By Don Willis
Newspapers attempt to keep the public aware of current ethics and attitudes. Enclosed is a letter to Dear Abby (Houston Post, 9/24/90, p. B-8) from a concerned brother. Paragraphing is deleted to conserve space.
Dear Abby, I have a sister who taught at the local high school until she was found guilty of fornication with some of the students. She lost her teaching credentials, her husband left her and she moved in with a man she just met. Now she’s announced that she’s going to marry him in December. Abby, Jesus stated plainly in Matthew 5:32 and again in Matthew 19:9 that marriage under these circumstances would be considered adultery. My sister claims to be a good Christian, but her conduct shows otherwise. I realize that sins can be forgiven if the sinner repents and prays (Acts 8:22), but true repentance would require that she first get out of her adulterous marriage. I have asked her to read the Scriptures to see if they apply to her situation, but she refused, and accused me of judging and condemning her. Should I persist in trying to teach her the truth? Also, should I attend her wedding? If I did, I would feel obligated to do my Christian duty and voice my objections to this adulterous marriage before man and God. I love my sister and want her to have a chance at heaven. HER LOVING BROTHER.” P.S. Abby encouraged, “please do not attend her wedding.”
Common community standards accepts adultery, fornication, and all kinds of sexual impropriety. The Bible condemns the same! This concerned brother has laid out scriptural teaching very curtly and accurately!
Why are people having this moral dilemma? Some who claim to be Christians are led into this erroneous marital teaching and society is going downhill as a consequence.
In the very same Houston Post, same section, and page B-3 under the heading “‘Till Death Do Us Part’ Unlikely Vow as Marriages Shorten,” a glimpse into community ethics is manifest by a census (observe: no one has ever consulted me in such a census). Over 40 percent of male students “do not think it very likely they will stay married to the same person for life.”
Current attitudes are money, position and power; not family, children, contentment! Observe these article conclusions:
Divorce has become so widely accepted that about 45 percent of women ages 18 to 44 approve of an “unhappy couple” getting a divorce.
There is no evidence of a new Puritanism in sexual relations as a reaction to fear of AIDS. In fact, only one quarter of women ages 18 to 24 disapprove of unmarried 18-year olds having sexual relations. (Wow! No wonder we have a problem!)
The number of couples living together (this is what fornication and adultery are all about, DW) is up dramatically. Although 40 percent marry within two years, the divorce rate is higher than among couples who did not live together.
One sage observed that “it is difficult to sleep with the hogs without smelling like the hogs!” This is nothing more than God-rebellion; and the only solution must come from respect for God!
The marital and immoral dilemma must come back and responsibly reside upon those responsible for this problem: parents have miserably failed to discharge their God-given responsibility! We have courted the world, flirted with the Devil, sold our soul to the economy, and shown too little genuine interest in our children!
“And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4). Too many parents push their children to be the star football player, or cheerleader; to marry a doctor or lawyer; get a good education so you can make a lot of money . . . and fail miserably in training those children that their foremost obligation is to God!
Parents! Wake up! Our nation is depending upon us! Our children are crying out for spiritual leadership! Stand up and be counted for the Lord! Remember, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (Jn. 8:32); and “Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (Jn. 14:6). This is the only moral answer for America for our youth, and for me!
Guardian of Truth XXXIV: 24, p. 741
December 20, 1990