divorce

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aball1035

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The Old Testament says divorce is OK whereas the New testament says it’s not OK. Isn’t this contradictory? I don’t understand how an unchanging God could give his people orders that change.
 
aball1035 said:
The Old Testament says divorce is OK whereas the New testament says it’s not OK. Isn’t this contradictory? I don’t understand how an unchanging God could give his people orders that change.
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Peace and blessings to you,

When i read the narrations of Jesus (pbwh) i read it was never ok to divorce but God was merciful and allowed men to be released from the obligation they saw as marriage but was not what God had joined.

If we are taught well, and learn well we wont enter into foolish relationships that are not marriage.

As people we are often far from God though He is near, we have in society lots of relationships we label marriage but are not.

The Catholic church here goes to great lengths to help couples asses if they are fit for marriage and if people are honest in the process they will have a good understanding of what they are getting into and what they could expect of each other.

To me the priest does not join a man and woman but is a witness to the couples declaration before community that God has joined them.

For me, If a couple says they sinned and bore a false witness saying God joined them the law of Moses (pbuh) would apply.

Jesus (pbwh) never said God no longer permits divorce he just explained that marriage is of God what is of God is unbreakable but we make a mess and our Merciful God wants us to have opportunity to get it right.
 
Malachi, the book in the OT, talks a lot about God’s anger over those who would break faith with their spouses Jesus in his statements points to the stubbornness of heart that allowed divorce in the OT.
It will take some searching to find the verses in which God says divorce is an abomination. God hates divorce. Disorder in marriage results from not remaining faithful to God.
I know there will be those who point to Ezra in which God commanded the Israelites to divorce their non-believing wives. There was much weeping. It is not that God approves or sanctions divorce. The issue in this command is that the foreign wives were leading the Israelites to the worship of false gods. This is also part of the conflict between the Samaritans and the rest of Israel. The Samaritans (at least according to my understanding and what I was told–I do not have an official source) choose to remain with their foreign wives.
 
DebChris said:
Malachi, the book in the OT, talks a lot about God’s anger over those who would break faith with their spouses Jesus in his statements points to the stubbornness of heart that allowed divorce in the OT.
It will take some searching to find the verses in which God says divorce is an abomination. God hates divorce. Disorder in marriage results from not remaining faithful to God.
I know there will be those who point to Ezra in which God commanded the Israelites to divorce their non-believing wives. There was much weeping. It is not that God approves or sanctions divorce. The issue in this command is that the foreign wives were leading the Israelites to the worship of false gods. This is also part of the conflict between the Samaritans and the rest of Israel. The Samaritans (at least according to my understanding and what I was told–I do not have an official source) choose to remain with their foreign wives.
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After Solomon died Israel was divided in to two Kingdoms. The North was Israel and the south was Judah. Since Jerusalem was considered the religious capital for both Kingdoms both kingdoms were expected to worship there… You’ve got to think like the American civil war- North and South disliked each other -cultural differences- political differences…Kingdom of Israel balked at having to go to Jerusalem and set up their own religious centers. So then they were not only distanced by culture but by worship… Around 700’sBC The assyrians came knocking at a lot of doors in the ANE.When they conquered a nation they displaced a good portion of the population and replaced them with foreign population… That is what happened in Israel around 721BC These people did not worship YHWH and to please the god of the land the Assyrians brought them Israelite priests to teach them how to please the god of Israel. So you now have a mongrel population, with a mongrel worship. Not even being ethnically Jewish the Samaritans were a pariah to those of Judah. They were referred to as ‘dogs’ by the Judahites. Dislike between those groups stayed and has stayed for centuries.
I know that in Judah they were told to give their foreign wives up–but in the North I don’t see how that would have made such a big deal since they themselves were from foreign stock.
 
aball1035 said:
The Old Testament says divorce is OK whereas the New testament says it’s not OK. Isn’t this contradictory? I don’t understand how an unchanging God could give his people orders that change.
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It’s not God who changes, but our understanding of God. For whatever reason, God chose to reveal through history, over time. What was partially or provisionally understood before was fully revealed in the person of Jesus Christ.
 
The Old Testament says divorce is OK whereas the New testament says it’s not OK. Isn’t this contradictory? I don’t understand how an unchanging God could give his people orders that change.
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Jesus tells us in Matt 19:8, “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.” We can see that it was not God’s plan for people to divorce, but God gave the people over to their own desires (a very sad state to be in). We do see an exception in Matt 5:32 (“But I say to you, that whosoever shall put away his wife, excepting for the cause of fornication, maketh her to commit adultery: and he that shall marry her that is put away, committeth adultery.”). Some may argue that there is NO reason for divorce, however, in Jeremiah 3:8 we see that God went through a divorce (“That because the rebellious Israel had played the harlot, I had put her away, and had given her a bill of divorce: yet her treacherous sister Juda was not afraid, but went and played the harlot also herself.”). God has not changed, it is still His intention that “For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they two shall be in one flesh.” (Matt 19:5).
 
Cachonga said:
Matt 5:32 “But I say to you, that whosoever shall put away his wife, excepting for the cause of fornication, maketh her to commit adultery: and he that shall marry her that is put away, committeth adultery."
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whats does Jesus mean by “excepting for the cause of fornication”?
 
aball1053:
whats does Jesus mean by “excepting for the cause of fornication”?
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Usually sexual sin, like adultery. God (in Jeremiah) divorced Israel because of “spiritual” fornication (they went whoring after other gods). I would quickly point out that God forgave Israel many times before finally divorcing her.
 
Yes but this is the New Covanent, where the Church says divorce is evil, and that one must seek anulment only. So the law is changed in Matthew so that if you get divorced, then it’s adultery. However He says “excepting for the cause of fornication.” When the Church made that rule, why didn’t they leave this in?

Matt 5:32 “But I say to you, that whosoever shall put away his wife, excepting for the cause of fornication, maketh her to commit adultery: and he that shall marry her that is put away, committeth adultery."
 
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aball1035:
When the Church made that rule, why didn’t they leave this in?
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Good question. I suggest that the Church (not God) has changed (which is part of the reason I’m a former roman catholic).
 
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