In the next three blogs, we will go through three examples of why those who are not Christians have little or no motivation to investigate the claims of Christ. The first example is divorce.
There is no question the Bible forbids divorce except for infidelity (Matthew 5:32, Matthew 19:3-9, and 1 Corinthians 7:10-11). The problem is the divorce rate for Christians is approximately the same as for the general population. If Christianity is just a matter of belief and not a new life, then it is not surprising that Christianity will not make a difference in the marriages of its believers—one does not need to implement a belief system, one only has to believe. But the Bible teaches Christianity is about a new life, a new way of living and this new life includes our marriages. If God has the power to change lives, the divorce rate for Christian should be much lower.
Now imagine instead that the divorce rate for Christians was five percent or better yet one percent. Such a situation would prompt the non Christians to ask questions about our beliefs. Such a situation would cause many to begin to investigate the claims of Christ. But if the divorce rate is the same regardless if one is a Christian or not, then the evidence is that Christianity does little or nothing to help couples improve their marriages.
So why is the divorce rate for Christians the same as non-Christians? That keeping a marriage together these days can be tough is obvious, whether one is a Christian or not, but God does not give us an out if times are hard. We, though God’s grace, should work through the difficult problems we face in our marriage. Our problem is that our sinful self wants its own way, wants its own enjoyment, and to that end we ignore what God says; we ignore the new life God wants for us. The result is not only are the lives of our children impoverished but we also fail to contribute to the transformation of the world.
This is not to condemn all those who are divorced. It takes two to make a marriage work. We all have a free will. If one partner is set upon obtaining a divorce or if one partner is unfaithful, there is little the other can do to change that fact. Also, God does not expect us to remain in an abusive situation. God has no problem with self defense. Sometimes the best self defense is to remove ourselves from a dangerous situation. But in all these situations, there is someone who is not living their life according to Biblical teachings and that is the basic problem.
In the next blog, we will look at lawsuits between Christians.
