Surprised By Remarriage

With frank, refreshing candor, author Ginger Kolbaba relays true stories and examples to teach couples how to make second marriages successful and joyful.

Shares in-depth stories of seven remarried couples to reveal the unique challenges they have faced while pursuing lasting intimacy and familial harmony, offering specific advice for navigating the emotional preconceptions, social pressures and complicated dynamics that impact secondary marriages. 50,000 first printing.

Remarrying couples are looking for real answers to help them build successful marriages that last a lifetime. Knowing God’s plan for a biblical marriage is foundational to finding true fulfillment. This up-to-date and easy-to-use premarital guide will help individuals, couples, pastors, counselors, small groups, or premarital classes prepare for the adventure of remarriage. Couples will learn not only about each other, but also about themselves, their relational skills, and their compatibility as a couple. Sidebars from experts will discuss the spiritual, emotional, social, relational, and physical intricacies of being remarried and provide extensive resources for continued marital education and growth. Each chapter will also include a section called Plus! that deals with second-marriage challenges as well as Plus Kids! that deals with blended-family challenges.

Will God allow me to divorce my abusive husband? Would it be a sin if I remarried? Divorce and remarriage are major pastoral issues facing every church. Yet when we turn to Scripture for guidance, we often hear conflicting messages about its teachings. David Instone-Brewer shows how, when properly understood, the New Testament provides faithful, realistic and wise guidance for the church today.

To many, the New Testament's teaching on divorce and remarriage seems to be both impractical and unfair. The "plain" meaning of the texts allows for divorce only in cases of adultery or desertion, and it does not permit remarriage until the death of one's former spouse. But are these proscriptions the final word for Christians today? Are we correctly reading the scriptures that address these issues? By looking closely at the biblical texts on divorce and remarriage in light of the first-century Jewish and Greco-Roman world, this book shows that the original audience of the New Testament heard these teachings differently. Through a careful exploration of the background literature of the Old Testament, the ancient Near East, and especially ancient Judaism, David Instone-Brewer constructs a biblical view of divorce and remarriage that is wider in scope than present-day readings. Among the important findings of the book are that both Jesus and Paul condemned divorce without valid grounds and discouraged divorce even for valid grounds; that both Jesus and Paul affirmed the Old Testament grounds for divorce; that the Old Testament allowed divorce for adultery and for neglect or abuse; and that both Jesus and Paul condemned remarriage after an invalid divorce but not after a valid divorce. Instone-Brewer shows that these principles are not only different from the traditional church interpretation of the New Testament but also directly relevant to modern relationships. Enhanced with pastoral advice on how to apply the biblical teaching in today's context, this volume will be a valuable resource for anyone seeking serious answers about married life.

Will God allow me to divorce my abusive husband? Would it be a sin if I remarried? Divorce and remarriage are major pastoral issues facing every church. Yet when we turn to Scripture for guidance, we often hear conflicting messages about its teachings. David Instone-Brewer shows how, when properly understood, the New Testament provides faithful, realistic and wise guidance of crucial importance and practical help for the church today.

Consecutive polygamy (as many husbands or wives as you like but only one at a time) is now an accepted norm in contemporary society. Hardly surprising, since the social, legal, moral and financial restraints holding marriages together for a lifetime have been steadily eroded in a relativist age where anything goes. What is surprising is that divorce and remarriage are becoming as common inside the church as outside, even among Christian leaders and especially in the Evangelical stream. Believers have been outspoken about such issues as abortion and homosexuality though their Lord Jesus said nothing about either. He did say quite a lot about the subject of this book but there is either a reluctance to take his teaching at face value or an eagerness to enlarge his ‘exception’ until it becomes the rule. This volume primarily appeals to those for whom the Bible is the final authority in all matters of belief and behaviour, especially those who preach to, teach and counsel others. The author believes that the church should be leading the world uphill rather than following the world downhill. David Pawson has a worldwide teaching ministry, particularly for church leaders. He is known to many through Christian broadcasting and is the author of numerous books.

For years, women have shared their stories with Lustrea through Moody Radio's Midday Connection, the National Religious Broadcaster's 2008 Program of the Year Award-winning radio show. In this work, she shares pieces of them and her own never-before-told personal story.