Evangelicals & Divorce
This month's issue of Christianinty Today has an interesting article on divorce. Here is an excerpt:
If nothing else, it may suggest a reason why the divorce rate is so high among evangelicals—though, of course, that's merely speculative. Our current understandings of marriage inadvertently pit husband and wife against one another: as leader and assistant, or as two individuals protecting their prerogatives. The Ephesians metaphor moves to a climax, so to speak, of the two becoming one. I can't help but wonder if the divorce rate in the church might decrease if we would recognize the mystery of God fusing a husband and wife into "one flesh." It's not very disturbing for a leader to break up with his assistant, or for two equal individuals to decide to go their own ways. But it is utterly disconcerting to imagine a bloody rupture between a body and its head. That's why God hates divorce (Mal. 2:16), and that's why he commands every husband to cleave to his wife.
(http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2005/011/30.59.html)
It has puzzled me for a long time why our divorce rate matches that of the secular world. We spend so much time talking about abstinence, waiting for your "true love," and roles in marriage that you would think we would be more committed to the institution of marriage.
Recently my body has taken a real hit. I can relate to this article! I discovered I would do whatever was necessary to take care of the hurting spots! It is my opinion that more marriages would be improved if husbands treated their wives as they would their hurting bodies!
One thing I disagreed with in the article is that the term "Christian feminist" is used as a way of escaping submission. I don't hear any evangelicals advising women to NOT submit. What I do hear is a call for mutual submission. Somehow, calling for each of us to submit to one another has been translated into women refusing to submit!
Let me know what you think.
posted by Susan Warner Taylor at 4:16 PM
1 Comments:
Your blog is interesting in that it shows you are one of many Christians who have neglected a sound biblical worldview and opted instead to view the world from the eyes of your academic discipline (which, in your case, is the Sociological perspective). You view reality as if it is a world in which males and females have equal roles, especially in family and church leadership positions. You view God as a neutered cosmic being whose top priority on earth is that men and women become equal in all aspects. These are both evidenced by the title and content of your blog, which effectively show what you are living your life for.
As a Christian, your view of the world should not stem from your bitterness towards man's depravity and, therefore, his unfortunate treatment of men as a result of the Fall but - instead - the redemption of Christ Jesus and, as a result, that there are more important things in this life to fight for as a follower of Him.
I have empathy on you when you show your bitterness for men who use their leadership and authority to exploit and abuse women. But the problem is not the positions these men have - either that as a leader of a family or leader of a church - but instead the sin that comprises his flesh. Roles are not the issue; sin is. And, likewise, roles were not an effect of the fall; mistreatment of humanity was.
You've twisted the roles God has set between men and women since the beginning of creation and turned them into something evil and unbiblical. And, as a result, you've equated the effect those roles have had on women with the actual reality that sin is the issue.
All of this shows that your sociological worldview has destroyed any way in which you might biblically see the world from God's eyes.
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