Pages 241-242 … in the Beginning
Daniel: Scaughdt, surely you have read where Jesus says that, “in the beginning the Creator made them male and female, and said ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united with his wife; and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together let no man separate.” (Mathew 19:4-7)
Scaughdt: Yes, I am indeed familiar with this particular passage (which has Jesus citing Genesis 2:23-24), and I can readily see how it could be construed to have Jesus saying that only heterosexual unions between one man & one woman are sanctified, AND YET when we look at the greater context of this passage we can see that this is clearly not what he was saying …
Please consider the implications of the following biblical facts:
Fact #01: Just because Jesus seemingly sanctifies heterosexual unions in this passage IN NO WAY means the he also desanctifies homosexual ones – to say otherwise is patently flawed logic … Indeed, Jesus was extremely fond of sternly calling out all the sins of which he disapproved (mostly focusing on the patent hypocrisy & dysfunctional judgmentalness of the Pharisee church-leaders of his day) – and yet he never once mentions homosexuality in any of his parables or any of his teachings or any of his sermons at any time in the Gospels … Not once!
Fact #02: Even though polygamy was indeed becoming less & less acceptable during the Second Temple Period (the end of which being when this passage in Matthew 19 was probably uttered), it was still an officially accepted form of marriage at this time. Paul himself verified this fact in 1 Corinthians 7:32-35, when he noted that men with more than one wife shouldn’t serve in the church leadership (out of concern that a man with multiple wives wouldn’t have the time to properly care for both his church and his larger family).
Fact #03: During the time of Jesus’ ministry there existed quite the strident conflict between two major Jewish factions, and part of this conflict concerned the theme of divorce – specifically how & when a married couple could become apropriately separated in the eyes of the Lord. The leader of the first facet, Rabbi Shammai, taught that the Hebrew word “indecency” in Deuteronomy 24:1 (the ancient Hebrew word erwat; Strong’s #6172) meant that only a very serious transgression (like adultery) could allow a couple to legally separate (making divorce extremely difficult to obtain) … Conversely, the leader of the opposing faction, Rabbi Hillel, taught that almost any transgression by one’s wife would qualify as “displeasing” (making a divorce extremely easy to obtain) … As such, when we keep this fact in mind and re-read the text in question, we see that Jesus is quite clearly not commenting on marriage here at all, but is rather talking about divorce – doing so by publicly supporting the far more conservative interpretation of Deuteronomy 24 offered by Rabbi Shammai. In essence, then, the question being posed to Jesus in Matthew 19 is not “What is an acceptable marriage”, but rather “When is it acceptable to divorce?”
Please examine the relevant passage for yourself:
“Some Pharisees came to [Jesus], and to test him they asked, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason?’ And he answered, ‘Have you not read that the one who made them at the beginning made them male and female?’ and he said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.’ And then they asked him, ‘Why then did Moses command us to give a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her?’ And he answered them, ‘It was because you were so hard-hearted that Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for unchastity, and marries another commits adultery.” ~ Matthew 19:3-9
In closing then, my Friend, I ask you again – Why do you continue to ignore most of the Scripture I have given you in this thread? … Why do you insist on running away from the essence of this particular discussion and diverting our attention instead to the handful of sections in the Bible that seem to support your own wrathful version of God and your own intolerance towards gays? … Why do you refuse to recognize the simple, undeniable Truth that there is definitely an equally valid and indeed far more Loving way of reading the Bible, of honoring Jesus Christ, and of worshiping God? … Why, my dear Friend?
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