Marriage and Adultry

To bring up the subject of divorce and its possible consequences in today’s so called modern and “free society” can be somewhat of a sensitive issue. People usually have a bag full of excuses ready to justify “their” reasons of why they had ended either the marriage or relationship. In most cases, the reason why, regardless of the excuses, is usually centered around selfish ambition. In earlier years it was extremely difficult to dissolve a marriage: the party seeking the divorce needed to provide evidence to the court to prove that adultery had been committed, as adultery was just about the only excuse granted for divorce. Naturally, the difficulty behind getting a divorce is Biblically oriented.

The Old Testament laws setting out the rules of marriage were extremely difficult – until Jesus came along. He made it almost impossible to escape from marriage. Rather then lighten our already heavy Burdon of being within an undesirable marriage he baptized us with a rod instead. Again he confirmed the old law that only should adultery have been committed is there a justifiable ground for divorce. That wasn’t exactly what we wanted to hear. He even claimed that anyone who divorces his wife and marries another is committing adultery; and who so ever marries a divorced woman is committing adultery. He couldn’t have made it any rougher for us. Although today divorces are attained without too much effort, in reality, the law of God has not changed. Man has changed it for us. This is not unusual as man does enjoy the good life and will create laws to suit his life change. Than again, did man really change the law, or did Jesus have something to do with it?

Being a bit of a “sacrificial lamb” myself, I have often pondered the harshness behind the old law. Are there any loop holes? What about the guilty party that has committed the sinful act of adultery; what will be the consequences, seeing that we can no longer drag them outside the city gates and stone them to death? I used to be a regular at such events and made a picnic out of the occasion. It used to be the highlight of the week. Well, seeing that you can’t work out what the loop hole is I may have to tell you.

We don’t wish to leave the impression that God enjoys punishing the adulterer or demands the person’s blood. He prefers to leave this to the individual’s own conscience at the moment when they judge themselves. The first release of the law occurred at the time when Mary, the prostitute, was under threat of being stoned. The crowd that had gathered demanded an answer from him, whether or whether not, they should stone her for her sins. Those gathered knew that it was written law and that death was the consequence of the sin. Jesus, defying the old law, simply stated, “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” While he was saying this he was scribbling in the dirt, which leads us to believe that he may have been writing down the names of those gathered, and beside their names, possibly also writing the nature of each individual’s own sins. Jesus’ comment to Mary was simply, “Where are your accusers? Is there no one who condemns thee. Then neither shall I condemn thee. Go and sin no more.”

The main loop hole that Jesus introduced should be simple to understand, which says, “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, thou shalt not commit adultery:

But I say unto you, that whosoever looketh on a woman to {lust} after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.”

We should all try and understand the complexity behind the above saying. What Jesus is saying here is that the lustful thinking of the heart is regarded just as devastating as the physical act itself. He had then up-graded the old written law to perhaps more devastating proportion, where adultery is not just applicable to the physical act itself but also by lustful thinking. Which is really common sense. If the lust is present in the spirit then that lustful thinker can just as easily follow that urge and commit the act of adultery. In most cases the lustful “thought” is not pursued simply because the moment did not present the opportunity. Had the opportunity been there the person may well have acted upon the urge.

Although this law ties the noose that is already around our necks a little bit tighter…all right, a whole lot tighter…it does all the same, or should, slightly ease the conscience of anyone who has been in a situation where adultery has led them astray. Although they may have committed the ultimate physical act itself, there is no definite possible way that the one whom the adultery has been committed against can justifiably claim that she or he had not committed adultery before that within the heart against the other person. Because of this law we can now happily argue amongst ourselves on who is the bigger adulterer. It couldn’t have been me as I’m sure I only had lustful thoughts one hundred times. Does this make me an adulterer? If everyone followed Jesus’ advice by, “If thy eye causes thee to sin, yank it out and cast it away from thee,”, then the human race would be walking around eyeless within the first year. Perhaps it would set the ground work for our next evolutionary climb up the ladder. What’s the good of eyes; anyway…they only cause you to sin.

The spiritual union of marriage

In the majority of cases two individuals are bound by marriage simply because karma had decreed this. One reason why marriage was introduced was to encourage the individuals to stay together and resolve whatever difficulties may result from this marriage. Marriage is a good opportunity for spiritual advancement, but it is also one of the most difficult tasks to undertake. It was hoped, that being bound by marriage, the two individuals would eventually learn to love the other as much as they love themselves. In reality we are all self-centered with a great emphasis upon the “I”. Learning to share your life with another is very difficult as you need to surrender much of the personal and often private aspects of the “I”. Considering our weaknesses of running away from situations rather than to attempt a compromise to resolve whatever issues had presented themselves, laws were introduced to force these individuals to remain together. The resolving of the problems was considered so important that very strict laws became necessary, hence adultery was deemed the only justifiable excuse to discontinue with the marriage.

But why only through the act of adultery?

Adultery is more of a spiritual wound rather then a physical wound. Adultery bites deep…right into the spirit itself. “For this reason a man shall leave his mother and his father and cleave to his wife, and they shall join and become one flesh.” This saying should be viewed more in a spiritual perspective rather than in a physical. This principle has a focus upon spiritual evolution, the uniting of all, the “One” being. If the two have joined and become one flesh, then the act of adultery breaks the union, where they are no longer as one flesh, hence, “what God has joined together, let no man tear as under.” Any advanced spirit that is bound as one with another feels the wounds of adultery far more severely than the average individual. Simply because his spirit is too sensitized. Within the one wound many demons will surface. There is an overwhelming sense of betrayal and disloyalty, which in themselves are of the highest virtues. For the spirit knows that through loyalty great kingdoms of the past had been created and through betrayal and disloyalty they were later destroyed. The advanced spirit, having these virtues so burned into his inner Self, they become a natural part of the spirit flame, and when exercised against him, he is usually dumb founded and in shock that another spirit from the same creative Source can so needlessly break these so divine virtues and strike against him. The spirit does not necessarily understand that what is so natural to him may not yet be so infused in another.