Is Divorce The "Unpardonable Sin?"

God Heals The Hearts of Those Who Love Him Back.

No, divorce is not the Unpardonable Sin.

"He (John the Baptizer) will be a man with the spirit and power of Elijah. He will prepare the people for the coming of the Lord. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children,* and he will cause those who are rebellious to accept the wisdom of the godly.” Luke 1:17

First, the Biblical warnings are to help prevent divorce, but after the divorce, the focus is on returning the individual to fellowship with Jesus, and full restoration in the church. Does that restoration include remarriage? I leave that to your elders to decide. Pray about it and meditate on these, and other, relevant Biblical passages.

Second, our focus is to help heal dying marriages. If the divorce occurs, we try to help the couple reconcile, and if they can't reconcile, then we help them cope with the agony of divorce. We are to heal and not destroy, restore and not disown, for we ourselves are also sinners.

The Principles Governing Divorce in The New Testament

1) God hates divorce,

” For I hate divorce!” says the LORD, the God of Israel. “To divorce your wife is to overwhelm her with cruelty,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. “So guard your heart; do not be unfaithful to your wife.”  Matthew 19:8–9  

2) God used to allow divorce during the Abrahamic Covenant because the people had hard hearts,

Jesus replied, “Moses permitted divorce only as a concession to your hard hearts, but it was not what God had originally intended.  And I tell you this, whoever divorces his wife and marries someone else commits adultery—unless his wife has been unfaithful.”                                             Matthew 19:8–9

3) Jesus tells us that 'marital unfaithfulness' breaks the marital bond, and the divorced person is not bound,

(Jesus Speaking: "But I say that a man who divorces his wife, unless she has been unfaithful, causes her to commit adultery. And anyone who marries a divorced woman also commits adultery. " Matthew 5:32

4) Paul tells us that abandonment breaks the marital bond, and the divorced person is not bound,

But if the husband or wife who isn’t a believer insists on leaving, let them go. In such cases the believing husband or wife* is no longer bound to the other, for God has called you* to live in peace. 1 Co 7:15

5) Jesus also says that we are all adulterers,

“You have heard the commandment that says, ‘You must not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.  Matthew 5:27–28 

6) So, divorce is a sin, there are Biblical cases where the individual can remarry,

But if the husband or wife who isn’t a believer insists on leaving, let them go. In such cases the believing husband or wife* is no longer bound to the other, for God has called you* to live in peace. 1 Co 7:15

7) Divorce is NOT the unpardonable sin, so after the fact, we focus on restoration and keeping the individual connected with God.

So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power* of the life-giving Spirit has freed you* from the power of sin that leads to death. Romans 8:1-2

8) We help disciple the person so that the character flaws that led to the divorce don't destroy the next marriage. For that, I highly recommend DivorceCare, a ministry to help divorced people understand all this, the practical aspects of divorce and what to do about it, so the next marriage succeds.

Or so it seems to me.

The Trinity and Infinity

Revelation 1:8

"I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty."

A Big Question With No Answer

Have you ever asked yourself, "How can God be One God, but in Three Persons, each one fully and completely God in His own right, and One of Them is somehow also completely human?"

Trying to Understand The Infinite God

Well, when dealing with an infinite, eternal, all-knowing, everywhere at once, everywhen at once, outside of time and space, God*  good analogies are scarce. The best bet is to take it on faith and not try to resolve it. Some things we can't understand any more than a gerbil can understand multi-variate calculus.

God is Infinite So Here's An Analogy Using Infinity

∞ How is it that INFINITY/3 still equals INFINITY?

∞ And all three parts are also INFINITY?  

∞ God is INFINITE, and He is this way throughout. 

∞ He can also know, love, watch over, and indwell each of us INFINITY and have INFINITY left for everyone else, and still be INFINITY? 

∞ In all things, God is still INFINITY more than all we could ask or imagine.

Tyndale House Publishers. (2013). Holy Bible: New Living Translation (1 Ti 1:17). Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.

Should America be a Christian Nation?

Many of us Christians want to see America become "One Nation Under God." We want our government to have its foundation in Biblical Truth.

Me too, but here's the problem:

Let's say for a moment that we Christians win the 'Spiritual Contest' between Atheism and Christianity, and against all other religions. For those who don't count themselves followers of Jesus Christ, please note that this is not a physical war. It's not violence or controlling other people, at least it's not supposed to be. We're not talking about hurting people, we're talking about hearts turning voluntarily to love Jesus. This, by the way, can't be made to happen by human ingenuity, argument, law, or action. It is entirely up to the individual, without coercion, in the sanctity of their own heart and mind. But I digress.

But let's say we Christians win the cultural conflict. Then we'd have to decide who's "we?" Do we have our basis in Lutheran's brand of Christianity? The Catholic brand? Baptist? Congregational? Free Church?

Most likely, we'd each want the government remade in the image of our own church. Well, not the whole church. Those guys on the left side of the sanctuary during service are kind of weird. So, let's remake the nation in the image of just our family. But uncle Freddy isn't really with the program. And sometimes I wonder about Grandpa. I guess we should just remake the nation in the image of me personally. I seem to be the only one who has it all under control. (it obviously doesn't work, does it? Wasn't that more or less Satan's sin?)

So, if we are seeking to make our nation Christian somehow, we will need to legally force everyone to act like a Christian, which misses the point of New Testament Christianity: Salvation by Grace Through Faith Alone, Free Will, Pre-Destination, and all the other good stuff that brought us to Jesus in the first place.

We'd have to have Christianity boiled down to laws, and that's not what I read in my Bible. If we do force our nation to enact "Christian" laws (could there ever be such a thing?), think about what it would take to cover all the hobby-horses and interpretations of Scripture in everyday life:

To keep the peace, it might be illegal to:
1. Swear
2. Use birth control
3. Drink on Sundays
4. Work on Sundays
5. Work on Saturdays
6. Stop working on the other days
7. Have a second helping of pie
8. Drink at all
9. Forbid others to drink wine
10. Hold a grudge
11. Talk back to your parents
12. Get re-married after divorce
13. Get divorced
14. Wear makeup
15. Go to court
16. Swear on a Bible
17. Ride in anything other than a horse and buggy

We have different "brands" of Christianity, because The Lord, in His Wisdom, wants each of us to find faith communities that fan our faith into flame. The form a church takes is definitely not "one size fits all." And that's OK because we are called to Grace and not the keeping of the law. And so, teachings of the New Testament weren't intended to be our nation's Civil law. The teachings of the New Testament are guidelines that show us how to pursue greater growth in the Salvation and Spirit of God.

The Founders of our nation had the wisdom to set an Agnostic government in motion. It was envisioned to be a nation without an official religion, with room and freedom for all to worship as their conscience dictates. The Government allows that God exists, but has no opinion on the interpretation of that belief.

This also, by the way, means that Atheists are also supported, protected, and kept free by our Agnostic government. It isn't an Atheist government, it doesn't deny God. It simply has no official opinion.

I get that this is not a popular position, but I believe it is the correct viewpoint before God.

Faith and religion are simply invisible to our government. Faith is transparent to our national body of law. Our peculiar brand of government, our Democratic Republic, takes no position on God. That's really a bad idea, but it is better than all the other bad ideas available. Imagine if we spiraled into political battles between different branches of the Christian faith. We've seen that in other nations, and it doesn't end well.