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Newsgroups: bit.listserv.christia
Date:         Wed, 29 Jul 1992 13:39:00 EST
From:         "Taste and see that the Lord is good" <02RSMILLER@BSUVAX1.BITNET>
Subject:      Re: Remarriage after Divorce?

I've been doing quite a lot of thinking on this subject
lately, and whenever I think too much I begin to pull
in other thoughts which seem to be related.  Unfortunately,
they may only be related in my own mind, but...  (-:

I would like to throw out another thought/question (it may
be thrown right back at me, but that's okay (-:), and that
is this:

What actually constitutes marriage?  Is it the ceremony and
the official document?  Or is it the consummation which takes
place after (as God would have it) the marriage ceremony?  (In thinking
about this, doesn't the Catholic church provide for an annulment
if consummation had not occured?  Isn't that one of the deciding
factors, if not the main factor?  I'm not exactly sure.)

And, if it is the consummation, then are not all of us who
have had sexual intercourse outside of marriage guilty of
adultery if we remarry?  In a sense, once we have had
sexual relations with someone, aren't we married to that
person, in God's eyes?

I only bring this up because, if this is true, then many, many
of us have already committed adultery, or risk committing it if
we marry.  I know someone mentioned that if one is not saved
at the time of their sin, then his divorce is not held
against him if once, as a Christian, he chooses to
remarry.  I suppose this might save some of us who as
nonChristians engaged in premarital sex, but still, I'm not
sure if people tend to place the same degree of seriousness
on the one who had premarital sex with someone who he did
not ultimately marry, then on someone who had been *officially*
married in the eyes of Church and State.  I'm not sure if
this should be so.

In thinking about this, I think of the woman at the well, and
how Jesus knew that she had had five husbands.  Were they all
really her *official* husbands?  Or had she just had sex
with them?

Anyhow, I guess I've added more fuel to the fire.  I'm
interested in comments/criticisms/further info and insights.

BTW, I guess in my own mind, although I'm still weighing all
sides in my mind and heart, everything comes down to this:
that Jesus Christ came to save us from all sin, and that sin
is sin whether it's gossiping about our neighbors or murdering
them.  And, as long as we are truly repentant, and do not
keep on sinning, thinking we have a license to do so, then
the blood of Jesus is sufficient to cleanse us and to make
us pure once again.  Wasn't the sin of divorce and even
adultery also hung on the tree?  Yet, I suppose it still comes
down to the question of whether, even if the divorce was
forgiven, are the man and woman *still* married in God's
eyes?  And, if the marriage relationship was terminated
because of infidelity, is the spouse that remained
faithful able to remarry without committing adultery, or
as someone mentioned, bigamy?

Anyhow, I'll shut up for now.  (-:

Love is an action verb,
Becky
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