Marriage as Parable of Permanence 4

How long should you stay in a marriage if your partner refuses spiritual guidence or therapy and continues to break the covenants of the marriage with adultry, verbal and physical abuse. I was forced to kick him out of the house hoping this would get him to go to a therapist or our pastor but we just continued on with his life style and now has told all our friends we are seperated. He is a christain and has been since he was a teenager. He is 51 now. He protrays himself as the victim since I kicked him out of the house. We have no children and have been married 10 years. We have gone to therapy on and off but never consistently. There is a lot of shame on both our parts do to the physical abuse. I have not told anyone except a therapist about the physical abuse which he is in complete denial about. He refuses to acknowledge it or apologize for it.

John (#3), No we won't. We will be clothed in Christ, wearing pure robes, robes of light, and a host of other metaphors. This is, of course, one of the flaws of those who perceive the garden story as "perfect" man and God's work as the restoration to that former state. Obviously they were not perfect. Had they been perfect they could not have "fallen". Rather, they were immature with the potential for both mortality and immortality. We are not be restored to some idyllic prior state. In Christ we are being remade into something that transcends our origin.

I'm also not big on reading too much "covenant" into the story. I'm not clear that I see where in the first two chapters they make contracts or vows or covenants with each other. Seems to me to be something that is read into the story, not something that is actually present in it.

Susan G (#2),
It is now later in the day and I see no one commented on your painful marital situation. First, I am sorry that your marriage has conveyed so much disappointment and that your spouse does not seem to be making responsible decisions. Second, in these kinds of situations it is important to guard your own heart and be alert to your own safety. You are in our prayers.