Two wrongs do not make a right, but one wrong breaks a covenant.
So even though Jesus says,
"Therefore now they are not two, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let no man put asunder." (Mt 19:6), you are saying that it's perfectly possible for man to "put asunder" the marriage and indeed this happens if one spouse is unfaithful.
So if your husband or wife cheats on you, you are saying that means you are no longer married? At what point does the marriage disappear? When he looks lustfully at another woman? If he kisses her? If he sleeps with her? If he abandons you for six months to be with her? If he pretends to marry her? Does that mean if he breaks it off with her to get back together with you that you have to get married all over again? Would you start counting your anniversaries at 'one' again?
After the covenant is broken, you are set free, in peace.
The marriage covenant between Christians can only be broken by death.
With God as our example:
Jas 2:20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
Jas 2:24 Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
Jas 2:26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
If God declares a person's faith to be 'dead' apart from works, how can you declare A marriage without works to be alive?
Huh?
I am simply saying that if your husband cheats on you, he is still your husband. You are saying that he suddenly is not your husband.
God is consistent from beginning to end:
2Ch 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
To restore a relationship, repentance is a must.
When a person or nation decides to stay unrepentant:
Jer 3:7 And I said after she had done all these things, Turn thou unto me. But she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it.
Jer 3:8a And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce...
God lets it go, and expects the same, in both the OT and NT
You are applying metaphorical language to something which is spoken of very clear. Jesus says there is no such thing as divorce and if someone tries to marry another, they are committing adultery. You say that you can twist Scripture to say that Jesus is wrong, that divorce really does exist. I find the plain words of Scripture much more reasonable.
Deu 24:4a Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife...
1Co 7:15 But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart...
Which does not deal with
Christians. Paul says "the unbelieving spouse", not "the believing spouse". If both spouses are believers, that is if they are baptized, there can be no divorce.
BUT
I absolutely agree with you assessment that 2 Christians should never get divorced. Of course, a Christian would recognize Adultery as sin, and refrain and repent of it if it happened.
But you are saying that adultery -- such as re-marriage -- is acceptable and not a sin.
I do not agree with your assessment on the people who were left and abandoned for other relationships.
As Deut says, you are not to return to that marriage.
You should not return to your wife? Deuteronomy is dealing with unbaptized people, with non-Christians, where divorce is possible by Divine dispensation. But with Christians, there is no such thing as divorce and so yes, you are supposed to return to your wife if you have an affair.
Jesus even openly declared about marriage 2 very important facts of life here:
Joh 4:17 The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband:
Joh 4:18 For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.
Jesus recognized that this woman had no husband.
Jesus recognized 5 marriages.
Jesus recognized her current living in adultery, not married to the person she was sleeping with.
The woman at the well was not a baptized Christian but a Samaritan. She only even knew Jesus was the Messiah when He explained it to her at the well.
Your doctrine I find does not match scripture.
Your doctrine does not match scripture.
Mt 19:1-10 said:
And it came to pass when Jesus had ended these words, he departed from Galilee, and came into the coasts of Judea, beyond Jordan. And great multitudes followed him: and he healed them there. And there came to him the Pharisees tempting him, and saying: Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? Who answering, said to them: Have ye not read, that he who made man from the beginning, Made them male and female? And he said: For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they two shall be in one flesh.
Therefore now they are not two, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let no man put asunder. They say to him: Why then did Moses command to give a bill of divorce, and to put away? He saith to them: Because Moses by reason of the hardness of your heart permitted you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you, that whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and he that shall marry her that is put away, committeth adultery. His disciples say unto him: If the case of a man with his wife be so, it is not expedient to marry.
Under Natural Law, divorce is forbidden (
"from the beginning it was not so") but under the Old Law, God gave a dispensation (
"Moses by reason of the hardness of your heart permitted you to put away your wives") in order to prevent the violent from killing their wives so that they would be freed from them. This was what was under the Old Law, but in the New Law -- just as elsewhere Jesus says, "You have heard it said... but I say unto you" -- that this dispensation no longer exists
"for any reason", except for the case of fornication (adultery). But still, if a husband leaves his wife for another woman, she is married to him and if she attempts to marry someone else, both she and her would-be new husband sin in their attempt at bigamy.
