Previously I discussed the Biblical justification of divorce
with how it relates to a single guy who is dating a divorced woman.
The Bible sets the course for my life. While it doesn't hold teachings on everything
we will experience in life, it does cover almost every major decision we will
make and provides useful teachings which will guide us when we encounter
situations that are not directly discussed in the Bible.
The most important decision we will ever make is the decision
about our salvation. The Bible tells us
that if we have faith in Christ for our salvation and confess our sins, that
the blood of Christ, sacrificed on the cross, will wash away all our sins, and
we shall inherit eternal life. This of
course is a life altering decision, which requires that we begin living for
God.
To me, the Bible into two parts, how to become a Christian
and what to do now that you are a Christian.
Making the first decision is required before the rest becomes
applicable. For what good does it do a
man to live as a Christian if he isn't a Christian?
So, while dating my now wife, I spent time finding what the
Bible said about marrying a divorced woman.
There isn't much. Last blog entry
we discussed the commandment about divorce.
Looking in the Bible, we only find a few things which seem to
apply. The one that seems most common is
Joseph being the step-father of Jesus.
This situation didn't seem to apply to me, as Joseph was the only human
who could make any sort of a claim to be the “father” of Jesus. Of the situations that do apply, a couple
stood out. One, David taking Mashiboseth
into his family. The other, Boaz taking
Ruth into his family.
With Mashiboseth, David takes him into his family. Mashiboseth is the son of Jonathon, the son
of Saul. Jonathon and David were very
close and David felt that showing grace to Mashiboseth was a way he could honor
Jonathon. He took Mashiboseth into his
family and he ate from the table of the king, though he was a cripple.
Now, my family is certainly not crippled and I didn't know
any of their family. But the concept of
taking someone into your family and treating them as equals seemed to resonate
with me. My wife and I would of course
become one and I would treat her as such.
My step-children, they are not related to me biologically. But when my wife and I married, they become
my children and I became their dad. In
my view of my family, there is no “step.”
Many may talk about it, and my children may even refer to me as their
step-dad, but in my eyes, they are the same as if I was their biological
father. Yes, my family is a blended
family, which my children having a biological dad, a step-dad, soon a
half-brother/sister, and perhaps one day a step-mom. But my children would not be treated any
different in my house than anyone else in my family. They are my children and I love them as such.
With Boaz and Ruth, Ruth's first husband died and she chose
to stay with her mother-in-law, Naomi.
They come to a town where Boaz works.
Ruth works in the field of Boaz, gathering the leftovers in the
field. Boaz, it turns out, is a redeemer
of Ruth, meaning he can marry her and take her in since her husband has
died. But, as Boaz mentions, there is a
redeemer who is closer to Ruth. Boaz
goes to the redeemer, who chooses to not redeem Ruth. Boaz and Ruth marry and he takes Naomi into
his family.
This scenario seemed about as close to my situation as I
could find in the Bible. There was
someone who chose to not be married to my then girlfriend, opening the door for
me to be married to her.
With these Biblical examples in mind, I continued on my path
to marriage.
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