Sullivan church of Christ – Sullivan, MO
Date: December 24, 2006
SPIRITUAL ADULTERY?
Dub McClish
Just when I think I have "heard it all," something else comes along to prove that
I had not. This is particularly true of the subject of marriage, divorce, and
remarriage. The weird positions that have surfaced in recent years range
everywhere from granting the fornicating spouse the right to remarry to
redefining adultery as merely divorcing one's mate, and almost everything
imaginable in between.
I now find that I underestimated the fertility of the human mind for giving birth
to novel doctrines to justify ungodly behavior. A brother (once a preacher) is now
justifying divorcing his wife on grounds of "spiritual adultery" (translation: she
did not support him in his work and in other ways was not spiritually strong).
Surely, a preacher's greatest asset is a wife who will faithfully support his work.
Indeed, every Christian should faithfully support the kingdom in every way.
However, it is all but incredible that one (a preacher, even) would use spiritual
weakness (granting its existence) as Scriptural grounds for divorce (and likely for
remarriage as well).
This brother bases his "spiritual adultery" premise upon Israel's numerous Old
Testament lapses into idolatry. Clearly, God's prophets called such "adultery"
(Jer. 3:8; Eze. 23:37ff). Spiritual adultery aptly describes their practice since it
involved a "spiritual" union with illicit partners (idols). However, it is quite a
different matter to use such as a pretext for divorcing one's mate. Note the
following about this perverted position:
1. The "spiritual adultery" applied only to the "spiritual union" between God and
Israel (they were figuratively likened unto a husband and wife, respectively).
2. A Christian has no right to divorce his/her unbelieving mate merely on the
grounds that she/he is an unbeliever (1 Cor. 7:13-14). It follows therefore that a
lack of spirituality in one's Christian mate is by no means a ground for divorce.
3. The "fornication" which Jesus allowed as the only ground of divorce and
remarriage (Mat. 5:32; 19:9) refers only to literal, physical sexual sin, not to a
subjective judgment of something alleged to be a modern form of "spiritual
adultery."
This brother has a bad case of "loopholeitis"—he is looking for a "loophole" in
God's marriage law. We cannot restrain him from doing what he wants to do, but
he should not try to justify it with such a ridiculous excuse as this, pretending
that it is thereby Scripturally sanctioned. I do not know about this man's wife,
but for sure, one who would concoct such a bizarre theory as this is guilty of
"spiritual adultery."
— www.scripturecache.com
GODS
What god will you be worshipping?
1.) The god of ease? Had a hard week; gotta get some rest.
2.) The god of mammon? Gotta get another dollar.
3.) The god of popularity? Folks came; gotta stay with them.
4.) The god of pleasure? Only day I have to play golf, fish, etc.
5.) The god of self-pride? They don’t do me right.
6.) The God of Heaven? I love God and His Son and I will be in the assembly for
worship even though it may be inconvenient.
YES, we will each worship some god. It will prove interesting to know which god
is yours. You may rest assured that the choice is yours and that this Lord’s day
you will make that choice. In the interest of your soul, let us plead with you to
choose the God of Heaven. — Selected
QUOTES
“You can’t live wrong and die right.”
“The cross is easier to him who takes it up than to him who drags it.”
“The tongue is but three inches, but it can ruin a man six feet tall.”
“The man who expects to go to heaven should take the trouble to study
the route that will get him in.”
“You can determine a man’s illness by his absence from work — not by his
absence from church.”