Christian Living

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Larry Lilly's Letter Wednesday September 21, 2011

Over the years I have been dumbfounded on several occasions by pronouncements from Pat Robertson of the 700 Club fame. I was hit again with the numbing dumbstick last week when Pat advised a man to divorce his wife who is afflicted with Alzheimer's Disease. This article is not an attack on Pat as he does such a good job himself.

I thought about this for a day or two and while musing a statement calling Pat’s hand on this subject and in effect covering many of the debilitating problems as we age touched me and so I share it with you. On September 13, 2011 Joni Erickson Tada wrote:

"When a Christian leader views marriage on a sliding scale, what does this say to the millions of couples who must deal daily with catastrophic injuries and illnesses?"

"At the Joni and Friends International Disability Center, we encounter thousands of couples who, despite living with serious disabling conditions, showcase the grace of God in their weakness every day. Marriage is designed to be a picture of God's sacrificial love for us. Alzheimer's disease is never an 'accident' in a marriage; it falls under the purview of God's sovereignty. In the case of someone with Alzheimer's, this means God's unconditional and sacrificial love has an opportunity to be even more gloriously displayed in a life together!"

Being rather old fashioned and still insisting that any wedding ceremony performed by me must include love, honor and cherish in sickness or in health one to the other I found Pat's statement showing secular kindness sans Christ love.

If we are taught in the Bible, and we are, that we who are strong are to bear the burdens of the weak, than this truth becomes exponential within the bounds of marriage. It is often taught that the intimate act that consummates the marriage is the ultimate expression of intimacy. This is good as far as it goes.

It is more biblical to grasp that a more ultimate expression is to continue to love as Christ when one or the other in marriage is incapacitated in some function whatever it may be or as in Alzheimer's almost all function, to abide by the vows made in health.

If Christ stands by us when the storms of life are raging, shouldn't we stand by the other when they are getting hit with storms that ravage them?

The idea that Christ would abandon us if we are incapacitated is reprehensible and unscriptural. The very thought of such action toward our spouse is equally reprehensible. Hebrews 13:5 "Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." (Emphasis mine).

Larry Lilly Copyright © 2011 Use with credit

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