Tony Evans Speaks Out on Divorce and Remarriage (Tony Evans Speaks Out On.. Booklet Series)

Rating:
Summary: Excellent resource with a high view of marriage.
Review: In a very short & concise book, Tony Evans gets right to the point about divorce and the possibility of remarriage. Evans promotes the high view of marriage in that he shows that it is a covenant relationship rather than a contractual relationship. However, he also demonstrates that there are a few biblical conditions for divorce although he is quite clear that divorce is what God allows because we are so sinful; the Bible never endorses divorce under any circumstances. Evans promotes the idea that no Christian should consider divorce unless his/her church says that he/she has biblical grounds for considering divorce.I highly recommend this book to anyone (Christian or non-christian) who is contemplating divorce or has had divorce action filed against them

Rating:
Summary: Hands marital morality to the church and the state
Review: In addition to accepting one of the popular evangelical models on divorce (where adultery gives grounds for divorce, as does desertion by a non-believer) Mr Evans has a fair few novel ideas:-
1) God is concerned only with "legal" marriages - those recognised by the state. But as a marriage in one country may or may not be recognised in another, this does not address the issue of which country's law is to be followed.
2) Decisions on divorce are effectively left to the local church. The church should seek to resolve marriage conflicts through the Matt 18 process of conflict resolution. If the decision of the church is not accepted then they get to expel the person who disagrees. Mr Evans then applies Lev. 18v29 to suggest that being cut off from your people brings your marriage to an end. This raises more questions than it answers. Can a group of disgruntled divorcees set up a church with an attitude to divorce that they find favourable, and how does their authority differ from others whose church takes a different line?
3) Mr Evans also believes that an illegitimate divorce leaves you still married, but it is by no means clear which church's decision should be treated as legitimate if they disagree, and what the effect is on future marriages.
4) He suggests all capital crimes are grounds for divorce, as the person responsible should have been killed and that would have freed their partner. However this ignores the example of David and Bathsheba. David had committed adultery, a capital offence - but his marriages, kingdom and everything stayed in place - God did not suddenly pretend that David was really dead when he was actually alive.
5) He suggests the church can determine where there has been "spiritual death" and that this constitutes grounds for divorce.
6) He suggests that a conversion gives Christians a new life and so previous marriages and divorces do not restrict them from future marriage.
Overall Mr Evans uses an over-ambitious method of interpretation which treats modern disputes between spouses as part of early church discipline and which relies on sticking pieces of the Bible which refer to divorce together with parts which have nothing to do with it. It is not clear why the Bible has any rules about divorce if the church has such absolute sway, and it is unclear which church is right when they conflict. Mr Evans approach takes the final decision about many divorces away from the Bible and gives it to the church. You will not find absolute answers in the Bible, as the church has the final say, which is of course the opposite of biblical doctrine on where we get our authority. It is bad theology, as well as being completely impractical, but it is 64 tiny pages, and should not take you long to read, although it may take you longer to work out why the Moody Press found themselves capable of printing it.