Abusive Marriage: Bible's Perspective, Part 2

For part 1 in the series, please click, Abusive Marriage, Part 1

Now, it troubles me when I see and hear the prevailing approach among Christians to this issue. The approach closely resembles that followed by the unregenerate society.

In India, among unbelievers, society's respect, family honor and reputation are the primary concern. In the unregenerate society, the parents may sympathize with the suffering of their daughter but will refuse to bail her out. She is counseled by her parents, elders of the family, siblings and relatives to continue with the marriage at all costs and to bear the suffering, all for the sake of family honor and reputation in the society. The question they are concerned about is ‘what people will say?’

False Pride

Due to their false pride and ego, being a result of the depravity of their minds, the unregenerate society disregards the rights of and goodwill towards an individual. The society is willing to sacrifice the individual than take a hit on its false pride. Since it does not worship the True and Living God, it is not concerned about the impact such abusive marriage will have in her relationship with her God. An evil and corrupt society is engrossed in religion, its rituals, customs and tradition and has no concept of God.

We Christians, having been raised in such a society and surrounded by unbelievers, too are guilty of ignorantly believing and foolishly following these customs and belief system which are contrary and are abominable to God. God of the Bible abhors the customs which are in total defiance of statutes as laid down in the Bible. We are continuously being bombarded with their approach through news and entertainment media.

At the outset, it is good to know few Biblical truths about marriage. Listen folk, marriage is important, honorable and desirable as is also written in Heb 13:3, 'Marriage is honorable among all' as well as in Prov 18:22, 'He who finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor from the LORD.' Paul also reiterated the same thing in I Cor 7:2, 9, 28, 36 and 38.

For part 3 in the series, please click, 

Being Childless: Biblical Perpective, Part 4

For part three in these series, please click, Being Childless: Biblical Perspective, Part III

In II Samuel 6:23, the author says, that as a result of her despising, condemning, humiliating, criticizing David and holding him in contempt, she did not bear any child till her death. That is a profound statement, a profound judgment. In II Samuel 21:8, she is mentioned as having raised her sister’s children. The lack of understanding of the God of Israel, non-submissive attitude towards her husband, a life of unrepented sin, caused so much pain and humiliation to her. The children who were raised by her were put to death, verse 9.

From the very beginning, woman and her womb has been closely associated. In Genesis 3:16, God’s judgment to the woman on her disobedience was this: “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; in pain you shall bear children.” In Genesis 20, due to the sin of king Abimelech, king of Gerar, God shuts the womb of all the women in the household of the king for the sake of Sarah, Abraham’s wife. On king Abimelech’s acceptance of his sin and restoration of Sarah to Abraham, Abraham prays to God and then they bore children, verse 17.

God forgives sin but we will have to face the consequences of our sin. If your life is filled with porn, pre-marital sex, extra-marital sex, and sex with prostitutes, and when you repent of your sins and come to Jesus Christ for forgiveness, God will forgive your sin but you will have to live with the consequences of that lifestyle. In II Samuel 12, God confronts David with the sin of sexual immorality with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah, husband of Bathsheba. In verse 13, David repents of his sin, ‘So David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” Though God forgave his sin, still he had to bear the consequences of his sin, verse 13, 14.

God of the Bible does not consider a barren woman to be cursed. While on the way to the cross to be crucified, Jesus said (meant), ‘you consider a barren woman to be cursed, but hear this, “the days are coming in which they will say, ‘blessed are the barren, wombs that never bore a child.”

When God shuts your womb, He is allowing an opportunity in your life for His name to be glorified. It does not mean that you continue to pray to God and expend your hard earned money on finding medical solution. It does not mean that you continue to wait for the Lord to work miracle in your life. Was there only Sarah, Samson’s mother, the great woman of Shunem, Hannah, Elizabeth who were barren, in all the history of Israel? Of course, there would have been other women who would have been barren. What happened to all the other barren women? Did they all conceive and bore a child? We do not know. The Holy Spirit had chosen to mention only these women because God had specific plan to glorify His name in them and through them.

 For part 5 in the series, please click,