What Does the Bible Say About Remarriage?

There are so many different circumstances in which one can lose a spouse that no single thing can be said in answer to your question.

At one time, some Christians did not believe a person should remarry even after the death of a spouse. They called this digamy. which is similar to bigamy. The difference is that with bigamy you have two living spouses; in digamy, one of the spouses has died. Of course, this is no where taught in the Bible.

Going back to the beginning, God intended for man to have a mate. However, He intended there to be one man and one woman joined together for life. When one dies, the other is free to remarry (Romans 7:1-2).

But what if someone breaks the marriage bond some other way? Note that there is no other way a marriage bond can be broken without sin. It is a serious thing to separate that which God joins. Yet, in our world, it happens every day. I suspect that your question has more to do with remarriage after divorce than it does after one spouse has died.

I would suggest you read carefully 1 Corinthians 7. In this chapter, the apostle addresses several different circumstances regarding marriage – from how married people are to live with each other to what widows/widowers are to do. He talks about believers married to believers as well as believers married to unbelievers. He talks about those who have never been married as well as people who have been married but are either widowed or otherwise “loosed from” a spouse.

I am sure you will find the situation you are asking about in this chapter and will be able to read for yourself what the Bible says about remarriage. In this chapter, Paul discourages marriage “because of the present distress.” Apparently this was, a temporary condition, probably due to persecution. Yet, even in that time of distress, he recognized that marriage is better than falling into sin because of inability to avoid immoral behavior without marriage.

Are Tongues a Sign You Will Go To Heaven?

Is the proof you have the Holy Spirit and will go to Heaven speaking tongues?>

Tongues are never spoken of as a sign someone will go to heaven.

1 Corinthians 14:22, which is the only passage that speaks of tongues as a sign, says, “Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers….” Certainly tongues are not a sign to unbelievers that they are going to heaven!

The proof you have the Holy Spirit is the fruit of the Spirit (see Galatians 5:22-24). As you grow in the grace of the Lord and your life is changed from walking in the flesh to walking in the Spirit, there is evidence in your very life itself that God’s Spirit is in you.

The way tongues are used in many churches today seems to me to be very much like what Paul rebuked in 1 Corinthians 14. Tongues in the Bible were languages. In Acts 2, each of those present heard the wonderful works of God in their own language. In 1 Corinthians 14, Paul said no one should speak in a tongue that cannot be understood unless there is an interpreter. Everything said in that chapter can apply to someone in an assembly of the church simply speaking in a foreign language. If there is no translator (interpreter), don’t do it.

However, when “tongues,” as spoken in many churches, are recorded and given to different “interpreters,” the resulting interpretations have no resemblance to each other. This means that no real language is being used. The “interpreter” simply says what he wants to say.

In fact, “tongues” are found in many pagan religions as well as in some “Christian” churches. These “ecstatic languages,” as practiced today, are not a sign of God’s presence. When God is present, real communication takes place in languages that are understood or that can be translated.

Is Tarroting the Way You Receive the Holy Spirit?

My husbands Elder/Pastor of his church believes in tarroting and says that this is the only way that you receive the Holy Ghost and go to heaven, is this true?

Run, don’t walk, away from tarroting.

Tarroting is not mentioned in the Bible, but other things that are very much like it are condemned in strong language. It is one form of divination. It is a way to try to learn about spiritual things or a personal future other than from what God has revealed. It is associated with witchcraft, sorcery, seance, and such like, as things the Lord detests. These things were practiced by the pagan nations but are not to be followed by God’s holy people.

These are all listed and God’s displeasure with them expressed in Deuteronomy 18:9-13. He prohibited Israel from doing these things in verses 14-16. In verses 17-19, God promised to send another prophet like Moses. Any who refuse to hear Him will be cut off from God’s people. In Acts 3:20-26, Peter quoted this and applied it to the Christ and called on all to listen to Him. When we turn away from Christ to listen to the “spirits” of the occult, we turn from the light to walk in darkness. Tarroting certainly has nothing to do with receiving the Holy Spirit of God!

Is There A Holiness Denomination?

I understand that denominations are man made but isn’t Holiness also thought of as a denomination as well as the being of one?

Holiness is a characteristic of God. It literally means separate. God is separate from us in that He is different. He is eternal; we are not. He is Creator; we are the created. He has all wisdom; we do not. He is love; we are not.

God created man in His own image, but we fell. God’s plan for redeeming man is that we be restored to that from which we fell. That is, God calls us to share again in His holiness through Jesus Christ. But we will never have holiness apart from God. People and things are holy only because of a relationship to God. Sinai was called the Holy Mount because God made Himself known there. We are holy only because we are the sons of God through faith in Christ, and God gives us His Holy Spirit (Galatians 3:26-27 & 4:6).

Some churches are called Holiness because they stress the need for holy living. Every Christian is called to be Holy (because of his relationship to God, not because it is an inate characteristic of man). Hence, every church should be Holy, since it it made up of holy people who are called of God to be like Him in His holiness.