Thread: I don't understand...

Originally Posted by Colonel

Times are changing and there are more and more people that see that as a legitimate alternative to legal marriage, not just as a way of rebelling or simply not caring. Don't assume per default that everyone that call themselves Christians and who do that are simply rebelling. Ask them first and see what they say. "why not just get the paper" might get you the reply "we have a paper, just not the government's version".

I have a friend . He has been married three times and been taking to the cleaners each time by all his wives . Every single one of them were supposedly spirit filed tongue talking bible believing women .

He wants to be Married biblically has no desire to fornicate but doesn't want the government paper as he calls it .

My counsel to him is get a pre- nup but he is concerned that pre-nups may or may not hold and trying to uphold them may still incur huge legal costs so he is thinking of going the covenant marriage route .


I say all that to say that yes you are right not everyone simply doesn't care or is rebellious . Many are looking for legitimate alternatives

Originally Posted by BAP

I have a friend . He has been married three times and been taking to the cleaners each time by all his wives . Every single one of them were supposedly spirit filed tongue talking bible believing women .

He wants to be Married biblically has no desire to fornicate but doesn't want the government paper as he calls it .

My counsel to him is get a pre- nup but he is concerned that pre-nups may or may not hold and trying to uphold them may still incur huge legal costs so he is thinking of going the covenant marriage route .


I say all that to say that yes you are right not everyone simply doesn't care or is rebellious . Many are looking for legitimate alternatives

I see a lot of that, serial marriages/brides/grooms, to which I say, what is the point? Is God really concerned with legalism?

I also think that the whole marriage license thing originated out of Catholicism/Rome, it's not in the bible. But I suppose it's better for a Christian to marry (legally) to avoid the appearance of sin.

Legally married 5 times but never sin in that area...lol

Originally Posted by John

I see a lot of that, serial marriages/brides/grooms, to which I say, what is the point? Is God really concerned with legalism?

I also think that the whole marriage license thing originated out of Catholicism/Rome, it's not in the bible. But I suppose it's better for a Christian to marry (legally) to avoid the appearance of sin.

Legally married 5 times but never sin in that area...lol

As long as there aren't specific reasons why the contract involved is less than desirable as BAP pointed out above, it should be better to get married legally in a society where that is the norm. That doesn't imply that one can condemn everyone who does something different as living in sin. One could argue that some are living in the sin of stupidity but that isn't the same as the sin of fornication.

And some that remarry legally are living in the sin of adultery. God doesn't care about appearances if that is all there is.

Originally Posted by Colonel

As long as there aren't specific reasons why the contract involved is less than desirable as BAP pointed out above, it should be better to get married legally in a society where that is the norm. That doesn't imply that one can condemn everyone who does something different as living in sin. One could argue that some are living in the sin of stupidity but that isn't the same as the sin of fornication.

I do see in OT a writ of divorcement, but not a writ of marriage, kind of indicates that the joining was enough to establish marriage. And that goes to what you are saying, if someone is shacking up for a trial run or a season of fun or even desperation...well maybe it is just convenient fornication, not marriage.

"For example, a man who divorces his wife and marries someone else commits adultery. And anyone who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery."

That has been completely forgotten in todays church.

Originally Posted by John

"For example, a man who divorces his wife and marries someone else commits adultery. And anyone who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery."

That has been completely forgotten in todays church.

And rightfully so .. the word used there was seperated not divorced ..... If you are merely seperated( Without the Writ of divorce) then you are not free to remarry

Once divorced you are indeed divorced and free to remarry as Paul later makes clear

Originally Posted by John

I do see in OT a writ of divorcement, but not a writ of marriage, kind of indicates that the joining was enough to establish marriage. And that goes to what you are saying, if someone is shacking up for a trial run or a season of fun or even desperation...well maybe it is just convenient fornication, not marriage.

That sounds like definitions for fornication. But that is what some people do when they get married too, they do it for appearances but reckon that it will probably not last that long, the attitude is the same and therefore the heart too. Sometimes one can tell by how easily people break up (not necessarily how quickly) how that worked out originally, whether they were legally married or something else. There are serial marriage types that never tied the knot in their hearts, it was just appearances or what the spouse demanded. Or even business, exchanging all kinds of things for sex. Status, money, housing, legal entry to the country in question etc.

Originally Posted by BAP

And rightfully so .. the word used there was seperated not divorced ..... If you are merely seperated( Without the Writ of divorce) then you are not free to remarry

Once divorced you are indeed divorced and free to remarry as Paul later makes clear

Paul talks in Romans 7 about dying away from the law including the part about divorce. How that relates to a Christian who died away from the law while still being alive is a good question. But we didn't die away from the teachings of Jesus, however those would apply.