5 minutes a day 5 days a week All the New Testament in a year

Is it biblical to make someone live as a hostage of conditional love? Would God make someone live alone when He Himself went through great lengths to have a relationship with man, even to the point that He wanted to drown all of humanity and start all over? I ask such questions due to the fact that there are certain religious sects that will not allow certain saints to find love after God has put asunder an abominable relationship. Here is a real situation: two dysfunctional kids, the boy just turned eighteen and the girl thirteen, and they were told they had to go into Mexico and not return without a marriage certificate. The girl grew up and realized she did not approve of the choices made for her and wanted an annulment. She was denied. This lady then went on to have multiple lovers throughout the twenty-two years of this terrible union. She eventually asked for a divorce, relinquished her parental rights, moved in with the man she was seeing, and then married him. Unfortunately, the man she was married to is not being allowed to find true love due to the fact that his spiritual peers say he cannot marry again because the woman is still his wife. Can this man have love?

Sincerely, Tragic Tale Bearer

Dear Tragic Tale Bearer,

The man is not married any longer. Yes, he has a right to remarry. Yes, this is a horrible story that punctuates why God hates divorce (Mal 2:16). So much goes wrong when people, for whatever reasons, enter into marriages hastily. Marriage is intended as a life-long agreement (1 Cor 7:39), and when it ends before “death do us part”, there is always sin involved. And wherever sin is, there is pain and suffering… even for christians (Heb 12:5-6). There is more than enough blame to grow around in situations of divorce, but ultimately we are left with the same reality – she committed adultery, and then they got a divorce. So what now?

The only reason that God permits christians to get divorced for is fornication (Matt 19:19). As you stated, that is what happened here. The man and woman are no longer married, and he has a right to find a new wife if he so chooses. Hopefully, if he ever does get married again, it will have a happier ending.

Know that the Bible HAS NOT been translated into every single language on the earth; there are still thousands of tribes out there that have not heard the gospel and do not have the Bible in their language.

Please be careful when making such assumptions. If you are going to disagree, again, you are simply wrong on this point. I know people right now who are out in Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, and the Philippines that are translating the Bible into languages that do not have it, RIGHT NOW.

Sincerely, The Linguist

Dear The Linguist,

The statement we made concerning translations can be found in this post. We said, “Now that the New Testament is complete and has spread to every nation and language, there is no need for miracles.” Though it is true that there are literally thousands of dialects that the Bible has not been translated into – the Bible is translated so that over 99% of mankind can read it in a language that they are fluent in. This doesn’t even account for people receiving the gospel message through someone preaching and speaking the Word. We often forget that many people depend on the gospel being spoken to them because they are illiterate. Many of these obscure settlements only have spoken languages – not written ones. The United Bible Society puts the total amount of languages and dialects that the Bible has been translated into at 2,479 as of Dec. 31, 2008.

Places like the Philippines do have pockets of aboriginal people with isolated dialects and cultures, but that notwithstanding, the process of translating the Bible into all the major languages of mankind is considered a resounding success. This fact is not intended to undermine the importance of bringing the Bible to as many of these aboriginal cultures as possible; it is simply to say that using the term ‘all’ is appropriate. When we say the Bible is translated into all languages, we are using the word ‘all’ in a non-technical sense. It is the same as saying, “I cleaned all of my house today” even though I’m sure dust could be found in some unseen corner. The Bible has indeed spread to all nations under heaven. We appreciate your zeal for the topic though.

5 minutes a day 5 days a week All the New Testament in a year

Was there ever a time that the churches of Christ taught that artificial birth control was always sinful?  Can you tell me the earliest teaching you can identify within the churches of Christ that teaches that artificial birth control is permissible?

Sincerely, History Lessons

Dear History Lessons,

Your question assumes that the title ‘church of Christ’ is the name of a denomination with a unified creed and leadership - it isn’t. The name ‘church of Christ’ is taken directly from the Bible (2 Thess 1:1). The church belongs to Christ because He purchased it with His blood (Acts 20:28). Though some groups that use the title ‘church of Christ’ are denominations, our congregation professes to only stand by the Bible and nothing else, just like the churches of the first century. Each congregation was independently led by elders and commended to the Lord’s guidance (Acts 14:23). Many people have attempted to classify these kinds of churches as another denomination (a quick Google or Wikipedia search shows the ways people have tried to define these congregations), but ultimately they are simply groups that have all independently asserted to use the Bible (and the Bible only) as their standard of measure.

The New Testament’s teachings on birth control (see this post for more on that topic) are the only place I can direct you to regarding the church of Christ’s teachings on the topic. Each individual person and congregation must study the Scriptures and rightly divide the Word concerning the subject of birth control (2 Tim 2:15)… as we seek to on any topic. There is no board of directors, theological center, or creed book that decides for us. God’s people should be beholden to His Word and His Word only. A faithful congregation turns to the Scriptures and imitates the first century church seen in the Bible. May Christ alone be our head and guide (Eph 5:23).