Know Your Bible

VOL. 12 April 7, 2013 NO. 10

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SELECTING A COMPANION

A happy home begins with a wise choice of a marriage partner. We therefore submit the following questions as a guide for our young people as they seek out their companion for life.

1. Is this person eligible for marriage? There are those who have a right to marry according to the laws of our state, but who do not have a right to marry according to the law of God. God's authority is supreme, and the Christian must abide by His law whenever there is a conflict between His law and governmental law.

God's law is that only those who are divorced for the cause of fornication have a right to remarry. "And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery, and whoever marries her ho is divorced commits adultery" (Matthew 19:9). If one's marriage partner is guilty of marital infidelity, he can put that partner away for that cause, and marry another. If the divorce is for any other cause, he is ineligible for marriage.

2. Is this person a Christian? Many problems can arise when a Christian is married to a non-Christian, especially when it is the wife who is the Christian. Before any young lady marries a non-Christian, she should consider the following problems which often face the Christian in a mixed marriage:

a. Problems in attending services - She should ask herself, "What will I do if my husband some Lord's day drives away in the car, leaving me with no transportation to the services?" "What will I do if my husband announces that his company is moving us to some city where no church of the Lord meets?" Many women have faced these problems.

b. Problems in giving - The young lady loves the Lord and His work, and wants to give liberally in support of it. Her husband, however, does not share her convictions. He feels that a dollar is plenty to give.

c. Problems in training children - Some have succeeded in bringing up their children to be Christians without the help of their companions. Eunice succeeded with Timothy. But the influence of a father is great, and many are the women who have not been able to overcome this influence to see their children become Christians and remain faithful.

d. Problems in overcoming the influence of one's companion - Marrying with the hope of reforming one's companion is a dangerous thing. Often the companion is lifted to a higher standard, but seldom to the standard of a Christian. Instead, as the non-Christian's standards are raised, the Christian's standards are lowered, so that the two meet somewhere in between. The young lady should realize that the man she marries will be the greatest influence of an earthly nature on her life, and she should ask herself, "Will this man help me to go to heaven?"

e. Emotional problems - Recently a godly woman, having just received word of her husband's death in an automobile accident, cried, "Why couldn't it have been me or one of the children, for my husband was not ready to die?"

Is the reader thinking she will convert her husband after marriage? She may be able to do so, but statistics show that her chances are not very good. The risk is too great. The only safe course is for Christians to marry Christians.

3. Does this person possess strength of character? Many boys and girls seem to want to do right, but are just too easily influenced by their associates or by the circumstances which surround them. Such weakness of character does not make for a good marriage partner. If one wants a happy home, he should choose a companion who is dependable, whose word can be trusted, who has the strength to do right, even when all around him are doing wrong.

After all, if that young man or woman lies to his parents or employer, he will some day lie to you. If he is excessively jealous and possessive during courtship, he will manifest the same weaknesses after marriage. If he is quick-tempered -- or flirty -- or a "show-off" -- or a spendthrift -- or a "tightwad" -- now, he will be after marriage. One cannot marry a moral weakling, and expect a happy home.

Yes, there will be faults and eccentricities that must be accepted and tolerated in any happy relationship between two people. But there are certain conditions that are practically intolerable, and we hope that this article will help some young person avoid such.

---Bill Hall

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IS YOUR BULB BURNT OUT?

A man came into a garage the other day and requested that a mechanic check a noise in the engine of his car. Sure enough, a bearing was burned out due to a clogged oil line. ``But,'' the frustrated man exclaimed ``the light on the dash never indicated anything to be wrong.'' So they checked the warning light and found that the bulb was burned out. The bulb cost 55 cents, the bearing would be 90 dollars.

Conscience is somewhat like the warning light in your car. Yet there are certain circumstances under which the conscience will not work. Paul speaks of those who have their conscience “seared with a hot iron'' (1 Tim. 4:2). The idea here is that which we have of branding or cauterizing. It is the placing of a red hot iron against the flesh which burns or sears it over and seals it up. The area affected becomes dry, hard and insensitive. It describes a conscience which will allow a person to indulge in evil and error without any concern, or a conscience which fails to dictate in matters of right and wrong.

If our conscience does not dictate any moral restraint or judge our thoughts and motives, then we ought to become very much concerned. If you can deliberately miss the worship service without any pangs of conscience you ought to check your conscience. If your conscience fails to warn you when it comes to practicing that which is known to be wrong, then something is wrong with your conscience. And unless the matter is corrected, you are heading toward disaster. Some people seem to enjoy boasting about how their conscience never bothers them or interferes with anything they want to do. If this is the case with you, let me suggest that you have a spiritual checkup. Your bulb might be burned out.

---Selected

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Know Your Bible" is e-mailed weekly by the church of Christ which meets at 112 Roberts Avenue in Wise, Virginia. If you know of others who might benefit from the articles contained in this bulletin, we would be glad to have you submit their e-mail addresses and we will include them in next week's mailing. If you are receiving this bulletin and do not wish to continue to do so, please e-mail us with your desire to be removed from the mailing list and we will remove your address promptly. Continue to the bottom of this page and further instructions will be given as to how you may contact us.

--- E.R. Hall, Jr.

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