I am going to touch on a subject that just as many of you, I also found confusing or answerless at one point.
Many times I questioned why God had left such a crucial part of our life unanswered. He has an answer for every thing else, why not this one?
Finally, I have learned that the Bible is not contradicting nor does it NOT answer every question. IT DOES, we just have to find it.
A pertinent key for me about reading and understanding the living Word is defining the meanings and using references.
Without further adieu:
1.) DIVORCEMENT:
Most recently a Sister in Christ posted on this Forum the reason why she had to Divorce; due to many things, one of which was Physical Abuse/ Bodily Harm.
I am not siding with her because by the end of the day, the Lord is the only one who knows the heart of all men. He knows what's going on with THAT situation.
However the below link I believe answers most if not all of the questions that one would ask themselves what should be done when the word DIVORCEMENT comes to play.
To avoid being wise in my OWN understanding; I with the help of many research, will hit on the Physical Abuse aspect.
I believe the divorce at the time was to deter MAN from FURTHER HARMING each other... A TYPE of Self Defense.
Matthew 19:8
"Jesus replied, 'Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your HEARTS were HARD. But it was not this way from the beginning.' "
Here are the references for the HARDENED HEARTS:
Isaiah 6:10
"Render the HEARTS of this people INSENSITIVE, Their ears dull, And their eyes dim, Otherwise they might see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, Understand with their hearts, And return and be healed."
John 12:40
"HE has blinded their eyes and HE HARDENED their HEART, so that they would not see with their eyes and perceive with their hearts, and be converted and I heal them."
Exodus 10:20
But the LORD HARDENED Pharaoh's HEART, and he did not let the sons of Israel go.
Psalms 73:7
Their eye bulges from FATNESS; The imaginations of their HEART run riot.
Psalms 119:70
Their HEART is covered with FAT, But I delight in Your law.
So it is safe to say that the HARDENING/FATNESS of the heart stops the word of God from Penetrating I to the HEARTS of man because they chose to not see or hear hence desiring/inviting evil. NOTICE that back then MEN where the only ones allowed to DIVORCE their wives. Also ask yourselves what happens when in the MARRIAGE, one HARDENS their HEART and the other is STILL a believer of the MOST HIGH. The opposite of Holy. Which in turn leads to...
3.) OUR ROLE:
PERSECUTION:�The inflicting/act of suffering,�isolation, harassment, oppressing, killing, imprisonment,�
internment, fear, or pain. Is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or group BY ANOTHER individual or group because of their LIFESTYLE and/or BELIEFS.
An attack on man is an attack on the image of God. At a trivial level, you're messing with sculptures in God's art studio. In God's view of bloodshed, it is not merely a physiological event, but it is an assault on the divine image. Why is murder punishable by death? It says, "For in the image of God made He man."
Not only are we to TAKE CARE of our bodies and the life contained. We have an obligation to PRESERVE the body and life of other people. BUT remember we must be AS or MORE ASTUTE as the evildoers.
The following verses cites an obligation to protect those who are in danger even to preserve the lives of those who are harming themselves:
John�15:18-21
�If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before�it hated�you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because YOU ARE NOT of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore THE WORLD HATES YOU. Remember the word that I said to you... If they�Me, they will also�you..."�
Matthew 10:23
�But when they PERSECUTE you in this city, FLEE to another, for truly I say to you, you will not have finished all the cities of the house of Israel until The Son of Man come.�
Matthew 26:52
"Then Jesus said to him, 'Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the SWORD will PERISH BY the SWORD.' "
1Co�6:19-20
"Or know ye not that your BODY is a TEMPLE of the HOLY SPIRIT which is in you, which ye have from God? and YE are NOT YOUR OWN;�for ye were bought with a price: GLORIFY GOD therefore IN your BODY."
Psalm 82:4�
"RESCUE the WEAK and NEEDY; DELIVER them out of the HAND of the WICKED."
Proverbs 24:11�
"Deliver those who are drawn toward death, And hold back those stumbling to the slaughter."
Ezekiel 33:6�
"But if the WATCHMAN SEES the SWORD coming and DOES NOT blow the trumpet, and the PEOPLE are NOT WARNED, and a sword comes and takes a person from them, HE is taken away in his INIQUITY; but HIS BLOOD I will REQUIRE FROM the WATCHMAN'S hand."
If you know danger is coming to others, and you deliberately fail to warn the others of the danger, you are guilty of harming the victims. This is not to say that you can make people heed your warning. The surrounding verses also say that if the people refuse to heed the warning of the watchmen, the watchman is not guilty if they are harmed.
So Finally my brethrens, what have we learned about DIVORCE, SELF-DEFENSE & OUR ROLE in light of the word of GOD?
And most IMPORTANTLY, how has this reality check changed our aspect on MANY troublesome issues?
(Mat. 19:9) "I tell you that whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and he who marries her when she is divorced commits adultery."
What is "sexual immorality"? That is all sexual sins and "fornication" and "adultery".
Jesus said here in this verse above: Any divorce which is not sexual immorality is an adultery.
What to do if this sexual immoral person is you as our God Jesus called you above?
(1) First you have to repent of this sin
(2) Return to your LEGAL wife whom you divorced illegally as God said and FIX the situation. If she is married then God Jesus forbids you to remarry!
Stay then single!
NOTE again:** Any divorce which is not sexual immorality is an adultery!!**
And punishment for sin is DEATH.
If you will disobey our God Jesus then it is a sexual immorality and He says in Revelation that sexual immoral people do NOT inherit the Kingdom of God!
