The Bible's Laws on Divorce and Remarriage.

bcbsr said:

Guess that's what Jesus meant when he said, "Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives" Mt 19:8 Sad that half of Christianity must be classified as those of hardened hearts.

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Well, it's sad, but the blame falls in strange ways. Does Jesus really mean "Stay in an abusive relationship?" If he does, then people who are abused will walk away from their abusive spouse AND from Jesus at the same time. Most people will not sit there and be abused. I wouldn't.

So then you have the problem that the Church faces with divorce: divorced and remarried people. What is the Church to do? Jesus did not give an answer to that. He said they're adulterers. Ok. So was David. In fact, given what Jesus said about adultery for lust from LOOKING AT a woman, so are all masturbators adulterers too. Does that mean permanent rejection, or is it possible for adulterers to say to God "Sorry I had to do this, you know why I had to, please forgive me" and then rejoin the community of the faithful.

The Orthodox Churches and the Protestants, for the most part, have said yes, they can rejoin. The Catholic Church has had a great deal of difficulty with that, because of the problem of the ongoing adultery of the remarriage. And so the divorced and remarried are denied communion, for life. They can confess the sin, but they can't be absolved of it because they continue to commit it. This, of course, has driven most divorced and remarried Catholics out of the Church completely. Some masochists remain, in a permanent state of guilt and mourning about their remarriage, unable to take communion for the rest of their lives.

The Orthodox think this is too cruel. And even many of the Catholic clergy recognize that it is not workable - that effectively it was killing the Church. And thus annulment was greatly expedited and made so easy at various times and in various places that it became, in effect, Catholic divorce without the name.

Of course, the availability of easy annulment depends entirely on the character of the bishop, giving it a capricious quality.

In the end, divorced Catholics who decide to remarry, for love, and to get on with their lives, decide that all of the drama of remaining associated with the Church is not worth it, and they look at the same clergy who deny them any means of regularizing their situation caught in a whirlpool of child rape and coverup, and decide that the religion itself is a rotten sham and a disgrace and leave it for good.

That's the problem, and it will not go away. Henry VIII couldn't get an annulment, but every Kennedy who wanted one did.

What DOES Jesus want of those who divorced and then remarried? Lots of Christians will tell you what THEY think - HE didn't say. In the end, people are on their own and have to decide for themselves. Generally, they decide to divorce if they need to, remarry if they need to, and if the Church stands against that, to scrape the Church off and get on with life without it.

Brinny -- Yes. Malachi 2:16-17 says

brinny said:

Adultery is horrendous, and therefore biblical grounds for divorce.

However the threat of harm and/or murderous intent to a spouse and/or children is considerably more heinous and downright evil and wicked. Divorce under such circumstances are warranted and needed point blank for the safety and well being of the spouse and/or any children involved.

The breach-er of the marriage is already the one intending harm to the spouse and/or children. They have severed the marriage ties already by posing such a threat to the very lives of the spouse and/or children, by "running them off" and/or causing them to hide like refugees.

They have, in essence, ripped the marriage covenant in shreds.

The ones escaping from this abysmal dilemma and the spouse seeking protection, many times through a divorce are not sinning nor are they at fault.

The one with murderous intent is.

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Christie insb said:

Brinny -- Yes. Malachi 2:16-17 says

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Amen! Powerful verses there Christie.

Thank you and God bless you.

brinny said:

Amen! Powerful verses there Christie.

Thank you and God bless you.

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The Church has ignored women and children's plight for too long. I hope that whatever the problems we have today are, at least we are starting to care about those God cares about more.

Christie insb said:

The Church has ignored women and children's plight for too long. I hope that whatever the problems we have today are, at least we are starting to care about those God cares about more.

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Amen. Jesus specifically demonstrated what He thought about women and children. What a precious heart He had, particularly for those suffering injustice and oppression, etc.

Neogaia777 said:

It also says that to even ever look at another person with lust in your mind or heart is adultery also...

So, can we, should we, divorce due to that...?

God Bless!

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Interesting point, Neogaia.

Vicomte13 said:

Well, it's sad, but the blame falls in strange ways. Does Jesus really mean "Stay in an abusive relationship?" If he does, then people who are abused will walk away from their abusive spouse AND from Jesus at the same time. Most people will not sit there and be abused. I wouldn't.

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"walking away" from an abusive relationship doesn't condone getting remarried. And that's the issue - remarriage. Many misconstrue the exception clause of Mat 19 as conditions for divorce. If you read it carefully you will find that it's not talking about conditions for divorce, but rather conditions for remarriage. There are many cases in which divorce is justified. But few in which remarriage is justified.

Dave L said:

But it is limited to those who live a holy lifestyle = the elect.

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Divorce/remarriage are NOT unpardonable sins!

Dave L said:

The New Covenant has no provision for divorce, let alone remarriage.

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In your view...

Jason0047 said:

Yes, I imagine a wife would have biblical grounds to divorce her husband if he was indulging in inappropriate content or if he was always making it obvious or open to her and others by his reactions towards other women that he was lusting after them. But I think a wife, should understand that many men struggle with this particular sin, and they should help their husband to overcome this sin and give them a chance to repent (seek forgiveness) towards them and God and seek help. If the husband is not sorry, and he refuses to change, then she has grounds to divorce him. Yes.

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The term for adultery would actually cover a multitude of sexual sins!

Jason0047 said:

Adultery is sexual unfaithfulness either mentally or physically while being married.

Fornication is a general term used for sexual unfaithfulness and can refer to adultery, but it refers commonly to sexual immorality (mentally or physically) before or outside of marriage.

The article at Gotquestions is pretty good on explaining this one.

What is the difference between fornication and adultery?

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The key here to me is that God indeed allows for divorce/remarriage under certain guidelines, but also that He preferred plan among Christians is forgiveness and restoration!

Jason0047 said:

Paul says the only exception to remarry is:

"The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord." (1 Corinthians 7:39).

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If the husband as already decided to remarry, he would be dead to her now also!