On Faith and Divorce

I’ve been thinking lately on the subject of marriage; even more particularly on divorce. In the past there has been, certainly from a religious point of view, a strong emphasis on a married couple staying together while putting on a good public face. The problem is that all the work goes into form, but little or no effort is expended upon fill. It’s as if the scripture reads, a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall exchange keys with his wife, and the two shall enter the same front door.

Man looks on the outward appearance, and it’s true that we seem to be satisfied with proper form. But we are told that God looks on the heart, and it isn’t in mutual toleration that we find two becoming one flesh. The boundaries erected by a marriage vow are not the point of a marriage, they are the protection within which the point can be obtained.

So then what we call divorce becomes a matter of removing the boundaries. But the boundaries aren’t the point. And I’m beginning to believe that the divorce God speaks about is substantially different from the divorce over which man yammers. For what good is a wall with watchmen, when no city has been erected within those walls and the ground lies parched and barren?

I said recently that happiness in marriage doesn’t depend on the greatness of the individuals involved; it’s their ability to be great together. As in metallurgy, two softer metals can come together to create something tougher than either is alone. And it seems that the first hinge of this process is proper communication.

Now that started me thinking about our relationship with God. We are to come into (marriage) covenant with him. So the first hinge of that relationship will be proper communication. And thus we find the necessity of prayer.

In the posting, The Pyramid of Faith, an association was pointed out in that:

One language and faith are synonymous.

So when James tells us that faith without works is dead, he is speaking about relationship, because we can reiterate his statement as follows:

Words without acts of love remain void.

In the jargon of the last couple posts, faith / words are form, and works / acts of love are fill or name. We can then make a further comparison:

Faith = Word = Jesus Christ

Faith, then, is no system of belief, but rather is a path of communication with God. The Pyramid of Faith gave argument for the Ziggurat as a physical construct of the spiritual reality of faith. And a Ziggurat was built as a place of communication with the gods.

Paul tells Timothy that there is one mediator between God and men, and that is the man, Jesus Christ. The word mediator, mesites, can translate as a medium of communication.

Jesus declares, “I am the line of communication. No one can touch the heart of the Father, except he do it through me.” The prayer most often practiced is an inferior talking at God rather than to him. And that means the proper channel of communication is not being used. Jesus also declares that he is the door. The door is the fixture that determines whether or not communication proceeds.

Hebrews tells us that it is by faith that the worlds were framed. And that framing happened by word – God spoke and it came to pass. That which is was enclosed, was put within boundaries. But the process did not end there. For God so loved the world that he gave. The second hinge is acts of love. Without God giving, the word would have remained void and death would have prevailed.

And so it is with marriage. In the beginning was the word, the vow. Boundaries are established; a covenant is formed. But without acts of love, the ground within that boundary lies parched and barren. The word remains void and death prevails. And so we find that divorce is typified by the scripture, having a form of Godliness but denying the power.

Note: Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come except a divorce come first, and that man of sin be revealed, the man of perdition. 2 Thessalonians 2:3

One thought on “On Faith and Divorce”

  1. You may have heard last year there was a royal wedding and this lovely girl married in to the royal family. It was quite the to do. One day she will sit on the throne and be queen. Her access came through the only means possible for her, marriage to the prince. Jesus used allot of marriage talk when he was referring to the relationship between us and him. So yes he is the door we must walk through, but once you have walked through the door and are on the other side why would you need to keep exiting & walking through the door again to speak to another. He is the way to the fathers heart, but once you are married in you don’t need to keep getting married in to speak to the father. Jesus spoke of His father as our father. Very relational and personal that term ‘Abba’. I don’t think terms like that are used with a mediator.
    From what I can see and what I do practice is communication (prayer) with Jesus, Holy Spirit and the Father all as individuals. My separation of prayers is not to do so much with the differing roles of the 3 faces of God (or traditional trinity) but more to do with my perspectives of God. 1st person, 2nd person and 3rd person. Infinite, intimate and inner.
    All relational but all very distinct and different in how I relate and engage with them.
    All that to say I don’t think prayer needs the ‘in Jesus name’ chaser attached to it to make it authentic. But I do affirm that he is the the door and the way, and it all starts with relationship or relating to Jesus.

    Note: I am digging the form and fill theory. Starting to see it all over the place.

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