Antwoord aan iemand, die op zoek is naar 'nog wat méer redenen om te mogen scheiden van echt'
Dear Itsmeh,
From the holy scripture I know only three reasons, why a wife or a husband could leave her husband or his wife.
I begin with 1 Corinthians7 v 13 to 16: "If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her. And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.
But....if the unbeliever leaves, let him do so. A believing man or woman is not bound in such circumstances; God has called us to live in peace. How do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife.
From these verses I conclude, that there can be a situation, that a man - for instance- is ' no believer'. But his wife comes in contact with the evangely and the man says: "O K. sweetheart...do your thing. I remain with you. Perhaps times are changing".
But some day the 'unbeliever' might say: "It all lasts too long. I go away".
Now as long as he said: "I am o.k. with you, although you have become ' like that' " nothing changes. The wife is a very holy blessing, because she is in harmony with Jesus and God, a blessing, which blesses her children and also- though unknown by him- her husband. She should not alter such a situation. But when the man shuts the door close behind him, saying: "Now....bye bye...these doings seem to become permanent...I'm not going to go on with this..", the wife should not try to pray him back, even when he is 'unchanged'. Every Christian is called to the peace and harmony of God. A Christian finds this peace amongst the brothers and sisters in the Lord. One does not find his peace amongst the unbelievers. This advice; let the left wife make no further efforts to take up contact with her former husband. This form of evangelism is not after the will of the Lord, because it is cause of quarrel and unpeace.
So I conclude, that there are two well known reasons of divorce: - adultry of one of the two parties. Then the nuptial tie has already been broken. In my meaning divorce is not nesessary, but it is a possibility; there can be repairance, when the thing is incidental. - after having passed away of the marriage-partner, (Romans 7 v 3) - when a man sends away his wife, because she has become a Christian, or leaves her. In those cases a man or woman is not bound.
