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To: vonkayel; ilovesarah2012; lowbridge; jagusafr; little jeremiah
8 posted on Fri Oct 19 2012 08:06:13 GMT-0500 (Central Daylight Time) by vonkayel: “Honest question for evangelicals: why do so many evangelical Christians tolerate divorce when Jesus spoke so clearly about it in the Gospel? With so much literal interpretation of the Old Testament, it has always seemed odd to me that Protestants view the words of Jesus himself as ‘negotiable.’”

You have a valid point.

The difference between evangelical Protestants and traditional Roman Catholics on this issue has been obscured by the massive collapse of marriage in America — and that is not just a Protestant problem, unfortunately. Easy annulments are not exactly unheard of in Roman Catholic circles, though to the credit of Catholics, at least they have maintained a stronger stance on the importance of marriage.

While there are differences about whether marriage is a sacrament and about remarriage after a biblically legitimate divorce (which basically means adultery) the gross tolerance of easy divorce and remarriage is an evangelical scandal.

One of the few good things I can say about evangelical churches on this issue is that the more seriously a denomination or local church takes doctrine, the more likely it is to have a strong emphasis on why divorce is wrong. It's the “loosey goosey” evangelical megachurches and their wannabee little brothers — the types of churches that are more likely to emphasize fun youth groups and loud music, and more likely to offer deep rich cocoa-flavored coffee than deep biblical exegesis from the pulpit — which are not demanding high standards in many areas of people's personal lives.

That problem of low standards for membership and discipleship is bigger than marriage, though it certainly is a big part of the bad fruit brought about by low standards and lack of church discipline.

27 posted on 10/23/2012 10:14:30 AM PDT by darrellmaurina
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To: darrellmaurina

I totally agree. Many churches today are more interested in pleasing the masses than God.


28 posted on 10/23/2012 2:30:38 PM PDT by ilovesarah2012
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