to marriage.  Just because I will not reject the covenant does not mean that my wife cannot.  It is a two way agreement.  Am I still married if she files for divorce and it is granted by a judge?

We are part of a living covenant.  It is not based on a dead promise of the past but on a living commitment of today.  I rejoice that I serve a living God who walks the daily covenant with me.  That is the kind of eternal security I can live, and die with.

homo unius libri

Opus 2017-214: Middle Class Morality: Two Parent Families

Another title for this might be “The Father in the Home”.

One of the disturbing trends we see in modern culture is the growing number of single parent families.  This usually involves a single woman raising multiple children, although there are a few men who are taking on this role.  The reason this is a problem is not because single parents are evil people but because our social spokesmen are glorifying this condition to the point of making it normal.  Remember the hoopla over Murphy Brown.  It is not normal and it is not healthy.

American Middle Class Morality (MCM) says that children are best raised in a home that has a father and a mother.  Obviously there are single parents who are doing a good job.  There are also people running in marathons who have artificial legs.  More power to them, but it is not the best way to do the job.  The problem is not being a single parent but how you become a single parent.  MCM is based on Christian morality that calls certain types of behavior sin and praises other behavior.

There are two major causes of children being raised by single parents.  Both are against the standards God has given us.  The first is the modern mantra pushing sex outside or marriage.  Whether it is sex education beginning in kindergarten, advertising that stimulates lust, movies and TV that glorify momentary physical gratification or just pure selfishness, if you believe that sex is to be reserved for marriage you are labeled as a fool and a bigot.  The Biblical standard is clear.

(Hebrews 13:4 NAS77)  Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge.

When a society embraces this standard they have the foundation they need.  When it is ignored, things start to fall apart.

The second major cause is divorce.  Easy divorce is rampant.  The percentages are scary no matter how you interpret them.  The ones who suffer the most are the children.  Again, God condemns divorce. 

(Malachi 2:16 NAS77)  "For I hate divorce," says the LORD, the God of Israel, "and him who covers his garment with wrong," says the LORD of hosts. "So take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously."

When we encourage easy divorce and mock God’s standard we are digging our cultural graves in addition to destroying our own lives.  When we allow our feelings or convenience to establish how we live we lose the long range considerations that give a chance at success.

Viva la middle class morality.

To be continued...

homo unius libri

Opus 2017-089: Hate as a Red Herring

We are called haters if we call a spade a spade.  We are nasty when we speak truth to a power that the left doesn’t like.  We are mean spirited when we expect people to pick up their own trash.  We are selfish and greedy when we expect people to get a job and pay their own bills.  The left with its progressive elite values keeps trying to control and manipulate us by calling us names that have nothing to do with the behavior but sound really bad.

And we fall for it every time.

Maybe we need to embrace their words but do what they do:  Move the needle of meaning.  Maybe we need to have a more fact based hate.  There are some things that deserve hatred. 

(Amos 5:15 KJV)  Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.

What is worthy of hatred?  God hates divorce.  How do I know?  He said so.

(Malachi 2:16 NAS77)  "For I hate divorce," says the LORD, the God of Israel, "and him who covers his garment with wrong," says the LORD of hosts. "So take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously."

And notice that He includes in that hatred the person who causes it to happen.  You can’t cop out and say “God hates the sin, not the sinner”.  If you want a list then do a little research on your own.

(Proverbs 6:16 KJV)  These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:

The antidote to all the hate in the world is not love, it is information and honesty.  It is values based on truth, not emotion.  It is measured by the eternal not the contemporary.

Some people and groups deserve hate.  Islamic terrorists as well as their syncopates:  media terrorists, political terrorists, educational terrorists.  These are people who deliberately set out to destroy the innocent and unsuspecting.  So the solution is not to be void of hate but be selective in its target.

homo unius libri