A Letter to Neale

Reader Question:

Dear Neale,

I am currently having problems with the scriptures of the Bible as they relate to divorce and remarriage.

They say that there are only two grounds for divorce: sexual infidelity or the desertion of a believer by a nonbeliever. I left my wife about five and a half years ago, with our divorce three years ago, for neither of those reasons. Granted, it was wrong according to scripture.

Now I am dating a lady whom I love (and who is also divorced). It appears that if we go by the scriptures we should not get married. What happened to forgiveness?

Why should we not enter into marriage and develop a relationship that would honor God? I guess I'm looking for permission of some sort to take our relationship beyond its present state.

Jim
Dublin, OH

Neale Responds

Dear Jim,

You can say that again! That's exactly what you want. Permission. Like so many others, you feel you need permission to act on what your heart tells you is obviously so. This is the greatest blockage to human happiness I have ever observed, and it is epidemic among the peoples of the earth.

Go, Jim, go! Do what your heart tells you to do! There is no "right" or "wrong" in these matters.

The scriptures to which you refer were written by fearful men who sought to control the mass of the people by projecting their own fear onto others. These writings are not authoritative. There is a place where the truth lives, and it is within your heart.

Listen to the feelings of your soul. You do not need my permission to love this lady in the way that you wish, Jim. You need your own.

Hugs,