Corinthians and Cassie

1 Corinthians 7 has the most to say about marriage in the Bible. It's something to contemplate and keep in mind for your intimate and future relationships. However, in the case of Cassie and Alex, neither are believers, at least not explicitly, so can these rules apply to them? Probably not. But if we were to consider Cassie a Christian and Alex not, what expectations would there be of them?

First of all, "if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him" (1 Corinthians 7:13). So Cassie would probably be expected to stay with him despite how he abuses her. In fact another passage we read on the same day from Ephesians basically says that women should obey their husbands and children their parents, so whatever Alex says, should go. So long as he's the man of the house, he's in charge. If Cassie were a Christian, she would not have an easy out. She would have to decide if staying with him is abiding by the Bible and the expectations of God, or is too dangerous, and something that God would never want for her and her child. This is one of the passages that gives us the idea that divorce is never acceptable. 

In addition, "a wife must not separate from her husband. But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband" (1 Corinthians 7:10). So even after, if she does separate from him, she must never remarry. In our modern day, this would be considered harder than dealing with cancer or a death in the family. Simply because we believe that a significant other brings value and worth to our life. We think that our life means something only when there is someone to share it, and never being able to remarry would be hard for us to conceive of. I think Cassie would be all right with this because of her past with Connor, and how she's never expected to be loved the way Alex loves her. I think she would/does believe that she has been blessed to have been loved, and she has received more than she deserved. So I don't think she would be distraught by the notion of never remarrying. But any normal girl suffering through the trauma that she has would be utterly dismayed to loose their best friend as a child, and then be abused by their husband, and not have the opportunity to find happiness later. 

And lastly, this passage reflects that a man and woman who are married are to give themselves fully to the other, body and soul. "The wife's body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband. [and vice versa]" (1 Corinthians 7:4). How does this tie in with his abuse of her? And her pregnancy? I believe that she has abided by this rule or expectation and been completely vulnerable and completely there for him in all of his pain and suffering, but in no way was he there for her. She has basically been a punching bag for their entire relationship. And she believes that she is made for this role. To be there for him in every kind of need that he has. But since they are married, there is more expected from his relationship toward her. He should be expected to love her completely and respect her body as if it was his own, and never hurt her. For her pregnancy, I believe the same rule applies. Although he never wanted to get pregnant or have a child, since it has happened, he is expected to treat her body as if it was his, and love her completely. He should be expected to treat his wife and child with respect, love and care. And I don't believe he is doing any of these things by the way he is acting. 

Abuse within marriage is a hard topic, especially when talking about the boundaries of Christian marriage. But I believe that Alex has never treated Cassie the way the Bible expects a wife to be treated, and therefore, she is free from any of the bounds of marriage. Although she's not Christian, she has given herself completely to him to help him, and it hasn't gotten her anything but hurt. I believe a person like her deserves a love greater than she's ever experienced. I hope if she were a real person, she would find the love of Christ someday. But since this is fiction, I have to believe that eventually, she'll find peace. 

Expectations.

Cassie and Alex's relationship has problems from the beginning, of over-dependence and expectations. Learning more about Alex's past and the family trauma that he grew up with makes Cassie feel like she needs to take care of him because no one else can. And because of his dependence on her for support and self-esteem, she begins to expect herself to be better for him and be everything he needs, which is simply not possible. Especially given the amount of time that they have known each other. And both of them expect so quickly to spend the rest of their life with each other when they don't even know everything about the other.
Simply said, there's no way you could be prepared to marry someone after three days of knowing them. Even if you're completely head-over-heels in love with them, you should have the rationality to see how you fit into their life before expecting to spend the rest of your life with them. I don't believe Cassie and Alex thought through all of these things before getting engaged and then just as quickly married. It simply isn't smart or practical to move so quickly with such an important relationship.
And all of this isn't an excuse to get divorced either. But when you go into marriage, you should know the tendency's of the other person, their irritations and their favorite things, and how they act in normal life. But because they didn't spend a minute in L.A. until they got married, they had no chance for this kind of relationship.
They kind-of trapped themselves by moving so quickly, but now how should they deal with that? Does this give them an excuse to divorce? Or does her fear for her life give her that excuse? Even in the first few weeks of their relationship/engagement, he abused her in his sleep because he though she was someone else. How do you deal with that? Would you sleep in separate beds? Try to fix it, or get out while you still have your life?


It's a really hard concept coming from this modern culture of simply slipping away or escaping whenever you want to, and putting it in the context of the Bible and a covenant relationship. But would Cassie have gone through with the marriage if she knew where it was going to end? If she knew her life was in danger, would she have still tried to save him? Probably. But is that the kind-of love God wants us to experience? Or does He love us enough to not let us try to be the savior for someone that can't be saved except by His grace?