Allinall
It has been a long time since you posted your question about Christ and divorce: "Again, my question is, how, if marriage is the picture of Christ's relationship with the church, does divorce factor in?" Even though it has been long since you posted this, I thought I would reply and see if anyone would reply back.
Obviously, this issue is very controversial and highly debateable and I'm not sure if you're ever going to find the REAL reason for why Christ made exceptions for divorce, but here is my thought: Christ knows just as well as we do that we are sinful beings. And even though many Christians head into marriage with loving hearts and are willing to go through anything to keep their marriage together...we are still human. We can fail. We can change. Our decisions, as well as our hearts, can falter. God knows all, and I believe when Christ made these exceptions, He KNEW there were going to be instances in which marriages were going to fail because of our sinful flesh. For this reason, I believe He prepared us for those times and gave us a heads up.
Adding to that, it's so hard to know what to do in situations in which we feel a "double bind", if you will. For instance, your spouse commits adultry. God gives you the "permission" to divorce, right? So do you divorce and abandon your spouse who is obviously in need of spiritual, unwavering care? (as you said in your earlier post..."Christ has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.' Why then would He give a permissable out thereby reducing the effect of that image?") Or, do you stay in the marriage and allow yourself, a temple of God, to be trampled upon by an unfaithful spouse and allow your children to see this as well? Same thing with abuse in a marriage. There are double-binded situations we face every day, where it feels like we will sin no matter what way we go. And that's just life- that's the consequence of our sinful nature. And I believe, just as you do, that God gave us a very high expectation by commanding our marriages to be like Jesus' relationship to the church. However, God knows all. He knows we fail, He knows we can not always keep the commandments He sets out for us- the same commandments we DESIRE to adhere to, but fall short of. This is why I believe he gave us very specific exceptions.
So...yeah. That's my take on that; take it or leave it.
If you would like to write back, I would love to know your view on this. It's always good to discuss with fellow Christians! However, I think it's important to remember too, that we are thirsty for knowledge- we WANT to know the answers to our questions. And sometimes, that turns into a prideful war, which is NOT what God desires for us. Some things we just won't know until we get to heaven. Until then, we can talk about it, but who knows if we will ever be able to understand that which God has set into motion on this temporary earth. Peace out, allinall. God's blessings on your day!
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