Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!att!pacbell.com!ucsd!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!bcm!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: ok@goanna.cs.rmit.oz.au (Richard A. O'Keefe) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Divorce; a reference. Message-ID: Date: 29 Nov 90 03:07:34 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Comp Sci, RMIT, Melbourne, Australia Lines: 42 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In I quoted the back of "Divorce and Remarriage -- Four Christian Views", including > - Larry Richards holds that Scripture, while decrying divorce > and the pain it causes, points to a God of grace who will not > condemn those who divorce and remarry. In article , brendan@batserver.cs.uq.oz.au (Brendan Mahony) writes: > I don't see what an arguement along these lines could have to do with > anything. After God will forgive you for rape, murder, pillage, and > being American, but that doesn't mean he approves of any of these > things. The full answer has to be "read the book". I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by what Larry Richards actually says. Example: If Christians today would choose to live with their spouses in the way Jesus outlined in Matthew 18, the question of "is [divorce] lawful" would not need to be asked. And, perhaps, if we who minister the Word of God did a better job preaching, teaching and conselling how to live with others in God's way, we might not have the plague of divorces that has struck our churches. As I said, the trouble with the "four views" books is that to read them is to run a serious risk of having your mind changed. It's quite evident when you read Larry Richards part of that book (his is only one of four views!) that he seriously intends to be faithful not only to the Spirit but to Scripture. The issue that Richards addresses is: _given_ that divorce and remarriage are not the ideal, what should the church do about it when it happens? At least some of the early churches were rigid about this: commit divorce and you're _out_, never to be readmitted to the church except perhaps at the point of death. This was relaxed somewhat, later. Tertullian's comments on that are incandescent! Perhaps the heart of Richards's chapter is: How strange! We would invite a convicted murderer to give testimony from our pulpits. Yet we will not permit a person who has been divorced and has remarried to praise God in our choir. This is a very long way from the USA Methodist minister I once heard say in a service that "there really ought to be a Christian liturgy for divorce". -- I am not now and never have been a member of Mensa. -- Ariadne.