Marriage (Long post)

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> Me:
> I agree but this is a "loophole" that Jesus put there.  As
> many who have seen, this is not an "easy out."
> 
The "loophole" isn't in what Jesus said, it's how people are 
interpreting it now days.  Jesus said except for the cause of 
"fornication".  My dictionary says that "fornication" is any immoral 
sexual act that is not deemed "adultery".  Now, I'll be the first to 
admit I'm not very good at debating an issue.  I've probably been 
doing a poor job at explaining my position on this so I'll take my 
time and go through it as best as I can.  I know I said I was going 
to drop it earlier, so please bear with me.

I want to start out by saying that I am not trying to be anybody's 
judge.  I don't have anything against anybody here, and I hope I'm 
not coming across any different.

Starting with the Old Testament law...

Deut. 22-13. If any man take a wife, and go in unto her, and hate 
her, 14  And give occasions of speech against her, and bring up an 
evil name upon her, and say, I took this woman, and when I came to 
her, I found her not a maid: 

A man takes a wife, and goes in to her.  In the process he finds out 
that she is "not a maid"  i.e.  she's guilty of fornication.

15  Then shall the father of the damsel, and her
mother, take and bring forth [the tokens of] the damsel's virginity
unto the elders of the city in the gate: 16  And the damsel's father
shall say unto the elders, I gave my daughter unto this man to wife,
and he hateth her; 17  And, lo, he hath given occasions of speech
[against her], saying, I found not thy daughter a maid; and yet these
[are the tokens of] my daughter's virginity. And they shall spread the
cloth before the elders of the city. 18  And the elders of that city
shall take that man and chastise him; 19  And they shall amerce him in
an hundred [shekels] of silver, and give [them] unto the father of the
damsel, because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of
Israel: and she shall be his wife; he may not put her away all his
days.

If the father of the woman brings proof that she is still a maid, the 
man has to stay with her.

 20  But if this thing be true, [and the tokens of] virginity be
not found for the damsel: 21  Then they shall bring out the damsel to
the door of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone
her with stones that she die: because she hath wrought folly in
Israel, to play the whore in her father's house: so shalt thou put
evil away from among you. 

If the man was telling the truth about her, she was stoned.

New Testament...
Of course, now nobody is stoned.  Praise God for that!!!

Matt 5:32  But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his 
wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit 
adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth 
adultery. 

A lot of people say that "adultery" is covered by "fornication", but 
let's look at this more closely.  Here, Jesus told the same thing to 
the Pharisees.

Matt 19:3. The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and 
saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for 
every cause? 4 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, 
that he which made [them] at the beginning made them male and female, 
5  And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and 
shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? 6  
Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God 
hath joined together, let not man put asunder. 7  They say unto him, 
Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to 
put her away? 8  He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of 
your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the 
beginning it was not so. 9 And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put 
away his wife, except [it be] for fornication, and shall marry 
another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put 
away doth commit adultery. 

The Pharisees knew the O.T. Law backwards and forewards...or at least 
they thought they did.    They were asking Jesus about divorce in the 
context of the Law.  Jesus answered them, using the Law
in Deuteronomy 22 when he said "except [it be] for fornication".

Here the bible doesn't even mention fornication.
Mark 10:11  And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his 
wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her. 
12  And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another,
 she committeth adultery. 

Luke 16:18  Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, 
committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from 
[her] husband committeth adultery. 

So, what is Jesus talking about then?  Well, if on your wedding night 
(or the first time you and your spouse comes together, so to speak) 
and you discover that your spouse has fornicated, then you are free 
to remarry.  If you forgive your spouse of the fornication, then you 
can't bring that up again.  If your spouse is then unfaithful to you, 
it's not fornication...it's adultery.

Like I said, I'm not trying to judge anybody.  To anybody who is 
remarried after you came to God all I can say is to seek God and find 
out from Him what to do.  Whatever you do, please don't take what 
I've said the wrong way!!!  I'd like to point out, though, this 
doesn't apply to somebody who remarried * before* they come to God. 

I hope that even if I don't convince anybody of my position I've at 
least clarified it and done so without offending anybody.

-Glen