This week country music star Vince Gill made news for his confrontation of the Westboro Baptist protesters. While this ‘colorful’ group of believers normally likes to target military funerals, this week they had their sights set squarely on Gill and his adulterous ways. But when they showed up to protest at his Kansas City concert last week, Gill decided to confront and engage with them. As he approached the group one female protester asked him, “What are you doing with another man’s wife? Don’t you know that divorce plus remarriage equals adultery? Jesus said that.”
For those of you who don’t keep up with country music gossip, Vince Gill and 80s Christian music sensation Amy Grant divorced their spouses and married one another in 2001. It was a scandalous pairing that rocked country music morality and sent Amy Grant’s Christian music fans into mourning for her very soul. How could these two toothy, attractive representations of wholesomeness end up divorced?
I am not going to advocate for or against divorce here. What I am going to do is suggest that the church often misses the mark of what divorce is really like. Which isn’t to say that very many people out there are mistaking the Westboro crew for the Church universal at this point. Still, in truth, the Westboro protester had a point, and it’s a point one sometimes hears in circles that aren’t as much on the fringe. Jesus does speak to the wrongs of divorce, and there is no getting around it. Yet when we persecute those among us who have had marriages end, we forget that divorce often feels like the most difficult and painful thing that has ever happened to them. Even if they find someone else. Even if that someone else is Amy Grant.
Of course, the true takeaway here is the one that Vince Gill himself provides. When the protester gives him a mini-Sunday school lesson on divorce in the Gospels, he responds, “(Jesus) He also said a lot of stuff about forgiveness, about grace. You guys don’t have any of that.” Gill does not deny his divorce or try to justify it; he just names his forgiveness by grace.
In a 2006 interview with the LA Times, Gill spoke about his divorce this way:
“For a while I thought I had every Christian in the world mad at me,” he said with a characteristically low-key laugh. “But you just put one foot in front of the other, take with a grain of salt what people are saying about you … and we just pressed on. They say time is the great healer, and it’s proven to be that.”
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14 responses to “Vince Gill Gets Told One More Time About Jesus (and Divorce)”
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Mockingbirders might enjoy reading Robert Farrar Capon’s comment on the verse the Westboro folks used to attack Vince. It’s elegant enough to resist summarization, so just go to pages 311f of Kingdom, Grace, Judgment.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eosc1w0XBkc
Has Vince learned anything about repentance while he has been studying about forgiveness and grace?
Does anyone remember the verse about judge ye not lest ye be judged?????
Yes, I remember that verse, but I am not worried about it because I am willing to let people point out my sin.
Not all marriages are perfect, just because you thought you would love your spouse forever, doesn’t mean they will love you forever.. I have been married 1 time, 18 years , my spouse 3 times… Looks like he will soon be on his 4th, my vows were sacred.. he blew it!!!!!
Well we cannot judge no one or else we will be judged ..so I pray for all of us we are all sinners so we need to spend our time asking God for forgiveness of our sins …Don’t condem no one else or look at the bad in others look at the good things they do..my dad always said to me as a little girl treat people they way you want to be treated …and don’t judge them we all have our problems deep down inside …so all I got to say is look around at your life what do you see ? God bless each and everyone …
My eternal Father told me that those who claim to follow Him are held to a higher standard and we are to hold each other accountable for our decisions.
People make mistakes in getting married. It happens. Why would you want to give your life up and stay with someone you don’t love? I admire and support Vince Gill and Amy Grant wholeheartedly and I believe in God and his grace. He never made any of us perfect. He loves and forgives. People who don’t are putting them selves in the position to judge as only God can do.
I recall a story in the Bible where an adulterous woman is brought before a crowd who is ready to stone her for her lifestyle. They asked him what they should do with her. He basically tells the crowd that anyone without sin should throw the first stone. The crowd began to disperse and soon only Jesus was left standing. He tells her to sin no more…He forgave her sin and He had the last say. I view the same scenario in this situation…it is no worse sin then telling a white lie – it is all the same in God’s eyes. I have a friend who has been married 3 times, – she is a born again Christian and her first two husbands were also Christians, but they were abusive to her and one threatened her with a shotgun…I don’t fully know what God feels about leaving a husband over abuse, but I don’t think He would want that for anyone. I also believe that God truly knows our hearts and our sin is between Him and each one of us. I know as a Christian we tend to want to point out each other’s sins…from our vantage point, but do we honestly know all that is happening and can we truly be a judge of another’s walk…Maybe it is not how it appears and so I always ask myself if I am without sin…can I honestly say I am sinless…no because even though I am a born again Christian…I am still a SINNER – the only difference is I am saved by grace, but I know I am still living in my human body and I am still going to sin…just human nature! So, I don’t believe I am sinless to judge Vince and Amy…because someone else in the crowd could turn to me and point out my sin. Their divorce and remarrying is between themselves and Jesus…I don’t know about you, but I got all I can handle on my plate…I don’t need to worry about Vince and Amy. Still buys you…pray about it and also for them…hand it over to Him…He can handle it without our input!! God bless everyone!
God uses our input to let others know that what they did was wrong.
In the proper context…and maybe with the right motive and attitude, remembering our own tendency to sin also. What about in humility and with mercy and grace, since that is what Jesus gives us. God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. Could we be proud when diligently pointing out other’s sin?
The Lord said to remove the beam from thine own eye before you try to remove one from someone else’s. God is our ONLY judge because He is the Only One that is Without fault or sin. As long as we are human, saved or not , we have faults and because of that, God said “ judge not lest ye be judged in the same manner”. I don’t know about others , I only know about Me. I’m saved by Gods Grace and I’m still a sinner, but im a SAVED sinner. Which means , being saved means I belong to my Heavenly Father but this flesh is still human and being thus, is still subject to sin. NO ONE IS PERFECT, and no one has the right to judge another.
Maybe Richard needs to read these replies about judging and Forgiveness. Seems like he relishes in reminding others of their sin. Prayers for you, Richard and all who need to show love and forgiveness to All sinners, even himself.