The Gospels are full of stories of people who didn’t manage to understand Jesus’ parables when he taught them without Jesus sitting down and explaining them using small words. Of course, even the more obvious of his statements can be ‘misunderstood’ by idiots people trying to prove a point.
Over the weekend, CNN’s home page showed a picture of someone holding a sign that read “Jesus said marriage is between one man and one woman”. Most people acknowledge that Jesus actually never said anything about this one way or another – the typical scriptures that are quoted come from the Old Testament or Paul’s letters. So I looked up the scripture reference cited on the sign: Matthew 19:4-6, which reads:
4 "Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,' 5 and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'? 6 So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."
Of course, if you read it in context, it’s clear what this is actually about:
3 Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?"
4 "Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,' 5 and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'? 6 So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."
7 "Why then," they asked, "did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?"
8 Jesus replied, "Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning.
9 I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery."
So why aren’t conservatives pushing for a constitutional amendment to ban divorce?
In the spirit of this debate, I’m going to quote President Bush to “prove” that he supports a constitutional ban on divorce:
“For ages, in every culture, human beings have understood that marriage is critical to the well-being of families. And because families pass along values and shape character, marriage is also critical to the health of society. Our policies should aim to strengthen families, not undermine them.”
There you have it.
Posted by Mike at June 6, 2006 08:17 AM