Divorce and remarriage are major pastoral issues facing every church. Yet when we turn to Scripture for guidance, we often hear conflicting messages about its teachings. David Instone-Brewer shows how the New Testament provides faithful, realistic and wise guidance of crucial importance and practical help for the church today.
Consecutive polygamy (as many husbands or wives as you like but only one at a time) is now an accepted norm in contemporary society. Hardly surprising, since the social, legal, moral and financial restraints holding marriages together for a lifetime have been steadily eroded in a relativist age where anything goes. What is surprising is that divorce and remarriage are becoming as common inside the church as outside, even among Christian leaders and especially in the Evangelical stream. Believers have been outspoken about such issues as abortion and homosexuality though their Lord Jesus said nothing about either. He did say quite a lot about the subject of this book but there is either a reluctance to take his teaching at face value or an eagerness to enlarge his ‘exception’ until it becomes the rule. This volume primarily appeals to those for whom the Bible is the final authority in all matters of belief and behaviour, especially those who preach to, teach and counsel others. The author believes that the church should be leading the world uphill rather than following the world downhill. David Pawson has a worldwide teaching ministry, particularly for church leaders. He is known to many through Christian broadcasting and is the author of numerous books.
With roller coaster changes in marriage and divorce rates apparently leveling off in the 1980s, Andrew Cherlin feels that the time is right for an overall assessment of marital trends. His graceful and informal book surveys and explains the latest research on marriage, divorce, and remarriage since World War II.Cherlin presents the facts about family change over the past thirty-five years and examines the reasons for the trends that emerge. He views the 1950s, when Americans were marrying and having children early and divorcing infrequently, as the aberration, and he discusses why this period was unusual. He also explores the causes and consequences of the dramatic changes since 1960--increases in divorce, remarriage, and cohabitation, decreases in fertility--that are altering the very definition of the family in our society. He concludes with a discussion of the increasing differences in the marital patterns of black and white families over the past few decades.
Through a careful exploration of the background literature of the Old Testament, the ancient Near East and ancient Judaism, Instone-Brewer constructs a biblical picture of divorce and remarriage that is directly relevant to modern relationships.
Editor H. Wayne House introduces a lively debate on varying Christian views of divorce and remarriage. Contributors include J. Carl Laney, William Heth, Thomas Edgar and Larry Richards.
In this book, a serious scholar with extensive experience in ministry looks at the question of divorce and remarriage. He offers a redemptive theology that affirms the importance of marriage, the urgency of helping people survive their marital crises, and the redemptive mercies and grace of God for those who have divorced and remarried.
Drawing on decades of counseling experience, Jim Newheiser explores forty crucial questions relating to the complexities of marriage, divorce, and remarriage--unpacking the answers given in God's Word. This useful reference work for pastors, counselors, and personal study can also be read straight through for a scriptural overview of the topic or assigned in small sections to counselees. --
Bible-believing Christians agree that it is essential to act on Jesus' words while the present storm of marital unfaithfulness and divorce swirls around us. Yet there is uncertainty about Jesus' commands concerning divorce and remarriage. Do we truly understand the words of Christ (and Paul)? In Divorce and Remarriage: A Permanence View, the authors explain in detail why they believe that Jesus did not allow divorce for any reason and did not permit remarriage if a former spouse was living. This view proposes that the "exception clause" given by Jesus must be understood in its ethnic and exegetical context if Christ's intent for marriage is to be fully comprehended. The result is a perspective that harmonizes all of what Paul and the Gospels teach about divorce and remarriage. The authors' view is summarized in the following three statements: the one flesh-union created in marriage is permanent until death; initiating a divorce is never lawful; remarrying after divorce is an act of adultery if a former spouse is living.
Morality. Relativity. Right and Wrong. These are the complicated issues we face today. Everyone has an opinion, but who has the answer? Tony Evans refuses to let the voice of God be drowned out amidst the clamor of the crowd.