Does the Bible allow remarriage after divorce?

Mark 10:11–12

Jesus refutes the teaching that a man is “required” to dispense with his wife when he suspects unfaithfulness. Jesus finds such behavior intolerable, saying Moses did not “command” men to divorce wives; he “permitted” it because of the hardness of people’s hearts (see Mk 10:5). The springboard for right action should not be hard-heartedness, but love. Jesus says that only if a woman has done something that irreparably ruptures the marriage can such a divorce be right. But it isn’t a necessary response.

Enoch, Who Walked with God

Ami Farkas

At synagogue this past Sabbath, our Torah reading covered the first portion of the book of Genesis. We revisited the Garden of Eden, tasted the bitterness and shame of Adam and Eve’s sin, and traversed through ten generations between Adam and Noah. In the midst of all this, my attention was transfixed on the short but meaningful story of Enoch.
I assume that when most people study Genesis, they don’t give much notice to Enoch, whose sole appearance in the Torah is limited to a few verses: Genesis 5:18-25. And considering the lives of Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the contributions they made to mankind, Enoch plays a minute role in the grand scheme of things. The story of Enoch might be short, but it has deep lessons we should not ignore.

Avoid Big Failures

"This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness." (Ephesians 4:17-19)

There's a subtle strategy Satan uses to take control of our lives. The Bible calls it lasciviousness and it means "to have no restraint."

Lasciviousness has been preached as being extreme immorality, but it doesn't start out that way. It begins with just a few seemingly innocent thoughts. Then those thoughts grow and grow until they begin to produce serious sin.

One afternoon as a nine-year-old boy, for example, I just yielded to the desire to curse. I knew better, but I did it anyway. I had a relative who was so good at West Texas cussin' that I thought he invented it. I was intrigued and I wanted to try it.

When I let go of all restraint and began to say those curse words, something evil moved in on my thinking that seriously affected me for some 20 years. A law was set in motion. As a result, my flesh gradually became boss over my entire being.

When Prophecies Fail (even in 2012) by Elwin R. Roach

"Charity never ⁽¹⁾ faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall ⁽²⁾fail..." 1 Corinthians 13:8 " (even in 2012).

Many people are in quite a stir these days. Calamities have been streaming through the nations that have left them more than a little unsettled. There have been earthquakes, a tsunami that caused thousands of deaths and three uncontrollable nuclear reactor melt downs, political upheavals and corruption everywhere, economic woes, nations going bankrupt, and immorality running rampant in all walks of life. Moreover, many believe that the catalyst for an imminent, worldwide meltdown has to do with the Mayan calendar that ends on this year's winter solstice December 21, 2012. There have been an unprecedented amount of prophecies, fearful predictions, and speculations concerning this upcoming date.

According to credible researchers, it is said that the Mayans studied the heavens extensively and were very interested in world ages. But they also say that the record has been distorted, leaving several possibilities open to interpretation. In the Maya Long Count calendar, the one causing so much consternation and debate, the previous world ended after 13 b'ak'tuns, or roughly 5,125 years. This means that the fourth world, or age, will also have reached the end of its 13th b'ak'tun, on December 21, 2012. In 1957, Mayanist and astronomer, Maud Worcester Makemson, wrote that "the completion of a Great Period of 13 b'ak'tuns would have been of the utmost significance to the Maya." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_phenomenon.)

“Can a Christian lose salvation?”

Before this question is answered, the term “Christian” must be defined. 

A “Christian” is not a person who has said a prayer, or walked down an aisle, or been raised in a Christian family. While each of these things can be a part of the Christian experience, they are not what “makes” a Christian. A Christian is a person who has, by faith, received and fully trusted in Jesus Christ as the only Savior (John 3:16; Acts 16:31; Ephesians 2:8-9).

So, with this definition in mind, can a Christian lose salvation? Perhaps the best way to answer this crucially important question is to examine what the Bible says occurs at salvation, and to study what losing salvation would therefore entail. Here are a few examples:

A Christian is a new creation. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). This verse speaks of a person becoming an entirely new creature as a result of being “in Christ.” For a Christian to lose salvation, the new creation would have to be canceled and reversed.

Coming to Terms With the Past

Jeremiah 33:1-26

"I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security."

Jeremiah 33:6

A pastor friend told the story of a couple who had come to him for counseling. The couple had been married 40 or so years, and they were both plagued with guilt. They hadn't become Christians until their later years, and, prior to that, they had both lived sexually immoral lives. Although they had been faithful to each other during their marriage, their past dips into immorality were now making them feel guilty for enjoying sex with each other.

The pastor thought for a moment, then asked the couple to name their favorite hymn. They both said at the same time, "It Is Well With My Soul." So the pastor told them to go home and either listen to or sing the hymn every night before they went to bed.

A week later the couple returned to the pastor's office. They told him that they had felt foolish at first, but they had sung their favorite hymn together each night. The wife blushed and the husband got teary eyed as he told the pastor, "When we got to the part that says, 'My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought! My sin not in part but the whole, is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O, my soul!' well... after all these years we feel fresh and squeaky clean and new all over again."

Throughout the Bible, God's relationship with Israel was tested over and over by Israel's sin. The book of Jeremiah talks about the horrible result of that sin. When the prophet received the prophecy recorded in chapter 33, Jerusalem was under siege from the invading Babylonians. Soon God would allow his people to be carried away from their land into captivity and their land to be destroyed. Like the couple who wrestled with memories of past sins, the Israelites would live with heartrending images of how their unfaithfulness to God had resulted in the burning and pillaging of their land. Their city would be filled with dead bodies.

But the story doesn't end there. The prophet went on to say that because of God's immense love, God would heal Israel's pain, cleanse the people from their sin, and restore them to abundant peace and security. "Then this city will bring me renown, joy, praise and honor before all nations on earth that hear of all the good things I do for it," God said (Jeremiah 33:9).

Likewise, God does not want us to be forever burdened with our past sins. "You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness" says Romans 6:18 . And Romans 6:4 promises, "We were therefore buried with him . . . in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life."

So too is the promise for our marriages, which so often bend under the load of sins, both past and present. We must be honest with ourselves, with the Lord and with each other about memories or habits or activities that may be eroding our relationship and then deal with them. But we can do so in the joy of knowing that in Christ we can find forgiveness, restoration and a new start.
Nancy Kennedy

Let's Talk

• What are some things from the past that each of us is still struggling with?
• How are they affecting our marriage?
• How can we talk about those struggles in a way that builds up our marriage?

 

http://view.lists.biblegateway.com

Social Networking

Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners. 1. Cor. 15:33.
The best social network you can have is a local Bible-believing, Bible-practicing church. It is a
social network that connects saved people in one body - the body of Christ - and the Holy
Spirit puts it together. What more do you want?
In these modern days, however, some folks try to complicate things and suppose that they
need to be constantly involved in social networking websites online. That is getting out of
hand and when you study the effects, you come to the conclusion that online social
networking is in fact asocial. It harms human relationships in the highest degrees and
destroys families.
What comes under the guise of promoting "friendship" is in reality a tool of the devil to seduce
young people to immorality and turn them into zombies who constantly have to check
messages in their social network while neglecting family and friends in the real world. Isn't it
sickening that some folks try to build a social network in virtual reality but neglect their
children, their husband or other family members and friends? If you want to love your
neighbor, then start with the people close to you in your family and neighborhood instead of
trying to get along with people in a virtual reality.
Online social network often contain immoral graphics, movies and images that promote
adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness and worldliness. In fact one major US social
networking site recently discarded 90000 of its members because they were registered sex
offenders. What a cesspool of sin? What really needs to happen is that these websites be shut
down altogether. But Christian who believe the Bible ought to have enough sense to abstain
from such sites and to make sure that they appreciate those preachers who have warned them
of that danger lurking online. But many people who call themselves "Christans" today play
with the fire (Prov. 6:27) and get involved in these online social networks and through
(willful) ignorance get involved with bad company. You, my friend, should know better than
that and follow the advice of the Psalmist: "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the
counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat
of the scornful." Psalm 1:1. Online social networks are full of malicious, vile language and a
lot of slander, libel and backbiting. That's why these networks are not even a proper
environment to witness for Jesus Christ. If you are saved, and you have been involved in
online social networks, it would be best for your testimony if you deleted everything you ever
wrote and cancel all accounts.
In Christian homes it is necessary that the father, the head of the home, is in control of what
media comes in or goes out. He needs to protect his family. There should no participation in
online social networking be allowed in a home that professes to be Christian. Teenagers have
better things to do. In fact, I don't even see a need for cell phones in their hands. Let them
learn to pray and communicate with the Lord, first of all. I rejoice that when I was in my
teenage years there were no computer games and no cell phones. That was in the 1990s. I
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praise Jesus for the absence of all such digital junk. And I also praise Jesus that there was a
Bible, Christian radio and godly books in my teenage years. There was a forest for hiking and
cross-country running. Most of all, I praise Jesus that there was no peer clique in those years,
but there were a few good churches that I appreciate.
Online social networks undermine real human relationships and fellowship. I have observed
how a husband & wife lost trust in each other because one spouse was addicted to social
networking that she kept telling private details of their relationship to peers on that online
social network. Finally, the spouse addicted to social networking completely ignored her
companion, and was more influenced by the crowd online at the social networking site.
People today obviously need to relearn the proper respect for privacy. What
happens in private needs not to be told in online social networks. People have a warped
judgment as to what is public and what is private. Pictures containing nudity are found in
advertising in public. But decency demands that belongs into privacy. Modern people have it
all mixed up. They want to shut up the preaching of the gospel and claim that religion is a
private matter. No. Faith in Jesus concerns the public. Modern people want to put displays of
intimacy everywhere in public, esp. in the media. But decency demands that intimacy belongs
into privacy. Christians who believe the Bible really have to separate themselves from this
modern secular worldview.
I also notice that stay-at-home moms are often victims of online social networking. While they
are alone at home the addiction to social networking begins. The saying is true that the devil
has work for idle hands. While the Proverbs 31 woman remains virtuous and busy doing good,
the modern woman has been discouraged by the devil about staying at home, so she thinks
she is "imbalanced" and "lonely" and turns to the computer to find a social network. This
often is the beginning of the end of a marriage or a family. It often escalates to the point where
the online community means more to that woman than her family. Ungodly advertisements
nowadays often show scarcely-clad women with a laptop. The best thing that women can do is
grab the laptop and smash it against the wall or break it in half. Marketing knows how to
make money with the social networking addiction. What the forbidden fruit was to Eve, that is
exactly what the social networks are today for many women. Moreover, the online
communities in those social networks have caused women to become "tattlers also and
busybodies, speaking things which they ought not." 1. Timothy 5:13. Most of the
things said or written in social networking sites ought not to be said or written. If
you don't understand that, you are simply too naive.
The Bible teaches a great principle. It is wrong for a Christian to seek counsel from
questionable sources on the Internet while bypassing the local church. I understand that lots
of churches nowadays have absolved from teaching the Bible. It is considered too
"controversial" or "divisive", but often you have to have division before you have unity. A little
subscribed Sunday School quarterly won't do it. A local church needs a leadership that is
continually given to prayer and the ministry of the word. Acts 6:4. Churches have often turned
into mere social clubs that do not really people guidance and leadership as to how they should
live their lives in obedience to God. Local churches need to provide their people with both the
milk and the meat of the word. The main point is: If you are saved, then get your counsel and
advice from the word of God and not from an online social network. Seek counsel from
mature Christians in your local congregation. You dishonor Christ, when you bypass the local
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church and seek for answers in doubtful online communities. Stay away from these places!
Christian wives need to understand that is contrary to God's plan, if they seek for things in
social networks, while not communicating with their husband. The Bible says that a woman is
to be under obedience. And here is a key truth:
“And if they will learn any thing , let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a
shame for women to speak in the church.“ 1. Corinthians 14:35.
A Christian woman will ask her husband, if she needs information. She will not ask strangers
in online social networks or any other clique of tattlers and gossipers. It is the duty of the
Christian husband to teach his wife. The Bible says in 1. Tim. 2:11: Let the woman learn in
silence with all subjection. The husband needs to be able to gently communicate
concepts, ideas and doctrines. The wife needs to have the submission to follow her husband in
those things. That is the Bible plan. If that plan is followed, there is no need to go online to ask
anybody else.
I say it again: The best social network is the local church.. The only social networks
that God established is the family and the church. We don't need any online social networks
where rotten people and characterless cliques corrupt good manners through evil
communications (1. Cor. 15:33) and undermine true friendship, fellowship and families.
Do you appreciate a clean car or a clean house? Then be consistent and delete the unclean
from your computer. In fact, remove all unclean media as the Christians at the church in
Ephesus did (Acts 19:19). Clean up!
If you truly love your neighbor, love your family and even love your enemies as Christ taught
you, will you please abstain from online social networking? Have respect for privacy. Don't
publish in social networks what belongs into your privacy or the privacy of others. Character
counts.
Instead of getting addicted to online social networks, texting or instant messaging, why don't
you start check your B-mail every morning? What is B-mail? Your Bible! Send instant
messages to God throughout the day! How do you do that? Pray, pray, pray! God is interested
in hearing from you! He will hear from Heaven. If you like texting, please get some paper texts
- we call them gospel tracts - and hand them to others.
You don't need to seek the bad company of online social networking. First of all, you need a
saving, living relationship with God through His Son, Jesus Christ. Don't seek for fellowship
in virtual reality. Seek God and trust Jesus Christ for the salvation of your soul. He shed His
blood for you on the cross. He loved you first, so that you can love Him now. Won't you come
now and repent of your sin and receive Jesus Christ as your Savior?
solidrockfaith.com

How Saint Valentine Fought Heart Disease

Did you know that Saint Valentine’s Day was named for Bishop Valentine who was martyred in February 270 AD for not renouncing his faith, and for continuing to perform marriages in spite of the Roman emperor’s edict forbidding marriage?
And did you know that the church in Rome established Saint Valentine’s Day on February 14, 496 to compete with the February 15 Lupercalia fertility festival which promoted illicit sexual activity? The Christian holiday, named after Valentine because of his devotion to marriage, encouraged men to give written messages of intent to women they sought to marry.
The tradition of sending cards began with these early messages. From the beginning, the heart was the central symbol in the handmade cards of Christians, no doubt because the Bible presents the heart as the seat of emotions and affections. But as the holiday grew in popularity, the Roman god Cupid, piercing the heart with his arrow, began to appear on the cards - a fitting symbol of how Satan works to corrupt even man’s best intentions.
If the heart is the central symbol of this February holiday, then its corruption or disease should not surprise those who read the Bible, because it says that “the hearts of men are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts” (Eccl. 9:3). What began over 1500 years ago as an effort to combat sexual immorality once again took on immoral overtones.
Can man’s heart ever be made healthy? Only if we learn how to combat the heart’s worst disease. Only if we allow the Great Physician to perform His surgery. Only if we learn how to take care of the heart.
To find out more about heart disease and how to cure it, read on, as this month’s features are all about man’s heart.

By Larry Ondrejack
Grace & Truth Magazine February 2000

When Prophecies Fail (even in 2012) by Elwin R. Roach

"Charity never ⁽¹⁾ faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall ⁽²⁾fail..." 1 Corinthians 13:8 " (even in 2012).

Many people are in quite a stir these days. Calamities have been streaming through the nations that have left them more than a little unsettled. There have been earthquakes, a tsunami that caused thousands of deaths and three uncontrollable nuclear reactor melt downs, political upheavals and corruption everywhere, economic woes, nations going bankrupt, and immorality running rampant in all walks of life. Moreover, many believe that the catalyst for an imminent, worldwide meltdown has to do with the Mayan calendar that ends on this year's winter solstice December 21, 2012. There have been an unprecedented amount of prophecies, fearful predictions, and speculations concerning this upcoming date.