Divorce

2000-5-16 11:07:00

That is an interesting slant on the abortion scripture, Lawrence. The way the scripture is worded the mischief (hurt unto death) could apply to either the mother or the unborn child. The scripture does tell us though that the mother definitely suffered hurt.

Actually this circumstance does not correspond very closely to abortion as it is today for even the most liberal abortion advocates would want to prosecute one who would strike a pregnant woman so she would lose her child.

By the way, many of the Bibles today that claim to be an accurate or close to literal translation are far from such. In your quote, for instance, the word husband is used and neither the word husband nor wife occurs anywhere in the Old Testament. The word husband here comes from the Hebrew BA'AL which literally means "Master" or "Possessor." Few Bibles translate this the way the Hebrews used it for fear of offending the flock. But among the Hebrews, the man was the Master of his household.

Let me repeat for the new ones that I believe the most correct translation to be the Concordant Bible. A link to ordering it can be found in the free books section of my web site.

We have the same problem in our society with divorce as we do with abortion. The masses gather on the extreme views on one side or the other, instead of looking at both sides in the circumstance and making an informed decision. It is interesting that many who are anti-divorce no matter what will use the following scripture as justification for their view: "But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery". (Matt. 5:32)

Here we have a scripture that has been greatly misunderstood and has caused much trouble in the world. Many religions have forbidden divorce because of these words of Jesus. Notice that Jesus said that the only justifiable cause of divorce is fornication. The prevalent belief among Christians is that fornication is sex between two unmarried persons or between two married people not married to each other. But here Jesus uses fornication as an act between married couples. Therefore, the meaning intended by Jesus is not the one attributed to the word by people of today.

Actually, fornication may not even involve sex, for in the context it is used throughout the Bible, it means "to be alienated from" or "to remove one's heart from". Thus, if the wife's heart is alienated from her husband, he may justifiably divorce her. God often called Israel his wife and when she committed fornication against Him and removed her heart from the true God and worshipped idols, she committed fornication against Him and He gave Israel, his wife, a bill of divorcement. Thus, it is with people. If their energies are not correctly matched and balanced, they commit fornication and become alienated and should get a divorce.

On the other hand, if the wife's heart is with her husband and the husband divorces a wife who is committed to him, he "causeth her to commit adultery". In other words, he causes her heart to forcibly seek someone else who may be at a wrong point of evolution. "And whosoever shall marry her that is divorced (wrongfully divorced) committeth adultery". If a man marries a woman whose heart is still with her original husband, an imbalance of energy is produced and this is what true adultery and fornication are. The words of Jesus have been used to cause pain in prolonging relationships that should have never been, actually point toward the common sense that humanity has adopted in modern times.

When one divorces frivolously, on a whim, or because of betrayal with another person, definite harm can come. It is generally recognized that a committed couple, especially with children should do everything in their power to rekindle their love and live together in peace.

My parents divorced when I was twelve. This was a painful experience for us all, but a necessary one. I'm sure my sweet mother would have been long dead by now if she would have stayed with my dad. Life would have been very difficult for her. As it was she quit smoking and drinking, got a job, became self sufficient, and has helped and inspired many people.