“In Cases Such as These”: Wayne Grudem’s Third Reason Divorce is Justified According to 1 Corinthians 7:15

(I wrote this article in 2019 on Medium)

The topic of divorce is always a hot button issue in the church. In general, Christians know that God hates divorce. This comes from Malachi 2:16 and is the “go-to” Scripture reference when pastors are dealing with a married couple in their congregation struggling through marriage, or when Christians are helping another brother or sister endure difficult seasons of life in marriage. In general, the church has promoted only two legitimate reasons for divorce, infidelity (Matt 5:32; 19:9), and abandonment by an unbelieving spouse (1 Cor 7:15).

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Male and Female Differences: Part 1 – Debunking the “Men are Visual” Lie

The Problem:

The belief that God made men visual is a myth that has been directed at congregations for years. Churches and ministries alike have been troubled with the vast number of men addicted to porn and didn’t know how to explain it. Blaming immodest women has been the catch-all explanation for why “good” men stumble and is used as an excuse for Christian men to explain why they had a moment of weakness when they submitted to lustful thoughts after being visually aroused, which led to masturbation or viewing porn.

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Understanding the Social Construct of Blackness

As a non “white” or non “black” Christian looking in as the church attempts to makes sense of whiteness, I have many concerns. When Christian’s resort to using terms like whiteness or blackness to explain the myriad of sinfulness expressions of partiality and with the current conversation more focused on the social construct of whiteness, very little attention is given to the social construct of blackness.

Psychological theories on Black racial identity began about 48 years ago with the premise that Americans with darker skin needed to find their own cultural identity.  William E. Cross’s 1971 Nigrescence Black Racial Identity theory proposed to define black identity by explaining the stages that a person of color goes through as they seek to “become more authentic in their identity”. Cross initially entitled his theory the Negro to Black Conversion Experience: Toward a Psychology of Black Liberation. In essence, Cross sought to offer a “process of becoming “Black“, with a capital B.

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Twice A Year Bible Reading Plan

For 17 years my husband has been consistently and faithfully reading his Bible daily, without a reading plan. Our local pastor recently shared that he reads the Bible 3 times a year. WOW!

I have tried several plans but was never truly satisfied with them. I have enjoyed the chronological plan a few times but I knew from the beginning that I would not get to the New Testament until the end of the year. I often don’t want to wait to get into the life of Christ or the events and circumstances that led to the creation of the NT church. I needed to hear, sooner rather than later, Paul’s admonishment and encouragement to believers because I need those reminders often, in the context that they were written in.

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For Counselors: Biblical Change and Insight

What is the nature of Biblical change and how do we help those we counsel gain insight?

As Christians who counsel, we need to understand the distinction between Biblical change and insight. Christians who seek counseling will have some degree of insight into their lives, enough to know that something is amiss, either in their interactions with others or how they react to daily life. They might not know what is going wrong or why it’s going wrong, but they know something is not right.

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