Ex-Church of Christ Support Board

The line I always heard in the CoC is remarriage was only permitted if the cause of the divorce was for adultery and was not for the person who committed the adultery. Of course there are numerous contradictory versions of this rule in the NT and Jesus's teachings. I understand some of the NICOC prohibit any remarriage or even divorce (this one is never clear to me when people say it).

Does anyone have a different version of what they were taught in the CoC?

Did anyone ever hear the contradictory positions discussed?

Any perspective on exactly how these positions were arrived at?

There are a subset of one cuppers that don't believe in divorce and remarriage at all. I never interacted with them so don't know why they hold such a view

B.H. wrote: ↑Sat Sep 28, 2024 12:12 pm There are a subset of one cuppers that don't believe in divorce and remarriage at all. I never interacted with them so don't know why they hold such a view

This is what Jesus said in Mark 10;11-12
1 He answered, “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. 12 And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.”

1 Corinthians 7:10–11: “To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband. But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife.”

And there are more conflicting statements about this.

There was a preacher of some notoriety and fame in the Appalachian counties of Eastern Kentucky, I believe his name was Roy Hall, who taught that whatever happened before baptism did not matter. This position was disdainfully dubbed "baptism washes away marriages" and caused some division within the rural churches. Those with closer contacts to the cities like Lexington, Louisville, and Bowling Green of course taught whatever was fashionable at Guardian of Truth Foundation at the time. Then the 'mental divorce' doctrine came out and caused a rift within GOT.

Hall's position is actually in keeping with some of the pastoral writings of the early Church Fathers! Of course, no one in the Coc reads those; they were Catholic. The caveat is that the Fathers were typically addressing people who had never been in Christian culture. Whereas, at Hall's time, it was hard to have been raised in anything except Christianish culture in Appalachian Kentucky. I think the old man died in the early 80s.

B.H. wrote: ↑Sat Sep 28, 2024 12:12 pm There are a subset of one cuppers that don't believe in divorce and remarriage at all. I never interacted with them so don't know why they hold such a view

Remember the Catholic Church does not grant divorces. They are not opposed to civil divorces as long as a person does not remarry as they view it just as a change in legal/financial status and not a change in marital status. Once married catholics are always married, the only way to remarry is to convince the church you were never really married (annulment). If a Catholic is civily divorce and remarries in civil ceremony they are not allowed to receive absolution or communion. This is even worse than the CoC!

B.H. wrote: ↑Sat Sep 28, 2024 12:12 pm There are a subset of one cuppers that don't believe in divorce and remarriage at all. I never interacted with them so don't know why they hold such a view

that is interesting because Jesus clearly said in the Bible that divorce and remarriage is okay when one partner commits adultery.

What I heard taught was that it wasn't really "ok" but was just "permitted" for the "innocent party".

faithandmore wrote: ↑Mon Oct 07, 2024 11:18 am

B.H. wrote: ↑Sat Sep 28, 2024 12:12 pm There are a subset of one cuppers that don't believe in divorce and remarriage at all. I never interacted with them so don't know why they hold such a view

that is interesting because Jesus clearly said in the Bible that divorce and remarriage is okay when one partner commits adultery.

That is a CoC teaching, Jesus is contradictory on the issue. In some places he says no divorce or marrying someone divorce.

Remember the Catholic Church does not grant divorces.

But it does grant annulments, if the marriage partners didn't really plan to commit to the relationship -- or something like that.

I think the Catholic Church can't simply announce a change in doctrine, because that would undercut their authority in the eyes of their adherents.
So for example, Catholic doctrine teaches that baptism is required for salvation because of inherited sin. But the Catholic Church now has something called "a baptism of desire" that essentially means that if the person has a good heart and would have been baptized if they had only understood/known to do it, then they receive all the benefits of baptism even without undergoing baptism.

Excerpt: Recent doctrinal development has made clear that it is possible for one to receive baptism of desire by an implicit desire. This is the principle that makes it possible for non-Christians to be saved. If they are genuinely committed to seeking and living by the truth, then they are implicitly committed to seeking Jesus Christ and living by his commands; they just don’t know that he is the Truth they’re seeking (cf. John 14:6).
https://www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/baptism-of-desi

In contrast, there are some in the hardline COC who would doubt the salvation of someone killed on the way to the baptistry.

In my time around the CoC, I noticed there were a lot of different takes on the whole divorce and remarriage thing. The adultery clause was always the key point for some, but it still felt like there were different levels of how strict people were about it. Some seemed to believe remarriage was basically off-limits unless adultery was involved, while others were a bit more flexible with the circumstances. It always seemed like the teachings on it weren't super consistent, depending on who you talked to. I’ve heard a lot of mixed opinions on how to interpret Jesus’ teachings, which is probably where a lot of the contradictions came from.