AboutJoe Norman Expertise I can answer questions regarding acceptable worship, organization of the church, or any apsect of the Christian life. I am the son of a preacher and have studied the Bible from cover to cover since I was 12 years old. I am strong in my research skills and do not follow teachings of men. Many will label me as conservative and some might label me as liberal, but I just seek to be biblical. I understand proper exegesis and hermeneutics and apply them. My desire is to share my knowledge of God's Word with others. Please always keep in mind that none of us who are listed as experts here are divinely inspired and therefore it is possible to get incorrect answers from any one of us. Study the Scriptures and decide for yourself if what is taught is true.
Experience I am the 4th generation in my family to be a faithful member of the church of Christ. I was raised by a preacher and have studied the Bible everyday since I was twelve. I am 44 yrs old now. I am not a "scholar", but I am very familiar with the scriptures.
Organizations member of the church of Christ, served as a Deacon for a few years at LakeShore church of Christ in Waco, Tx. I currently live in the North Dallas area and worship with the Lewisville church of Christ.
I have been reading some of your comments about divorce and remarriage and the "traditional view". A number of church of Christ members including myself have been trying to teach or re-teach others on this subject. Do you have any publications that we are able to purchase on your research and exegesis of the scripture on this matter?
Thanks Jane
Answer Hi Jane,
I do not have any of my own publications you can purchase on my research and exegesis of the scripture on this matter. But I can give you some of the books I have read and on-line materials. You may also copy and paste all of my public answers to people who have asked me about MDR.
The best book I have read so far on MDR is called, When Marriages Bomb, There Is A Balm In Jesus Christ By R Lavelle Layfield. His book is available everywhere I believe. I got mine from Amazon.com. There are two people who have written much on MDR and you can find a large amount of their material online. Their names are Olan Hicks and Al Maxey. Although I do appreciate their study and work on the MDR subject, I must caution you that they are not on solid ground in many other areas of Christianity. They reject the pattern principle as well as Direct Command, Approved Example and Necessary Inference.
Another excellent source is brother Robert Water's web-site, Total Health. He has vast amounts of material for all to study. Here is the link for his website.
I have also read "Not Under Bondage" by James D. Bales as well as Marriage, Divorce and Remarriage in the Early Church by Pat Harrell.
These two books are old. Both of these men at least mostly continued to hold to the "traditional" view of MDR, but were among the few who began to see the error in the traditional view. Brother Bales believed that if there is a Christian married to a non-Christian but the non-Christian one day wants out of the marriage, the Christian is obligated to give the divorce and the Christian is then free to marry a Christian. Pat Harrell's book was very historic in it's analysis. He researched ancient documents to attempt to understand how MDR was viewed in the early church. What he found was that never in the first 400 yrs after the church was established was anyone ever told they had an adulterous marriage and must divorce and either live celibate or return to the original spouse to make their lives right with God. Also, no one was ever forbidden water baptism due to their marital state. He held to the "traditional" view for the most part, but did not think a second marriage was a perpetual state of adultery. Nor did he believe anyone should be refused water baptism due to their marital status.
There are countless debates I found on MDR all over the internet as well. I can't remember them all, but I carefully read both sides of this topic. I grew up believing the "traditional" view as well. But my dad, who was a preacher for nearly 60 yrs stopped believing the "traditional" view in the 1960's. His dad, who was an elder, also didn't hold to the "traditional" view. I am not sure when he saw the error in the "traditional" view, but he did. I didn't find all this out until about 5 yrs ago when I went through my divorce and talked to my dad and studied with him on MDR as well. Since then, I have studied and continue to study this topic on my own. But I try to spend more time in God's Word than I do reading outside un-inspired teachings. I actually started seeing flaws in the "traditional" view when I was about 16 yrs old.
Anyway, I hope that I have answered your question well and given you helpful information to aide you in your study and research. If I can ever be of service, please let me know. May God bless you and all who are working with you to help correct this terrible and destructive false teaching.
