FALSE ALLEGIANCE

The Seventh Commandment: You shall not commit adultery (Exodus 20:14). Pretty straightforward. The Old Testament lays out a pretty harsh penalty for those breaking this commandment: death. That would certainly clear the dockets in divorce court, but what does this mean to us today in the light of Living on the Spiritual Basis? The case can be made that shall not also means can not. Clearly married people are and have been hooking up with people other than their spouses since the institution of marriage became accepted. The can not applies to the inner self, the subconscious, our soul, were we always pay the price for our actions, secular justification and rationalization meaningless. When a student has approached with a question about infidelity, to date it has always been after the fact. When someone begins to have the stirrings, considering an affair or fling, the last thing they want to do is talk about it before consummation. When I’m approached the conversation usually begins with something like “it wasn’t planned, it just happened” “I don’t know what I was thinking” “I never wanted to hurt my wife/husband” or some such other nonsense.

Don’t know what you were thinking? You were thinking about sex with someone other than your spouse. It wasn’t planned? Your pants just happened to drop, in a secluded place, and you figured what, must be God’s will? You never wanted to hurt your spouse? So, if circumstances were reversed, how would you feel? Let me be clear here: If it is time for a marriage to end, then it should, divorce is not wrong or evil. People grow at different rates, develop new interests that take their lives in conflicting directions or even falling in love (before having sex) with another are all valid reasons to end a marriage, the lying (to our spouse and ourselves) and the false flags flown are the problem.

We make a commitment, before God, to another when we wed. We owe them, ourselves, and God the truth. Many an otherwise good relationship has been irreparably damaged from a passing infatuation, the union crippled because of dishonesty, for had they been honest about their feelings and intentions before the act, though still uncomfortable, the death penalty would have been avoided. The death penalty called out in the old testament today plays out as the death of trust, love, peace of mind, serenity and turning our back on the spiritual principles we have come to hold dear, seemingly shutting us off from the sunlight of the spirit. The death of a piece of our soul. A high price indeed considering the long road of forgiveness we then have to travel to regain the peace of mind cast away.

The truth will set you free. The price of rigorous honesty may be high, even painful, but we must be willing to pay it if we expect to grow spiritually.