"Marry only in the Lord", along with other verses, Jehovah's commands, or Paul's advice?

by miseryloveselders 21 Replies latest jw friends

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  miseryloveselders

  WT June 1, 2004 pages 22-23. Do Your Circumstances Control Your Life? I typed the first part and the last part of the paragraph in question so as to avoid the filler.

  We too may face situations for which we could be tempted to seek unscriptural solutions. For example, are you discouraged because you have no yet found a suitable marriage mate? If so, avoid any temptation to disobey Jehovah's command to marry "only in the Lord." (1 Cor 7:39)

  Yes, all of us must work hard to make the best of our circumstances and put forth effort to give Jehovah something to bless. As we do so, let us be determined to wait on Jehovah for the perfect solution.-Micah 7:7

  This verse amongst several other verses have been on my mind as of late. I was browsing some old articles I came across while doing some cleaning, and that paragraph stood out to me. They labeled 1 Cor 7:39 as a direct commandement from God even though it was the Apostle Paul who penned the letter.

  What bothers me about this, is something else that Paul penned in that same letter, and that same chapter. He wrote, "To the rest I say this, yes I not the Lord, If any brother has a wife who is not a believer, and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her. And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer, and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.-1 Cor 7:12-14

  In those verses, Paul clearly indicates that the position being taken towards an existing marriage with an unbeliever, is his position, his decision, his thoughts, and his recommendation. Granted the argument can be made that its reasonable advise, as it would be another problem amongst typical problems found within marriages. At the same time, I don't believe its a commandment from God, as much as it was Paul's advice. Considering all of that, how much of the Bible is the actual word of God, and how much is it the word of men?
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  blondie

  Did Moses marry in the Lord?

  Did Joseph marry in the Lord?
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  james_woods

  Did Joseph marry in the Lord?

  Rutherford? Apparantly not --- as he kicked her to the curb.
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  I quit!

  Considering all of that, how much of the Bible is the actual word of God, and how much is it the word of men?

  Yes, there's that. Also remember Paul never was married so he wasn't speaking from personal experience.

  It does make sense to marry someone that believes the same way you do but as all of us on this board know people's beliefs can change over time so you had better marry someone who is tolerant of of other beliefs and someone you really enjoy being with not just someone who goes to the same church or whatever as you do.
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  transhuman68

  Paul was actually slightly unhinged. If you read 2 Cor 12: 1-5 it's easy to see that he was away with the fairies. He actually thought that he was a part of Christ, and that Christ was a part of him.

  Only some of the NT book attributed to him were actually written by him, and even 1 Corinthians has paragraphs inserted by later revisionist writers, so it's very difficult to know what Paul really believed.
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  PSacramento

  Paul spoke for himself and in the passages that he spoke that he believed was being spoken to him by Christ, he said so.

  That said, Paul's advice to "marry only in the Lord", means what?

  The Unmarried and the Widows

  25 Now concerning virgins, I have no command of the Lord, but I give my opinion as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy. 26 I think that, in view of the impending e crisis, it is well for you to remain as you are. 27 Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife. 28 But if you marry, you do not sin, and if a virgin marries, she does not sin. Yet those who marry will experience distress in this life, f and I would spare you that. 29 I mean, brothers and sisters, g the appointed time has grown short; from now on, let even those who have wives be as though they had none, 30 and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no possessions, 31 and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.

  32 I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord; 33 but the married man is anxious about the affairs of the world, how to please his wife, 34 and his interests are divided. And the unmarried woman and the virgin are anxious about the affairs of the Lord, so that they may be holy in body and spirit; but the married woman is anxious about the affairs of the world, how to please her husband. 35 I say this for your own benefit, not to put any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and unhindered devotion to the Lord.

  36 If anyone thinks that he is not behaving properly toward his fiancée, h if his passions are strong, and so it has to be, let him marry as he wishes; it is no sin. Let them marry. 37 But if someone stands firm in his resolve, being under no necessity but having his own desire under control, and has determined in his own mind to keep her as his fiancée, i he will do well. 38 So then, he who marries his fiancée j does well; and he who refrains from marriage will do better.

  39 A wife is bound as long as her husband lives. But if the husband dies, k she is free to marry anyone she wishes, only in the Lord. 40 But in my judgment she is more blessed if she remains as she is. And I think that I too have the Spirit of God.
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  Mad Sweeney

  I consider Paul the first successful apostate leader.

  He totally ruined what Christ began, assuming the gospel accounts are somewhat on the mark. Paul's version of Christianity is nothing like what Christ described to his followers. Christ prophesied about "oppressive wolves" coming into Christianity teaching their own twisted BS.

  Christ was a lot more like Buddha, Krishna, and Lao Tzu than he was like Paul.
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  PSacramento

  Paul was quite oppressive:

  The Gift of Love

  13 If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, a but do not have love, I gain nothing.

  4 Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

  8 Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. 9 For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; 10 but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, b but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. 13 And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

  and:

  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

  and of course:

  Romans 14:1-23 "Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things. For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables. Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him...One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind...But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ...Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother's way."

  and:

  1 Corinthians 10:31-32 "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, orwhatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God:"
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  EmptyInside

  Well,in two weeks,the Watchtower study is going to be about making the most out of singleness. I always found those articles rather condescending and depressiong.

  No, field service isn't a cure to loneliness.

  And I was willing to wait to "marry only in the Lord" when I still believed it all. But,since, I no longer believe that this is the one true religion. I'm no longer limited in my choices for marriage. I just wish I hadn't taken so long to figure that out.
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  miseryloveselders

  Thanks for your comments everybody.

  Whats on my mind about these verses is that it flies in the face of those who say that the Bible is the word of God. They'll throw 2 Tim 3:16, 17 at you, however in this letter that Paul penned to the congregation in Corinth, he clearly states he was giving HIS OWN opinion on matters, and NOT THAT OF THE LORD. However the WT manipulates that text calling it a direct commandment from God. The WT isn't the only Christian denomination guilty of that kind of dishonesty. To be fair, it might not even be dishonesty as much as delusion and not reading the texts with a proper perspective.

  Another thing, considering 2 Tim 3:16, 17, when Paul stated that "all scripture is inspired of God", what scriptures was he referring to? He couldn't have been referring to his own letters to various congregations at that time. Yet, the WT and other denominations expect us to believe that to be so.