In This Issue

• "IS IT LAWFUL?"
• THE PREACHER'S CORNER
• THE PRICE OF A DIVORCE
• UPCOMING GOSPEL MEETING SCHEDULE
• MORE INFORMATION...

"IS IT LAWFUL?"

Mark tells us that Jesus left Capernaum and crossed the Jordan into Judea. "And multitudes gathered to Him again, and as He was accustomed, He taught them again. The Pharisees came and asked Him, 'Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?' testing Him. And He answered and said to them, 'What did Moses command you?' They said, 'Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce, and to dismiss her.' And Jesus answered and said to them, 'Because of the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept. But from the beginning of the creation, God "made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh"; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.'" (Mark 10:1-9).

Note first that the Law of Moses was in effect at that time for all those in Jesus' listening audience. But the Pharisees did not ask that question to learn what the Law required. Their question was simply a means of putting Jesus to the test. 

Secondly, note that this question was about what is lawful. Before a person can know what the law requires or permits, he must know what it says, so Jesus turned their question back to them: "What did Moses command you?"

Instead of going to God's basic marriage law, which Moses had recorded in Gen. 2:22-24, they jumped over to Deut. 24:1 to discuss something Moses had permitted, but never commanded -- the practice of divorce. Apparently, divorce had become rather common by the time Moses wrote that passage. God's original plan was for the marriage relationship to be a permanent bonding between one man and one woman. Because of their hard-hearted determination to sever their marriage relationships, He permitted Moses to regulate their practice to make it more equitable for the woman who was being put away. Remember that girls were seldom included in the inheritance. When a married woman was divorced by her husband, it usually left her without property or means of support. In such cases, Moses required a man to give his wife a "certificate of divorce" which would permit her to remarry if some other man were willing to marry her. Nevertheless, there was a stigma attached to such second marriages, so that "if the latter husband detests her and writes her a certificate of divorce… or if the latter husband dies… then her former husband who divorced her must not take her back to be his wife after she has been defiled; for that is an abomination before the Lord…" (Deut. 24:3-4).

Such second marriages were not ideal. They were not originally a part of God's marriage law. They were only tolerated in recognition of the hardness of men's hearts. Jesus went back to "the beginning" and to God's original marriage law, concluding His words by saying, "Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate." See also Malachi 2:16.

--Clarence R. Johnson

THE PREACHER'S CORNER

[Editor's Note: The following was published in an email bulletin we receive regularly called "Only the Good News" from Macedonia church of Christ, Blue Ridge, GA, Gene Curry, editor. -CRJ]

Dear President Bush,

I've been very remiss in letting my voice be heard in this regard and others that affect the morality of our country. Tonight I am very sick and disheartened over the garbage that is being spoon-fed to us by the television networks in an effort to brainwash us into thinking that Homosexuality in all of its variations is nothing more than an alternative lifestyle.

Thanks for taking a stand on marriage being between a man and a woman. DO NOT BACK DOWN from this stand. Our country's moral well-being depends on it. I am so grateful for EVERYTHING that you have done for us in setting the right example in regard to Prayer and reading of Scripture and as of today, your announcement for the righteousness and the sacredness of the union between a man and a woman. Again, thanks!

Following is a copy of a letter I just posted to our Atlanta-based NBC affiliate, WXIA TV, which I have hopes will get the right kind of attention.

God bless your efforts to serve Him and be found pleasing in His sight.

Sincerely, 
Jim Wright,
Minister for the church of Christ
2/24/2004

Hi Folks,

I don't normally do something like this, but I guess it's time to start somewhere. I've just come from putting down the remote and turning off your station after seeing a commercial for Scrubs, up next, featuring Brendan Frasier tonight. The spot shows him with a male friend, and after 3 seconds of "I've missed you" they lean toward one another for a kiss!?!

I am absolutely sick to the point of puking over having homosexuality shoved out by the bucket-load through my television set. I won't be watching WXIA TV after tonight and so I won't be watching your VALID ads from your paying sponsors.

I have the ability to be an even stronger influence in my community as a leader for moral uprightness, and it is my intention to let you and many, many others know that we are sick of the brainwashing tactics that are being forced down our collective throats over the portrayal of Gay / Homosexual /Lesbian activities as "just another lifestyle."

God doesn't call it a "lifestyle;" He calls it SIN! He destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah PRIMARILY because of the sin of homosexuality!
We have to answer to Him, both now and later. We're answering to Him now with our AIDS problem, which started in the homosexual community and now impacts innocent children. It's safe to say, "There's more where that came from." Wait & see.

I offer my sympathies to you folks at the local level in Atlanta, who probably have little or no say over the programming from NBC Corporate. (And, perhaps at least some of you are as appalled by this as am I.)

It is my hope that you will pass this along to Corporate, where perhaps a decision for BETTER programming can be enacted.

Sincerely,
Jim Wright
Minister for the church of Christ

THE PRICE OF A DIVORCE

This is not a lesson on "Marriage and Divorce." Nor are we writing on "Divorce and Remarriage." We are simply trying to figure out how much a divorce costs. I believe if one contemplating a divorce - thus breaking up a home - would stop and "figure" a little while, she (or he) would decide that she couldn't afford it. The price is much too much to pay.

The Bible recognizes grounds (one ground) for divorce. For fornication, one may put away his companion, Matt. 19:9. But even with fornication as the cause, divorce comes mighty high. Poor little children are made to pay and pay and pay for divorces granted to their fathers and mothers because one or both of them broke the marriage pledges. Thus, homes that once were, and still could be, happy are broken to pieces.

But a far greater price is paid for divorce that comes without scriptural cause. And so many of the divorces among young people are of the unscriptural variety. A young wife or husband divorces their companion without a scriptural cause. They didn't count the cost. I would like to assist them in figuring out just what they have paid, for what they still have to pay, for pay they will, throughout eternity perhaps.

First cost is this. They have broken their sacred vows. Secondly, a God-ordained union has been put asunder. Thirdly, a companion they once obviously loved dearly is now scorned and hated, But this is only the beginning. Inasmuch as their union (joining) in the sight of God was for life, so must their separation from the opposite sex be for life! This is perhaps the greatest miscalculation made by youngsters contemplating divorce. They become worked up emotionally and decide that they never want to see one of the opposite sex again. But in two weeks after the divorce action they see somebody who appeals to them and then they are off and running and will never stop until they commit sin - maybe the sin of remarrying.
The children pay ten thousand times more for an unscriptural divorce than for one which is caused by fornication. In the latter instance they at least have a chance to live in a home where the faithful one could remarry and have (perhaps) a happy home. In the other case neither could remarry without sinning.

In summary and in brief, if you leave your companion when he or she is not guilty of fornication:

1. You sin in breaking up a home where God has joined you.
2. You sin against your children in depriving them of love.
3. You sin against your companion in withholding your love.
4. You sin against the church in bringing reproach upon it.
5. You sin against your family by reproaching them.
6. You will sin if you ever go out with another because you are still married [bound, crj] (in God's sight) to your former companion.
7. You will sin by causing your companion to commit fornication if he ever commits it.
8. You will sin if you ever marry (or take up with somebody).

No, my friends, the price is too high - too high for you, too high for your children, too high for the church, too high for your companion, too high for your family. You can't afford a divorce.

--A.C. Grider, The Reflector, Vidor, TX, May, 1982

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