Legalism and the Divorce Scriptures – It can get Deadly

Being legalistic about the Mt 19 Scripture where Jesus says divorce is only allowed in instances of adultery is problematic. It ignores the Corinthian verses. And it doesn’t take things in their literary context. Consider this. If every Scripture is to be taken just as it is said, then

• Why do you have hands? Because Jesus said if you lust you should cut off your hands…and everyone has lusted.
  
• Why did Jesus escape violent men when he was the one who said to just turn the other cheek?
  
• Why did Jesus rip into the Pharisees and Sadducees in Mt 23 when it wasn’t “loving” and he said to “love one another”?
  
• If a man is a prison of war and is being beaten and tortured, would it be wise, pastoral counsel for a pastor to tell him that he needs to stay in that situation because the Bible says to “love your enemies,” and ‘you chose this as a risk when you signed up for the military and committed to them’? Is it wrong for the military to work to rescue the soldiers when they have a commitment to the military and knew this could possibly happen? What about the church working to protect and rescue abused women?

What the authors were writing has context they were written in. That and we look at what is said in other Scriptures and not just proof text. More on this later.