In a previous post, I outlined 11 assertions made by atheist David Stockin in his blog titled, “The Top 10 Shocking Things Christians Don’t Know about the Bible.” In this blog, I will attempt to address them one by one.
1) No where in the Old and New Testaments aside from Genesis 2:24 do we find any passage supportive of marriage.
Should a simple list be enough: Ephesians 5:21-33; Malachi 2:14-16; Mark 10:6-9; Hebrews 13:4; Colossians 3:18-19; 1 Peter 3:1-7
I feel like we could go on and on, and certainly there are more texts and scriptures that describe how marriage was intended to function and outline the fact that marriage was God’s creation in the beginning.
2) The marriage at Cana isn’t a good text to argue Jesus’ support of marriage, because all the account in scripture says is that he stopped by the party to have some wine and berate his mother. He didn’t even attend the ceremony.
First of all, I would agree that this passage says nothing about Jesus’ support of, or hatred toward marriage. However, to argue that Jesus didn’t attend the “ceremony” is a statement that is made out of ignorance. Marriage “ceremonies” in the Ancient Near East are not like ceremonies today where a bride and a groom stand before family and friends and pledge their lives to one another. It was more of a legal transaction than what we are used to. It often involved a dowry to be paid (by the groom to the brides father) and a celebration (Party) followed by the consummation of the marriage. More than likely, the celebration WAS the marriage ceremony.
3) Jesus commands his followers to abandon their wives and children to follow him (Matthew 19:29; Mark 10:28-30; Luke 9:57-62.)
Here we see the dangers of taking a few verses out of the context in which they were written. The Matthew text and the Mark text are parallel accounts, and therefore can be handled together, the Luke text is a different situation altogether, but the underlying message is the same.
We must love Jesus more than we love anyone else.
In Matthew and Mark Jesus has just finished addressing a rich man who had great wealth and refused to abandon that wealth in order to follow Jesus. Again, the issue is not about wealth, but about where your loyalty lies. If my heart belongs to my stuff, then I cannot fully follow after Jesus. If my heart belongs to my family, above my God, then I cannot fully follow after Jesus. Certainly this is a harsh teaching, but it is not meant to demean or belittle marriage. On the contrary it is about priorities. Jesus must take top priority in the life of a Christian. The same is true for Jesus’ comments in the Luke text.
The issue isn’t marriage, but priorities.
4) Jesus gives instructions on how to divorce your wife. (Matthew 19:5-9, Mark 10:8)
Yes, he does. And if you read the text in context, he actually limits the justification for divorce. Moses, because of the hardness of the people’s hearts allowed for divorce in just about any circumstance. This was the first version of the No Fault Divorce! But Jesus says this isn’t the way God intended it. Marital unfaithfulness is the ONLY justification Jesus gives for divorce. (Later in 1 Corinthians 7:12-16 Paul adds another justification: If an unbelieving spouse abandons a believing spouse, the believing spouse is not bound by that marriage)
5) Paul orders Christians to not get married (1 Corinthians 7:27)
Read the whole text: 1 Corinthians 7:25-38 in particular verse 28 which says, “But if you do marry, you have not sinned, and if a betrothed woman marries, she has not sinned. Yet those who marry will have worldly troubles, and I would spare you that.”
Paul isn’t condemning marriage, but recognizing that marriage brings with it anxieties and troubles that unmarried people do not have. Additionally it could be argued that unmarried people have anxieties and troubles that married people do not have (see 1 Corinthians 7:36).
7:38 sums it up well: “So then he who marries his betrothed does well, and he who refrains from marriage will do even better.”
6) Jesus praises those who have made themselves Eunuchs (Matthew 19:10-13)
I would like to quote Bob Utley, Hermeneutics professor from East Texas Baptist University:
“Marriage is the norm (cf. Gen. 1:28; 9:17), but celibacy is a godly option (cf. I Cor. 7:7,17). A believer’s prayerful desires will guide him/her in this area. If one chooses to be single, it should be for service to God (cf. I Cor. 7:32).
The Jews of Jesus’ day rejected singleness as a godly option.
Jesus (then) discusses the different types of singles.”
Certainly this is a difficult text, but it in no way is designed to instruct everyone to make themselves eunuchs, or remain celibate or single. Put simply this text challenges the culture of the day by asserting that singleness is a godly choice (as is marriage).
7) Jesus gives instructions on murdering and beating children (Matthew 15:4-7; Mark 7:9-10)
Honestly, I don’t know how these texts instruct people to beat or murder children. Read them here.
8) Jesus endorses the beating of slaves (Luke 12:47)
First of all, this is a parable steeped in the culture of the day in which it was written, and secondly, I’m not sure what this has to do with marriage.
9)-11) Jesus says that he has come to destroy families (Matthew 10:21 and 10:34)
Matthew chapter 10 is full of malicious talk about the family and marriage.
Matthew 10 also instructs Christians to become martyrs in the same way that the Koran instructs Muslims.
The “offensive” texts in Matthew 10 are found in two places: Matthew 10:21-22 and 10:34-39. (contrary to Matthew 10 being “full of malicious talk about marriage and family.”)
First things first, though, there is very little, if anything, said in this passage about marriage in particular. It does, however, when taken out of context, appear to be harmful to the family. Therefore let us engage in a brief discussion.
In this passage, Jesus is sending out the 12 apostles in order to take the Good News to the people of Israel. In doing so, they will no doubt face persecution. The persecution, Jesus warns, will not simply be from unnamed, faceless Jews, but instead it will come from those closest to you. In many cultures today, to profess the name of Jesus means that your family will disown you and in some cases hand you over to authorities to be punished and/or put to death. As a result, your commitment to Jesus must be greater than your commitment to your family, and even your own life.
Secondly, Jesus has not come to bring war or strife, but the fact that the Messiah has come will force humans to make a radical decision between followship or rejection of Him. The text which talks about “hating your father or mother” is not meant to be taken literally,but instead should be recognized as a Hebrew idiom (cf. Gen. 29:31,
33; Deuteronomy. 15; Mal. 1:2-3; John. 12:25). This then speaks of a radical priority commitment to Jesus which supersedes all earthly relationships.
Again, this passage is not meant to demean marriage or the family, both of which are institutions defended by scripture. Instead, given the context in which Jesus is making these statements, we are to understand that he is calling us to a radical commitment to him, even if it costs us all of our familial relationships
Now i will admit that these are difficult teachings, and ones that we must heed if we desire to be true followers of Christ.
But no where in these texts do we understand them to stand in opposition to marriage or family.
More to come!
No comments:
Post a Comment