Sometimes it is easier to understand basic morality if we frame a situation differently. We are creatures who are easily caught by our own self-justifications and own excuses. Here’s a modern day parable: John and Robert are life-long friends. Their friendship started in grade school when Robert stood up to another kid trying to take … Continue reading “A Partnership Parable”
Category: Emotional Affair
Repentant cheaters make peace with deserved losses
I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ -Luke 15:18-19, NIV Until a cheater has made peace with the idea that their sins … Continue reading “Repentant cheaters make peace with deserved losses”
Don’t Bother.
Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you yourself will be just like him. -Proverbs 26:4, NIV Has your cheater stopped cheating? Has she/he confessed the extent of the infidelity in their past? Are the affair secrets out in the open? I do not see much hope for marriages ravaged by infidelity … Continue reading “Don’t Bother.”
Brutal Honesty
Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. -Ephesians 4:29, NKJV Have you experienced victimization by the hands of those who claim they are “only telling you the truth?” -Maybe they even wanted you to applaud them for their courageous “brutal … Continue reading “Brutal Honesty”
Greatest Cheater Vice
And he gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. -James 4:6-7, NLT PRIDE… …is the greatest–and spiritually deadliest–cheater vice. Pride says, “I will never get caught.” Pride says, “I deserve to be ‘happy.’” … Continue reading “Greatest Cheater Vice”
Pastor Associated By Faithful Spouses
Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. -2 Timothy 4:2, NIV To be helped, we need to be open to receiving. Maybe the Christian community turned on you when you decided to divorce your cheater or your cheater decided to divorce you? Maybe your cheater … Continue reading “Pastor Associated By Faithful Spouses”
Thought Experiment: What if Hosea was an evangelical pastor?
“Plead with your mother, plead— for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband— that she put away her whoring from her face, and her adultery from between her breasts, … For their mother has played the whore; she who conceived them has acted shamefully.” -Hosea 2:2, 5a, NRSV Join me in … Continue reading “Thought Experiment: What if Hosea was an evangelical pastor?”
Beware of Nostalgic Cheaters Around the Holidays
Beware of cheaters trying to suck you into some quality holiday family image management! As Christians, I think we are especially susceptible to fake remorse around the holidays. We want to avoid the pain of divorce and separation during this especially hard time. So, we might settle for less than what is good for us. … Continue reading “Beware of Nostalgic Cheaters Around the Holidays”
Returning victims to the perpetrators of their soul rape!
Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” … Continue reading “Returning victims to the perpetrators of their soul rape!”
Religious Cheaters Being Incapable of Repentance?
These people are hypocrites and liars, and their consciences are dead. -I Timothy 4:2, NLT Too many Christian leaders assume cheaters have functioning consciences. But what if religious cheaters are like the false teachers the Apostle Paul excoriates here in I Timothy 4:2? You cannot awaken something that is dead. Personally, I lean towards believing … Continue reading “Religious Cheaters Being Incapable of Repentance?”