ReyRioG

There was a young woman of 24 on another forum who had just gotten divorced and was seeking help dealing with it. She was told by some, “sorry, you can never get married again or that will put you in a state of perpetual adultery which can’t be forgiven. Divorce can be forgiven since it happened once. Remarriages can’t be because they are still on going.” So, that’s it. At 24 she was told that she must forego love and marriage for the remainder of her days. Someone brought up, “What about remarried couples who went on the have children and then became born again, Bible believing Christians?” One response was, “They need to get a divorce (even though it’s a sin) to get out of the bigger sin of adultery by being married a second time.“ That reasoning is biblical legal lunacy. We had an excellent series of sermons at our church on marriage and just how important it is to God. Included in the sermons were the topics of adultery (cheating emotionally as well as physically), honoring the spouse, divorce and remarriage. The long and the short of it was: Marriage is sacred. It is not to be taken lightly or casually because He designed it. Divorce is miserable for everyone involved which is another reason God wants us to remain married. There are perfectly acceptable reasons to get divorced but that may not make the experience any less painful. Divorce is a sin .... but God forgives sin through the blood of Jesus Christ. He pointed out the absolute legalistic fallacy that if someone is married a second time they are in a perpetual state of unforgivable adultery. He added the caveat that one should not expect to be blessed if you ditch your wife just so you can be with someone else. God knows your heart. God knows repentance which getting into agreement with him. God forgives sin through the blood of Jesus Christ.

I was a pilot in the Navy. We used to say, “If regulations don’t say we can’t do xxx, we can!” We used to joke that our Air Force counterparts used to say, “If regulations don’t say we can do xxx, we can’t!” These kind of reasonings are what I hear from legalistic Christians. They use the Bible as a rule book and look for loopholes to justify their own behavior or to criticize behaviors of others who don’t share their exact beliefs and to define sin. The big sins are easy: murder, adultery etc. No one really debates those. It’s when we get down into the weeds that the legalistic Christians start to use scripture to justify or criticize and define sin. Case in point: On another forum a woman claimed she was being physically and emotionally abused by her husband. One “Christian” told her that unless there was adultery she had to stay married and that sometimes Christians will have to accept death in order to obey God (Sorry, sister). I consider that advice to be practically criminal. Another young woman said she had been married at 18, divorced at 19, remarried at 24 and now had three kids with her husband. She was told that she is in an unforgivable state of adultery from her first marriage and the only way out is to divorce her current husband, repent from that, and stay celibate the rest of her life because she is still technically married to her first husband. In both cases scripture was quoted to show the sin. I don’t disagree that divorce is sin. It’s sin because it falls short of the mark God has set for marriage. But God forgives sins through the blood of our savior. He doesn’t do it through our merit. Last point. I believe that wasting resources is a sin, like leaving all the lights, tv, computers on in the house if I’m not home. Someone told me that issue is not in the Bible (surprise, electricity wasn’t understood until 1700 years later) so it is not sin. So even though I believe it to be sin, what should I do? Trip the main breaker every time I leave the house? No, that’s just foolishness. I try to be mindful but even when doing so I fall short of God’s perfection. Sin is falling short or missing God’s mark of perfection. Some are easy to see, some are only uncovered through thought and prayer. I am a “saved by faith alone” Christian. It doesn’t give me a license to sin nor does it relieve me of following God’s commands. Though I think I sin less as my walk with Christ developes, I find my imperfections continue to show themselves whether found written in the Bible or not. That’s why it’s all about Jesus. He took it all, he did it all. I am a sinner because I miss God’s mark of perfection. My list of accomplishments, sins avoided, and commands obeyed will never satisfy what Christ’s blood already did.

I “believed” in God from an early age. I had to go to church every Sunday with my parents but I hated it. It was boring and my dad was usually in a bad mood and my mom was judgmental as can be. After I left home I didn’t go to church for 25 years... but I still believed, I just had no faith. I had a very successful first career in the military. I was a big fish in a big pond. I had money, prestige and lots of power. I retired as a fairly high ranking Naval Officer. I really had no “need” for God as I had everything I wanted. I also had a growing disease called Alcoholism. My second career is being an airline pilot. I was flying international routes and my drinking was progressively getting out of hand. On my days off I was eventually drinking round the clock. I knew I couldn’t stop at that point, but being “as great as I was”, I knew I could handle it, even though I was completely miserable. Then it finally happened. With no plans aforethought, God literately made me make a phone call to get professional help through my airline and pilot’s union. In recovery I had my first opportunity to totally surrender my will over to God. I had my first opportunity to stand in faith. I finally knew what God’s love is. I almost (and really should have) lost everything I had ever worked for but God completely restored me. Drugs and alcohol were never the problem (though I can never drink like a normal person, I know). My problem was trusting in myself rather than God. My problem was trying to run God’s universe. Had I not been through that adversity, I would have never come to really know Jesus. I would have never known humility. I would have never even thought about loving my neighbor. I know the difference between believing in God and knowing God .... it just took awhile.

Without question, God knows the heart. While I believe in the Sinner’s Prayer, the words in and of themselves are not a magical incantation guaranteeing salvation. Does one truly believe what it says when saying it? If truly yes, I believe salvation is instant. That being said, the Sinner’s Prayer is not the requirement, the belief is.

I have no idea what you wrote, but it takes a big person to humbly admit wrong doing. Good on you.

I looked up who she is. So far, no one has considered two things: 1. In the arts/entertainment (in which I include modeling) why would anyone claim to be a Christian who isn’t? Most of the industry is hostile to Christianity and it’s rare to see anyone acknowledge Christ. 2. Most importantly, she could be the only Christian model ANY of the other young models come into contact with. She could actually be leading people to Christ there. A woman I grew up with went to Paris on a modeling contract and came back a year later as a used up cocaine addict. It’s a dangerous environment. If men can’t control their lust because a model wears lingerie, they are the problem, not her. I can admire a beautiful woman and recognize a nice figure without immediately fantasizing about having sex with her. She’s simply beautiful and that’s just a fact. If women think she’s not modest enough they should ask themselves why they wear makeup and earrings and color their hair. It’s to look appealing, that’s why. If you are wearing a burlap sack with 6 foot long grey hair tied up in a giant bun, I stand corrected. Lastly, none of us should be speculating who is and who is not a false Christian without knowing them. I completely agree we should pray for her spiritual maturity. While we are at it, let’s pray for each other’s as well (don’t leave me out, I admit to needing it).