The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1956-04-26
One Man Looks
At God
By Charles w. Carlson, Pastor,
st Marks Evangelical Lutheran
Church, Oakland MarylandD

In continuing the statements Of
Christ concerning the new law
which lie expects His followers to
initiate, / win consider this week
the statement:
1t was also said. Whoever di-
| Vorces his wife, let him give her
certificate of divorce But say
TO you that every one who di-
! Vorces his wife, except on the
ground of unchastity. makes her
an adulteresS; and whoever mar
rieS a divorced woman commits
adultery.
This problem, the problem of
divorce, has arisen to become one
Of the largest problems that our
society has One authoritative
source has indicated that one in
every three and one-half marriages
made in 1855 Will end in divorce by
1865, if present day trends con
tinue Scarcely any family of
which | know has not had at least
lone divorce, and directly in my
own relations | can count some
eight or ten, counting the cousins
The trouble is, that divorce has be-
come so socially acceptable Fifty
years ago. a divorced person was
one whom decent people summed
Today. it seems to be the thing to
do No longer does the bride run
home to Mama, she just takes the
first train to Reno. guess she feels
that it's more fun that way. And
the legalized brothel that is Hol-
lywood has made a thing of CLAM
our out of the divorce courts.
They think. l guess, that it's a
good way to get publicity
First of all l would say that
stunning divorced people is not
j the way to solve the problem. be-
cause sinners will always find com
mon company. What we must do
is to reaffirm the position that our
| Lord takes on the situation. As is
indicated in Luke 1913. and in
Matthew 1919. as well as in Mark
| l0:11 u. our Lord does not pin
the sin on either sex because the
one who sins is responsible for the
divorce whether it be the man
or the woman. And. as in all other
problems in marriage, it takes Two
to make the problem, 50 though
the blame may rest primarily on
one or the other party, actually
both are responsible.
As l have often indicated be
fore the Christian way of life is
not easy, and it certainly is not
easy to have a good marriage. A
divorce situation can usually be
traced to time long before the
marriage was consummated. Many
of the divorces that are being given
by our courts of law are the result
of marriages between people who
did not know each other, at least
not well enough Marriage is com
pick and complicated situation and
requires the knowledge of each
other as well as is humanity pos
sible. Although there are some
marriages that have worked out
well after a short period of court
ship, it certainly is not the adVis-
able way to do it Adjustments be-
tween the two people must be
made and it is best TO make these
adjustments before marriage, not
after, because, try as you may girls
you cannot make a man over tC
suit your tastes after you have mar
ried him.
But the real thing which we
must understand is the role of God
in our marriage Unless the mar
riage is made with the understand
ing that what God has joined to-
gether let no man put asunder, y
then the marriage is not a gooc
one. And the second part of this
basic reality is the fact that, in the
words of the Lutheran marriage
ceremony, Though many cross
is laid thereon Il. e. the institu-
ton of MARRIAGE nevertheless ou1
gracious Father in heaven will moi
forsake His children in an estate
SO holy and acceptable to Him, but
is ever present with His abundant
blessing" The contract in mar
riage that is made under the law
of God will never find adultery
or any other sin problem that i:
unsolvable-an divorce just vii
not happen.