Dear family, brethren, and friends,

The flight from Whakatane to Auckland on Wednesday took about an hour and Ronnie Salunga greeted me at the airport and brought me to his house about 11:00 AM. I reviewed my lesson for tonight, ate lunch, took a short rest, worked on email, walked an hour, and showered and got dressed for our service.

The Meadowood church of Christ gathered in the Salunga’s basement at 6:00 PM with 11 in attendance and another 20 people accessing the study via Zoom from New Zealand, the U.S., the Philippines, Africa, and India.  Most of the members here are Filipinos.  The theme for these five days is “Marriage and Morals” with the first session focusing on “Marriage: God’s Gift to Man and Woman.”

Open forums here in Auckland typically last an hour or more.  A lot of good thoughtful questions tonight centered on issues related to marital fidelity and infidelity.  Filipinos come from a Catholic culture where the government has no formal divorce laws but now live in a secular culture where statistics show the average Kiwi will sleep with 27 women in a lifetime.  Most of this sexual activity is just free and open fornication without any pretense of marriage and may include homosexual acts.

We discussed the challenges faced by a man who commits adultery, repents, and then struggles to rebuild the trust he has broken.  We discussed the complications faced by people who have lived in polygamy and other adulterous marriages, and how they must repent and break off such sinful relationships (similar to the cases in Ezra 10:10-11; Matt. 3:8; Acts 26:20).  For instance, they may have brought children into the world through these sinful relationship and they are responsible to care for them.

We discussed the importance of confessing our sins to our mate and family rather than denying them and attempting to cover them up.  We discussed the fact that when a person commits adultery, and repents, reconciliation is the best outcome rather than rushing to divorce.  Yet, reconciliation may not be possible in every case and the fornicator must be ready to face the painful consequences of his own sin.

We discussed the importance of having the faith and courage of Noah so that we will not be ashamed to be different from the world or afraid to stand alone!  Noah found himself separated from most of his own family and circle of friends but was determined to please God more than man.  We need that same commitment today!

One of the blessings of the cell phone age is that I get to talk with Donna every day.  It can be hard to manage in New Zealand because we are 18 hours ahead of Kentucky here, but so far we are making it work.  It is always uplifting to hear her voice and to catch up on the news back home. Today, in addition to preparing for the Thursday service, I talked to Donna and worked hard on catching up with some old emails.

My right foot has been sore for a couple of days and I finally took a look and saw a splinter causing it to swell and turn red shortly before service time.  I got a needle and did emergency surgery!  Ahhh, much better!  Nina gave me some antibiotic to put on the wound.

The service started at 6:10 PM with 11 attendees plus 13 Zoom connections representing another 20 people.  We studied “The Truth about Abortion” and then turned to the Q & A portion of the session until 8:30.  There was a wide range of good questions.  Does God require every married couple to have children?  No such command can be found in Scripture, but most do because it adds such great blessings to the family.  Is it proper for a couple who cannot have children to use a surrogate mother?  I know of no passage authorizing a man to use the body of a woman to whom he is not married to bear a child, whether or not fornication is involved.  Abraham used Hagar and the story did not end well in his family.

A young lady training to be a nurse asked if it is right for her to assist when abortive procedures are used in cases of rape.  No, this makes the nurse an accessory to murder.  How can people who have complicated their lives with fornication, unscriptural divorce and remarriage, and abortion ever get truly right with God?  If they truly repent and separate themselves from the sinful practices and relationships of the past, God truly forgives them and helps them go forward in the Christian life on a case by cases basis even when there are painful consequences to their sins.

How should the child born of rape, of unscriptural marriage, or of surrogacy be regarded?  The child should be taught that he is made in God’s image, that he is innocent, and that he should avoid the sins of his parents.

This was a fruitful discussion period with other questions as well, and many participated.

There was an exciting end to the day. Since I did not have time to walk, I did it at 10:00 PM after our supper and our guests had left.  People had put garbage cans on the curb for pickup and someone carefully discarded three pairs of cute little shoes that hardly had been used a couple of feet from the cans so they could be rescued and reused.  I am taking them to the Philippines where three families will be excited and thankful to get them.  Wonderful way to end my day – plus I saw the moon and gleaned all of your greetings!

In Christian love,
Ron Halbrook

To see good Bible study material, go to:
https://www.hebronlanechurchofchrist.com
https://biblework.congregateclients.com
https://truthbooks.com
https://www.truthmagazine.com