Marriage

If you've been paying attention to Untwisting while I've been absent, you've noticed that Lalaith has been linking interviews done by another blogger. They involve quite a few different religions and what I've read has been quite interesting, and I would recommend them. In my opinion, it's usually fun and insightful to hear how other people view things. It's especially useful if you find yourself talking to someone of that particular religion if you already have a good idea of where they're coming from and what they believe. All in all, knowledge is handy and that is free knowledge.

As much as I might desire to speak to those people myself about some of the answer they give, however, it doesn't make sense to me to put that on here. Therefore, I will be skipping those posts. If you read them and have any questions about them you'd like my take on, as always, feel free to email me.

Instead, today will deal with this, a (I'm guessing) tongue-in-cheek visual about how marriage is pictured in the Bible. I say it's tongue-in-cheek because for anyone who knows their Bible this is ridiculous.

Now, please understand something. It's not ridiculous in that all it's facts are messed up. (Although, there are some "facts" that are messed up.) The widow of a Levite WAS supposed to marry her dead husband's brother. It's ridiculous in the conclusion drawn from the facts because it comes from an improper premise.

The premise that they are starting from is that all these things that happen in the Bible are the way they are supposed to be when, in fact, NONE of the depicted descriptions have a theologically correct foundation. None of those ways are the way that marriage is SUPPOSED to be. You see, people were not meant to die. So a widow should not exist. But because of sin, people die, and that creates the eventuality of a widow. Therefore, there must be a route for the widow to take. Because of sin, all kinds of addenda had to be added to was created as a very beautifully simple thing.

This is exactly what Christ was speaking about when He addressed the topic of divorce. In Matthew 19:3-11, the Pharisees ask Jesus about the morality of divorce. Jesus then tells them how marriage OUGHT to be (verses 4-6; one man, one woman for their entire lives). So they ask why Moses (Moses who was so revered, Moses the man whose face shone because he spoke with God) allowed for divorce. Jesus' reply is the answer to all the marital issues the world has ever known.

Verse 8: "He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so." Because of the hardness of their hearts - because we're all sinners. That's why there is a addendum for rape, for adultery, for premarital sex, for all of these things. Because without sin, there would be NONE of those things.

This is actually a sign of God's long-suffering. How do I figure that? Well, marriage is a picture of two very important things. One is the community within the Godhead. The other is the relationship of Christ and the Church. So when people remove the sanctity of marriage, they are inadvertently calling into question the sanctity of the Godhead. By saying that it's improper for wives to be required to submit to their husbands, they are saying that it is/was improper for the Church to have to submit to Christ. Therefore, the fact that God allows for so many people to twist and ruin it is an enormous evidence of how extremely patient He is.

Every time someone abuses marriage and all that it entails, that is more than enough reason for God to kill them immediately. He did kill at least one person for it - Genesis 38:8-9 records the story of Onan. His brother died and it was Onan's duty to raise up a son for his dead brother. But he was selfish and didn't want to have to raise a son that wasn't going to be legally his. And God killed him for it. Every time, EVERY time - THAT is the response that God could hand out when we abuse marriage.

I know this is getting long, but there is one side note that I feel is important. People seem to think that Christians who say that premarital sex is wrong, that homosexuality is wrong, that adultery is wrong are mean or bitter or hateful. It is (or should be) exactly the OPPOSITE that fuels us to say things. If I have a friend who is sleeping with her boyfriend, it is in HER best interest for someone to warn her that there is a God Who can righteously judge her and her sentence will be death. It is not hateful; it is not cruel; it is not intolerant. It is loving.

To be sure, there are some who are hateful; there are some who are prejudiced. But do not mistake a warning for slander or hate. Don't assume that calling something evil equates to hate or to prejudice.

Christians, we MUST be loving enough to make sure we call evil evil - no matter what the world will call us in return. John 16:33 "These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."