Certainly up until this summer, HETEROSEXUALS have been wholly responsible for the destruction of the institution of marriage.
Irony, the Mark of Quality Literature.
I was shocked to realize recently that Reagan has been our only divorced and remarried president - ever. Not to say that some of them weren’t fornicating scumbags (Jackson married a still-married woman not yet divorced from her husband), but the fact that we have had a pretty high moral social standard for the presidency overall comports completely with the values espoused at the founding of our Nation. But, I don’t see this happening much in the future, if we even have one.
Pride ruins marriage like pride ruins all of us... gay pride can counterfeit God’s union but their pride will be their ruin too...
Ping for later.
Sometimes the truth hurts. We give liberals Christians a lot of crap for excusing bad behavior - rightfully so - but we excuse things of our own. This is one of those times when we need to look at the plank in our own eye.
I’m the product of a divorced family, and even I didn’t realize how much I’d come to excuse divorce. There’s something to be said for that.
Divorce is not a sin. God does not like it and He, also, doesn't like gossip.
And since when are faggots and their supporters concerned about sin? So much for their hypocrisy about what is suspicious in their thirst to be accepted when God has destroyed a city because of it's depravity.
Today we say that Catholic priests don't preach against contraception because so many in their congregations are guilty of it, and would quit coming back to church.
I suspect that many preachers don't preach against divorce because so many in their congregations are divorced and would leave, along with their contributions.
bkmk
Churches simply allowed a secular culture to determine that divorce is no big deal, and that it is a purely private matter.
Indeed - one of the things I’ve never been able to understand. Especially the divorced people who were having affairs with other congregation members, then get married IN THE CHURCH and expect everyone to rejoice with them. And too many do.
Mohler is exactly right. Toleration of divorce is a huge black eye on Protestant churches. I have only attended one church that took divorce seriously, and that one ended up splitting because the majority of the congregants were unhappy about the ban on divorced officers. Now I’m told the same people are grumbling about the ban on female officers. All the other churches have been A-OK with divorce. I’ve even heard pastors admit to counseling in favor of it even in cases where there was no abuse.
It all comes down to the fact that, today, the church, be it Catholic or Protestant, 'mainline' or evangelical, has far less of an influence on its members lives than it did as recently as 50 years ago. Cultural mores have replaced the church for many, especially the 'C&E Christians'. That (purportedly) Christian Americans divorce at the same rate non-Christians do is not only sad but emblematic of the tragic loss of God's influence on American lives.
In my opion, after 52 years in evangelical circles, the problem is:
1) Lack of catachism training. Standard Sunday school and Youth groups are not the same as catechizing children. Do you teach kids all about marriage and divorce as 6 year olds? No. But you should as 14+ year olds. And basic Christian ethics as well as doctrine should be taught to younger kids too. This simply isn’t being done today in evangelical Churches...and a simple “Jesus, Others, You” ethic doesn’t cut it in these times of ethical confusion and moral “pluralism.” This is also, in my opinion...exactly WHY so many evangelicals still vote Democrat—as they are confused on basic Christian ethics—starting from when they were kids.
2) Lack of specific biblical ethical teaching from the pulpit. Many churches pastors will preach the bible—but, when it comes to ethics, real issues of right and wrong—especially in the political realm—pastors shy away from being clear. I think I’ve heard one or two sermons (if that)—in my whole life on why and how abortion is wrong. Do the pastors I sit under firmly believe abortion is wrong? YES! Biblically literate evangelicals ALWAYS do....however, many in the pews are not biblically literate—and too many pastors assume they are—and therefore they don’t touch controversial topics, which might turn some new-comers, or baby-Christians off. The same is true for divorce.
If all members of conservative, evangelical churches can’t even submit to the idea that abortion is murder—and therefore MUST be opposed—and compromise over it, is actually SIN...how in the world can we expect them to heed biblical teaching on divorce?
Too long has ethics been ignored in evangelical churches—for fear of being labeled “legalist!” This is silly, as God’s people are called to be holy, and holiness is described in biblical ethics. The good news of Jesus saving us from sin—AND, once saved, avoiding sin to please our Savior, are both a part of the gospel.
Ethics, including especially biblical teachings on marriage and divorce, needs must be part of our preaching again.
All the SBC churches I'm familiar with at least make that point to couples in premarriage counseling even if they don't mention it in sermons much if ever. The "Independent Evangelicals", though, just wink and nod at two thirds of all abortions in this country and pretend they're solid pro-life Christians.
First contraception, then divorce & remarriage, then abortion disguised as contraception, and now a whole lot of "Evangelicals" are endorsing queers marrying one another because that's the "fair" thing to do.
It's just another example of how the "go along to get along" approach always leads to self-destruction.
It took me years to realize that all professing “Christians” are not followers of Christ. Particularly in the South, my family for instance would say they are Christians because it the South everyone is, they all go to church but do they follow Christ? It is a social network. This is the problem with Evangelicals and SBC.
The reason its not a crisis is evangelicals, baptists in particular, divorce at a rate higher than anyone in the nation. Much easier focusing on the other guys sins.
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Not sure about the integrity of the author. This is discussed in gobs of Evangelical churches.
Granted you probably won’t hear about it in Joel Osteen’s church. But you won’t hear much about Jesus either.
I haven’t heard divorce encouraged, trivialized, or permitted in any Evangelical church I’ve ever attended.
I keep hearing from the pulpit that divorce is sin and God hates divorce.