[QUOTE=miami-ted;697933]I have begun this thread in order that the discussion in another thread might not sidetrack the purpose of that thread.  If WE would care to respond here then I will continue.  If not then no harm no foul.

Let me throw out a hypothetical.  Let's say that a young couple was in love and married in a fellowship of believers.  They were a happy couple and in subsequent years had 3-4 children and lived together and raised their family for 25 years.  The husband was a wandering type and had several other relations throughout the course of his marriage and one day fell madly in love with a coworker.  The couple divorced and the new girlfriend was a 'staunch' catholic.  (Sounds kind of funny that a 'staunch' catholic would be involved in a sexual relationship with a married man, but so be it)  The now divorced husband wants to marry the 'staunch' catholic but she adamantly refuses to be married unless it is in the catholic church.  The husband applies for an annulment of his previous marriage of 25 years as that is the only way the catholic church will perform the marriage.  It is granted.  The divorced husband marries the new girlfriend in the catholic church and because there was a 40 year age difference that marriage ends at the husbands death.

Now here's the question.  What Scriptural justification can you give me that gives the 'church' the authority to annul a marriage of 25 years in which children were born?  Truthfully, I would be interested in any Scriptural authority that the 'church' has any authority to break or deem non-existent any marriage of any length.

God bless.
In Christ, Ted.[/QUOTE]


Ted, I notice that nobody else has responded. Does "WE" mean war_eagle? Are you addressing this to me?

[QUOTE=miami-ted;697933]Now here's the question.  What Scriptural justification can you give me that gives the 'church' the authority to annul a marriage of 25 years in which children were born?  Truthfully, I would be interested in any Scriptural authority that the 'church' has any authority to break or deem non-existent any marriage of any length.

God bless.
In Christ, Ted.[/QUOTE]

Well, Ted, the simple answer is that there is no scriptural justification. In fact, it goes directly against scripture to "annul" a marriage.

The Roman Catholic concept of marriage as a sacrament is itself unbiblical. This puts the concept of an annulment on shaky ground to begin with.

What does the Bible say about marriage and divorce? Well, Jesus told His followers "I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery. And whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery" (Matthew 5:32). Matthew also tells us that Jesus admonished the Pharisees by saying, "Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, 'Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh'? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.... And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery" (Matthew 19:4-6,9). Mark concurs, writing " But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother and shall cleave to his wife. And the two of them shall be one flesh. So then they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man put apart" (Mark 10:6-9). Finally, in the Gospel of Luke we find: "Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery" (Luke 16:18).

Catholic doctrine is based upon both Scripture and Church tradition. Based upon Jesus' words, "What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate" (Matthew 19:6, Mark 10:9), and upon the Church tradition that receiving a sacrament creates an undeletable mark upon the soul of the recipient, the Church teaches that a marriage CANNOT end. The Church does not ignore Matthew 5:32 and 19:9 that allow divorce only in the case of adultery of the other party. No, the way this is handled is much more disturbing. According to the New American Bible (NAB), a Catholic Bible translation, Matthew 5:32 and 19:9 read thus: "whoever divorces his wife (UNLESS THE MARRIAGE IS UNLAWFUL) causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery [emphasis added]." The concept of an "unlawful marriage" in the NAB is translated as either "(marital) unfaithfulness," "adultery," or "fornication" in the every other major Bible translation. There does not seem to be any textual basis for the NAB's choice of words, except to support the Catholic Church's own doctrine.

Although Jesus taught that divorce was only written into the Law because of human stubbornness (Matthew 19:8), and that the original intent of God was for the spouses to never separate (Genesis 2:24), He makes the exception in cases of adultery. The Catholic Church's teaching of marriage doesn't ignore this fact; it mistranslates Scripture to support its own unbiblical teaching of marriage as unending, and then creates the annulment process to allow a Catholic-sanctioned way to end said marriage by declaring it invalid. The annulment process is unbiblical in the sense that Jesus only allowed for adultery as the basis for ending a marriage, and the annulment process allows for many, many reasons, but not for the one reason Jesus mentioned. The Catholic Church does not accept the only biblical reason for divorce as valid, and in fact creates a new list of unbiblical reasons for a marriage to end.

The Roman Catholic Church’s practice of annulment is not biblical. It is founded on an unbiblical concept, that of the sacraments conferring grace. It is essentially an “escape” from what the Bible defines as a marriage. It ignores what the Bible does say about marriage, divorce, and adultery. Essentially, the Catholic practice of marriage annulment is an unbiblical way to escape from a doctrine that is itself unbiblical.

"Only scriptural" is a Protestant thing.  For Roman Catholics, tradition is equal to scripture.  We may not agree with it, but it is their religion.

Otherwise, from the Evangelical viewpoint, no, it is not scriptural.

Hello War Eagle,

I'm an old man, I think I was, but honestly it has been so long now that I can't remember what thread this topic first came up on.  I notice by the date that it's pretty old, but I seem to recall there was a thread where we were talking about the rites and rituals of Roman Catholicism, but I could be mistaken.  If you have any recall, let me know.

God bless.
In Christ, Ted.