Can Divorced
Christians
by
Robert Eldredge, Sr.
Choice Publications
(Florida, USA)
Except for brief quotations, written permission is required to reproduce any portion of this book.
Copyright © 2002, 2011
by Robert B. Eldredge, Sr.
All rights reserved.
Published in eBook format by Choice Publications, LLC
Converted by http://www.eBookIt.com
ISBN-13: 978-0-9711-8035-2
Print Book ISBN: 0-9711803-1-8
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the KING JAMES VERSION of the Bible
Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by New York International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Corporation. All rights reserved.
The “NIV" and "New International Version" trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by International Bible Society. Use of either trademark requires the permission of International Bible Society.
Introduction
Much injustice has been done to the body of Christ because of religious prejudice and the improper interpretation of Scriptures. As a result, many divorced or remarried Christians have suffered needlessly from discrimination, loneliness, guilt, and shame.
I recently heard of a pastor who resigned from his church just because he and his wife had divorced. Even though the cause of the divorce was his former wife's adultery, the pastor said he still had to resign because "he did not want to bring reproach to the ministry!"
What reproach?
If there was any reproach; it should have been upon the wife who committed the adultery, and certainly not upon the innocent and faithful husband!
And what a waste!
The pastor had obviously spent many years in study and prayer, and his ministry experience could have been useful to the body of Christ! Why should he be forced to get a secular job just because of something his ex-wife had done?
Another person that I knew personally also suffered much injustice as well. Even though her former husband had remarried, she was told at her Bible College that she could never marry as long as he was still alive! At first she believed this lie because she still had suppressed feelings of guilt from her failed marriage.
Later, she met and fell in love with a single Christian man who had never been married before. She then began to question what she had been taught, and did her own Bible study. Because her former husband had remarried, she believed that she should be free to marry again, but her pastor refused to perform the ceremony!
Eventually they did find a pastor who was willing to "take a chance" and let them have a church wedding. After they were married they joined a different church, but the discrimination continued! Just because one of them had now been divorced and remarried, they were BOTH forever banned from holding any leadership positions in the church!
Many other Christians have also suffered needlessly just because they were once divorced. Sometimes gossip is spread around the church that divorced people are either sexually promiscuous or "much greater sinners," so they should be avoided!
Those who have remarried are persecuted even more! In the Roman Catholic Church they are refused Holy Communion! In many Protestant churches they are refused positions of leadership as pastors, teachers, or deacons! Some are even refused permission to sing in the choir! In a few extreme cases, they are even denied church membership!
In short, divorced Christians in the church are often treated by fellow Christians as second class citizens in the Kingdom of God! In this book, I have therefore tried to answer every possible question a person might ask about marriage, divorce, and remarriage. It is my intention to make the interpretation of Scripture so clear that the reader will never again be bound by the legalistic "traditions of men!"
Chapter One
The Traditions of Men
Roman Catholic and Protestant ministers or priests are very strongly influenced by their church traditions. They are even threatened with possible transfer or dismissal if they do not adhere to the traditional doctrines of their church.
BEWARE OF THE TRADITIONS OF MEN!
Around two thousand years ago, the apostle Paul warned us of the danger in following church leaders who base their theology upon the "traditions of men" and worldly principles, rather than the divine revelations and teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Colossians 2:8 "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the traditions of men, after the rudiments [principles] of the world, and not after Christ."
No church is perfect, so this warning still applies today!
Every church has some doctrines that came from the traditions and opinions of men, rather than from God. As a matter of fact, that is why we have so many denominations! Every new church was originally formed because their founders believed doctrines that were different from the other churches. That is why they were founded!
Well, they cannot all be right!
There is nothing wrong with being an active member of a denomination, but those who follow without question all of the traditional views of their particular church will eventually become deceived if they do not do their own Bible study and seek understanding from God.
The Pharisees were a separate denomination (of Judaism) when Jesus walked this earth. Although their tradition of washing their hands before eating was a good one, they had made it into a sacred religious act.
When they saw that the disciples of Jesus did not always wash their hands, they asked him,” Why do thy disciples transgress the traditions of the elders?" Jesus replied, "Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?"
He then rebuked them for their practice of dedicating elderly parents to God just to avoiding taking care of them. "Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. Ye hypocrites, well hath Isaiah prophesied of you saying, “This people draw nigh unto me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. But in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men!" (Matthew 15:1-9)
Later Jesus was even more bold when he told them face to face that they were all "blind guides, who strain out the gnat, and swallow a camel" (Matthew 23:24) In other words, they nitpicked over very trivial issues and "commandments of men" while completely ignoring the much more important issues.
Many church leaders still do that today!
My mother was a pious Roman Catholic for her entire life. She made sure that all of her children were baptized and confirmed. When my older brother, Clyde, decided to marry a Protestant woman, this created a serious religious problem.
Roman Catholic traditions at that time did not permit marriage outside of the church. The local parish priest told my mother that she should not attend her son's Protestant wedding because that would be showing approval of the so called "sin" of marrying outside of the Roman Catholic church.
My mother was a widow at the time, so she asked me what I thought. Even though I was only a young teenager, I remember telling her that I believed the church