By Diane M. Hoffmann
In today’s society, marriage has often become so meaningless
that more and more people don’t even see the need to marry at all. Others say,
“We’ll marry but if it doesn’t work out, we’ll get a divorce”. I recently heard a news report on the radio
say, “the children of the Millenials won’t believe in marriage.”
We don’t realize that the breakdown of marriage is the
breakdown of society’s very own foundation. A house divided will not
stand—individually and nationally. Yet the church does not preach much on the
issues of divorce and remarriage; I do feel the dilemma of the church because
they would lose many of their congregation members if they did -- why? because there are just as many folks in the church who are divorced and remarried as there are in the world. It is a very
tough issue.
Many people feel that the church shuns divorce people, but
that is not the case. I have never yet come across a church that felt that way.
An article in Christian
Post, February 2012 on “Dating Culture, Sex before Marriage” said that
Christians follow the secular trends instead of the Bible. It reports an
interview with a twenty-two-year-old woman who became sexually involved, even
though she knew it was wrong, saying that while she grew up, the church “rarely
emphasized one’s relationship with God or reading the Bible.”
Speaking with a friend not long ago, she said to me: “Don’t
you think that the blood of Jesus Christ is powerful enough to cover divorce?” My
answer to that question is “Don’t you think that the blood of Jesus Christ is
powerful enough to cover murder or abortion or stealing?” It is, but we still
have to preach against murder and abortion and stealing—and all other Christian
issues of moral absolutes for those who have not been faced with them yet. And
the issue is not just “divorce,” it is “divorce and re-marriage” as we see
explained in my book “24 Hot Potatoes in the Church Today”.
The impact of these dramatic changes on children is that, in 1960 only 5 percent of the births were to unmarried women and in 2008 that number had risen to 41 percent. And according to the report, the share of children raised by a single parent rose from 9 percent in 1960 to 25 percent in 2008. Now the figures are even higher. Today, over 50 percent of marriages end up in divorce. When unmarried adults were asked if they agree that there is “only one true love” for every person, fewer than 28 percent said they did.
Although some of this is “bad news”, there is Good News for anyone who may be struggling with this difficult issue, and I go into that in great length in my book "24 Hot Potatoes in the Church Today", as well as how to improve our marriage and how to understand our differences as men and women made in the image of God, complementing each other. /dmh
Blessings,
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Diane M. Hoffmann, B.Th., M.Th., Ph.D./Th.
Author of "24 Hot Potatoes in the Church Today"
Just released by Xulon Press, a div. of Salem Media.
To watch the Video Trailer:
http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=YLZYLGNX
web site: http://24hotpotatoes.blogspot.ca/
Order a copy of
"24 Hot Potatoes in
the Church Today"
for yourself or as a gift for a friend,
at:
Amazon.com, Barnes&Noble.com, Xulonpress.com,
Your Local Book Store,
(in Campbell River: North Island Inkjet-Christian Corner).
(in Campbell River: North Island Inkjet-Christian Corner).
or
.
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