The log in our eye

[puddleglum]

Marriage was established by God and like everything else God does it is the object of Satan’s attacks. Marriage is intended to symbolize the relationship between God and the people who worship him. In the Old Testament Israel is called the wife of God and in the New the church is referred to as the bride of Christ. In both cases God is represented by the male partner in the marriage and the people by the female. A union between two men or two women can’t show this relationship. That is why Christians must oppose the drive to legalize same sex marriage.

But in our zeal to prevent Satan’s attack on one front we have left another one completely unguarded and allowed Satan to win a major victory.

Those who oppose same sex marriage point out that God established marriage as a union between a man and a woman but this definition is incomplete. Marriage is intended to be a permanent union between a man and a woman and to be ended only by the death of one of the partners in the marriage. Divorce is as much a violation of God’s standards for marriage as same sex marriage is.

About 40 years ago there was a campaign to make divorce easier by allowing no fault divorce. This was a greater threat to marriage than the legalization of same sex marriage would be; only a small percentage of the population is interested in marrying someone of the same sex but the possibility of divorce exists for every marriage. We should have opposed this as strongly as we do same sex marriage but we failed to do so and now the divorce rate among Christians is as high as it is among the general population.

Proponents of same sex marriage often accuse us of hypocrisy because we fail to speak out against divorce and they have a point. Look at what Jesus said:

Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, “Let me take the speck out of your eye,� when there is the log in your own eye?
Matthew 7:1-4 ESV

There are probably many people who think we should simply stop opposing same sex marriage so we won’t be hypocrites any longer but Jesus has given us a better solution to our problem.

You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
Matthew 7:5 ESV

This verse contains a command and a promise.

The command is to take the log out of our own eye. We must begin by recognizing the permanence of marriage and try to put an end to divorce among Christians. Whenever we have the opportunity we should try to change our laws to make divorce more difficult and encourage people to stay married but changing the way Christians live is more important than changing laws.

The promise is that if we take the log out of our own eye we will be able to take the speck out of our brother’s eye. Perhaps the best way to eliminate same sex marriage from our society would be to eliminate divorce from the Christian community.

[janavoss]

...About 40 years ago there was a campaign to make divorce easier by allowing no fault divorce. This was a greater threat to marriage than the legalization of same sex marriage would be; only a small percentage of the population is interested in marrying someone of the same sex but the possibility of divorce exists for every marriage. We should have opposed this as strongly as we do same sex marriage but we failed to do so and now the divorce rate among Christians is as high as it is among the general population...

Hello theophilus,
I've been thinking about how to respond to this, because I don't want to come across the wrong way.
My church has always taught that marriage is for life and opposed divorce among Christians. The divorce rate in my church is nearly non-existent. The only divorces I can recall happened because one person in the marriage decided to leave God and/or the church as well, or were cases where one person was a Christian but the spouse was not. I don't understand why changing divorce laws should have any effect on Christian marriages. The current state of the laws do not change what Jesus taught, or Paul. I'm not saying this to put down any other churches, I just honestly don't understand why laws making divorce easier would be a threat to Christians, just like I don't understand why legalizing same sex marriage should be a threat.
Now, don't get me wrong, I do not support same sex marriage, but not because I see it as any kind of threat. I just know from watching many people go through things, and experiencing some myself, that the further away we get in life from what God wants, the harder it is to unwind our choices and come back to him. The more you have to give up, the more you have to undo, the harder it is to become a Christian, you know what I mean?
But essentially I agree with the point of your post - we Christians need to clean up our act in a lot of areas. However, whether the state deems something legal or not should not affect what we do.
Anyway, I welcome discussion with other Christians, and fully admit that I do not know everything, so please don't think I would be offended if you disagree.

[puddleglum]

My church has always taught that marriage is for life and opposed divorce among Christians. The divorce rate in my church is nearly non-existent. The only divorces I can recall happened because one person in the marriage decided to leave God and/or the church as well, or were cases where one person was a Christian but the spouse was not. I don't understand why changing divorce laws should have any effect on Christian marriages.

It shouldn't have an effect but too often it does. If every church was like yours we wouldn't have a problem but the fact is that many churches, even those who believe the Bible, don't speak out against divorce the way we should.

God's standards of morality apply to everyone, not just Christians, and God will judge those who violate these standards. The reason the US is having so many problems today is that so many people have rejected God's standards. The two most obvious signs of this rejection are sexual immorality and the tolerance of abortion. It is the responsibility of Christians to warn others of the consequences of their sins but we can't do that effectively if we are guilty of those same sins. We need to set an example by the way we live before we can expect anyone to listen to what we say.