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Would you date a divorced guy?

Jake Kelly

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I'm not purposely trying to hide the fact I'm divorced besides not mentioning it in my dating profile.

Folks...I've spent less than two hours with this woman in person. We simply haven't really taken the time to talk about past relationships. I would hardly call that withholding information.

We have not any physical contact at all outside of a quick hug at the end of the date.

I am planning to tell her very soon (next date probably) because I don't want her to become extremely emotionally attached to me before she learns I am divorced. I will not have any major physical contact with her or emotional closeness with her before she knows I'm divorced.
 
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sootylashes

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I'm not purposely trying to hide the fact I'm divorced besides not mentioning it in my dating profile.

Folks...I've spent less than two hours with this woman in person. We simply haven't really taken the time to talk about past relationships. I would hardly call that withholding information.

We have not any physical contact at all outside of a quick hug at the end of the date.

I am planning to tell her very soon (next date probably) because I don't want her to become extremely emotionally attached to me before she learns I am divorced. I will not have any major physical contact with her or emotional closeness with her before she knows I'm divorced.

Hi Jake, I've been reading your posts (the one on your finances, and this one), and I gotta say that it seems like you've got a good head on your shoulders. I hope things work out for you in terms of your finances and your friendship with this woman. God bless you :)

And oh, to answer your question: yes, I'd date a divorced man, but for me, it is important for me to know that he's divorced ASAP, and WHY he is divorced. But that's just me.
 
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Hetta

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I think in real life if you are in your 30s it is presumed that you have been previously married/divorced.
In real life - not necessarily. I have met bachelors in their 30's who have remained unmarried, even bachelors in their 40's and widowers at all ages. It's no good putting the responsibility on the woman to 'guess' ("you should have guessed I am divorced") but instead to be honest. IMO, not using a divorced status on a dating site is verging on dishonest. People don't know your status until/unless you tell them.
 
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mjmcmillan

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I could wish this site had a "divorced" status. It doesn't, and that has caused me some problems here in the recent past.

About being single in your 30s: I didn't marry for the first time until I was 34. I've seen ads in Christian singles publications from people who said they had never married and were looking for never-marrieds in their 40s.
 
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Jake Kelly

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IMO, not using a divorced status on a dating site is verging on dishonest. People don't know your status until/unless you tell them.

Honestly I think that is a pretty judgmental way of looking at things.

If we are going to go down this road, then maybe I should disclose I'm upside down on my mortgage and have credit card debt too.

While we are at it, maybe they should have sections where you state if you have ever been on anti-depressants, abused drugs, looked at pornography, or been an alcoholic too.

My point is that I think these issues are all equally important to know if we are going to go down this road. While it is nice to know if someone is divorced beforehand, I also find it extremely superficial to dismiss someone on this basis alone.

This site doesn't even have a selection for divorced. What you are stating I should do is impossible. You are either single, married, or seeing someone.

You would have to answer the questions about divorce within the website for someone to state they are divorced, or include it in the profile description page.
 
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sootylashes

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Honestly I think that is a pretty judgmental way of looking at things.

If we are going to go down this road, then maybe I should disclose I'm upside down on my mortgage and have credit card debt too.

While we are at it, maybe they should have sections where you state if you have ever been on anti-depressants, abused drugs, looked at pornography, or been an alcoholic too.

My point is that I think these issues are all equally important to know if we are going to go down this road. While it is nice to know if someone is divorced beforehand, I also find it extremely superficial to dismiss someone on this basis alone.

This site doesn't even have a selection for divorced. What you are stating I should do is impossible. You are either single, married, or seeing someone.

You would have to answer the questions about divorce within the website for someone to state they are divorced, or include it in the profile description page.

May I ask why is it that you're afraid to tell her that you're divorced?

I have met some divorced men on dating sites (not in person, just online) and I didn't dismiss them just because they are divorced. I did, however, appreciate that they told me their status (i.e. divorced), and I did appreciate it when they told me WHY they got divorced.
 
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iambren

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The mean for people to be married is about 27 so 30 tips the scale. I've gone on dating sites and they have classification for "single-divorced-widowed" etc. I had no problem answering that and would be a little suspicious of someone who didn't respond.

Was interesting, I didn't realize how LATE people got married nowadays. It makes me wonder--if many of these are Christians how do they stay pure all those years?
 
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Jake Kelly

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May I ask why is it that you're afraid to tell her that you're divorced?

I'm afraid that some people would judge a book by its cover if I put that in my dating site profile. I would prefer for someone to meet the real me before they already know I'm divorced.

It was on my profile for about a week. I stated I was divorced, that my ex had an affair, she took off, refused to go to counseling, and eventually this led to me filing for divorce.

I removed it after about a week. I got a message from someone asking if I was bitter about it. I feel like if I put that in my main profile, I am letting this one area of my life define who I am.

I don't want to be "that divorced guy" that's a Christian on the dating site. I want to represent my most positive attributes on the dating site, and I feel like I am dwelling on the past to put a big disclaimer about being divorced within the first page of my profile where everyone can see it.

Of course, anyone who would be put off by my divorce is probably not someone I want to waste my time with anyways.

Lastly, we have to remember that dating sites didn't exist 20 years ago. Sharing that you are divorced is probably not something you would share in your first conversation with new people. 20 years ago, this kind of discussion usually happened in person. Not on some stupid dating site.

I see a dating site as merely an avenue to connect two people who have common interests. I do not see it as a place to share my life story with someone. I believe sharing that you are divorced is a conversation for the first few dates after meeting the person.

Divorce is a part of my past, and I choose to focus most of my energy on the future.
 
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sootylashes

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I'm afraid that some people would judge a book by its cover if I put that in my dating site profile. I would prefer for someone to meet the real me before they already know I'm divorced.

It was on my profile for about a week. I stated I was divorced, that my ex had an affair, she took off, refused to go to counseling, and eventually this led to me filing for divorce.

I removed it after about a week. I got a message from someone asking if I was bitter about it. I feel like if I put that in my main profile, I am letting this one area of my life define who I am.

I don't want to be "that divorced guy" that's a Christian on the dating site. I want to represent my most positive attributes on the dating site, and I feel like I am dwelling on the past to put a big disclaimer about being divorced within the first page of my profile where everyone can see it.

Of course, anyone who would be put off by my divorce is probably not someone I want to waste my time with anyways.

Lastly, we have to remember that dating sites didn't exist 20 years ago. Sharing that you are divorced is probably not something you would share in your first conversation with new people. 20 years ago, this kind of discussion usually happened in person. Not on some stupid dating site.

I see a dating site as merely an avenue to connect two people who have common interests. I do not see it as a place to share my life story with someone. I believe sharing that you are divorced is a conversation for the first few dates after meeting the person.

Divorce is a part of my past, and I choose to focus most of my energy on the future.

Thanks for answering my question, although we may not entirely agree :) I do wish you all the best in your endeavours, though!
 
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mjmcmillan

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I would place the "divorced" status out there right away because it helps weed out people who don't want to date divorced people.

There are a large number of Christian folk who deem those of us who are divorced to be "untouchable". Having a woman who believes this to be so meet me through a dating site and find out only after a number of dates that I am divorced can't lead to anything good. She might think I'm deceptive for not revealing that at the first so she could make a choice about contacting me in the first place. Revealing my divorced status at say, the fifth or sixth date is getting just a wee bit late in the game, and she might be justified in thinking she had been deceived.

Better to be open about this from the get-go. Sure, you'll miss some people who will never contact you because of it, but given the way a lot of people in the Christian community interpret the scriptures I can't think missing those contacts is a bad thing. It saves a lot of trouble later, really.
 
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Tropical Wilds

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You should tell your coworkers too. Why hide these things? Won't it be worse when it comes out one day?

While I get needing to tell a person you're dating, telling co-workers? Why? Work is work... Divorce is personal. When my husband and I were ending our marriage, I didn't feel the need to announce it or bring it up... It's my personal life. I didn't want to be judged on work performance based off of the assumption of what's happening in my personal life, I didn't want my personal life to be the subject of gossip, and I didn't want to discuss it with people I may or may not have liked while at work. Besides, how does one announce such a thing? "How was your weekend?" "Good, good... Relaxed a little, caught up on my shows, found out my wife was going to leave me, started divorce proceedings... All and all, pretty eventful." People eventually figured it out, of course, but it didn't create any problems to not bring it up. In fact, I found the opposite to be true. It was over and done and there was nothing to talk about.

I don't think there's anything wrong with keeping your personal life out of your work life, especially if you don't want to discuss it. While the change in the relationship is public, the event of it is personal and it's not really something most would want to bring up at work. Especially if your co-workers are acquaintances, not friends.

In real life - not necessarily. I have met bachelors in their 30's who have remained unmarried, even bachelors in their 40's and widowers at all ages. It's no good putting the responsibility on the woman to 'guess' ("you should have guessed I am divorced") but instead to be honest. IMO, not using a divorced status on a dating site is verging on dishonest. People don't know your status until/unless you tell them.

I don't know that anybody is saying that it's her responsibility to guess that he's divorced, only that, in all probability, if you're talking to somebody who's single and in their 30's, they're probably divorced, or at the very least, were in a prolonged, long-term, unmarried and committed relationship. So the revelation of such shouldn't come as a big shock. Are there people in their 30's who are unmarried? Sure. My brother is 30 this year and has yet to have a girlfriend, much less a marriage... He works with endangered migratory birds, raising them, and assisting their migration. As a result, he works with few people, he works very long hours, and 7-9 months a year he has no access to a shower and cell phone coverage, much less women and dating. But people who're like him, hitting or past 30 who've never been in a relationship are not as common as those who're divorced/were in a long-term relationship.

I could wish this site had a "divorced" status. It doesn't, and that has caused me some problems here in the recent past.

They had brought the subject up years ago, but it was shot down when people complained that a divorced status gave people a means to announce and revel in sin, so it was abandoned. There was awhile when even this forum was in limbo for just the same reason.

Was interesting, I didn't realize how LATE people got married nowadays. It makes me wonder--if many of these are Christians how do they stay pure all those years?

Considering that over 99% of people have had sexual relations before marriage, I think your question is answered.

I'm afraid that some people would judge a book by its cover if I put that in my dating site profile. I would prefer for someone to meet the real me before they already know I'm divorced.

The way I see it is this:

Put on your site what you're comfortable sharing. Reveal you're divorced or don't. It's your profile. On the flip side, be prepared for people to reject you for not disclosing it after you've had a few dates. There are people who're put off on dating divorced guys, for whatever reason legitimate or not, and who would dump you for simply being divorced, or not stating you were divorced. But, on the other hand, it sounds like the people who would do such a thing aren't the women you'd want anyway... So there you have it.

Dating is rough. And dating online? Rougher still. Potential to meet a lot of people in a short amount of time... I get not wanting to emotionally vomit your relationship history to random people, to people you aren't (or won't) be serious about, the looky-loos who flit on and off your profile, and so on. It's casual dating, casual presentation of the self, and for something like divorce, or your divorce in particular, which is complicated and has a lot of backstory, I get not wanting to share it. People will be turned off or feel deceived to find out later and will reject you for it, but by what you've said, you'd rather they did because they're not the people you'd want to be in a relationship with anyway, so it's not a big deal.

Me personally, if I were dating and on a dating site, I wouldn't necessarily expect to see somebody's profile listed as "divorced," but I'd expect it to come up pretty early in the sequence of dating. If they revealed it and we were on date 5, I'd have red flags... Not because I'd feel deceived, but I'd wonder if you were truly over it. Even with your backstory, my default impression would be that you hadn't moved on and things between us would cool down considerably, though I can't say for sure as if it'd be the end of the relationship. If you'd had kids with your ex and waited to reveal it, I'd say that'd put the grinding brakes on the relationship for sure, but since you don't, I won't explore that.

It was on my profile for about a week. I stated I was divorced, that my ex had an affair, she took off, refused to go to counseling, and eventually this led to me filing for divorce.

I will say, that's a profile I wouldn't answer. A little too much emotional vomiting, the air of not being over the ex, and the definite impression of bitterness. Not the face you want to put out there and certainly not the one I want to deal with. Especially as women will judge you by how you treat the ex. Chances are good that your relationship with them will end... Every relationship you're in, save for one, will. Chances are high they're just a future ex too. Nobody wants to date the guy they thinks will be the nutso ex. And I know that works both ways... My husband's ex has the distinct reputation of being left-of-center and, as a result, that's all she attracts because everybody who isn't hears that she's loopy and walks the other way.
 
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Hetta

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Honestly I think that is a pretty judgmental way of looking at things.
You asked for opinion, and you got it. If you don't like that opinion, you can always ignore it. :)

If we are going to go down this road, then maybe I should disclose I'm upside down on my mortgage and have credit card debt too.
I didn't say that anywhere - but if you get into a committed relationship, she should certainly know.

While we are at it, maybe they should have sections where you state if you have ever been on anti-depressants, abused drugs, looked at pornography, or been an alcoholic too.
These would all be issues that would need to be disclosed to a date at some point.

My point is that I think these issues are all equally important to know if we are going to go down this road. While it is nice to know if someone is divorced beforehand, I also find it extremely superficial to dismiss someone on this basis alone.
Who are you to decide what is "superficial"? Do you not know that some Christians believe that the divorced should remain perpetually single and that remarriage is the same as infidelity? There are scriptures that can be interpreted that way. You may find them "superficial" but there is support in scripture for that perspective - so maybe scripture is superficial?

This site doesn't even have a selection for divorced. What you are stating I should do is impossible. You are either single, married, or seeing someone.
I am very surprised that this would be so.

You would have to answer the questions about divorce within the website for someone to state they are divorced, or include it in the profile description page.
Ah, so there is a question about divorce status. But you didn't answer it.

At the end of the day, to re-answer your original question, there is nothing wrong with dating a divorced guy. I am happily married, and so I can't really answer whether *I* would date a divorced guy, because I doubt I will be in a situation to date again. And if my husband should pass away before I do, I would not date, because I could never replace him, nor would I desire to try.

However, for a single woman, a divorced guy is an option - so long as - he has truly healed and moved on. I would suggest counseling for you, just one to one, with your pastor. Make sure that those hurts are healed.
 
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DZoolander

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Ehhh - I agree with the people who say you should mention it somewhere.

At the same time, however, you *don't* need to go into such specifics of why you got divorced. There are a million reasons why someone might have divorced - and it's not such a taboo any more that you're going to get (IMHO) all sorts of weird looks as a result of it.

BUT...if you choose to go down the road of "I'm divorced because my wife was a cheater, and she did this, and she did that" etc - yeah - that does reek of still being bitter/angry about it (and that's a complete turnoff to most people). Stating you're divorced - but leaving out the details - is the far classier move in my opinion.

Let them ask when the time is appropriate - and then simply say "My wife was unfaithful, and that's not something I can see past in a marriage". It's simple, honest, direct and to the point. Plus - it's only offered at their request - which changes the dynamic of how it's perceived.

Like - I remember when I first started dating again after my divorce. I quickly learned that choosing on my own to go into the details of why I got divorced was a HUGE mistake...but being quick...honest...etc about the fact I'd previously married (and it didn't work out) was never held against me.

That's my .02 on it.
 
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Jake Kelly

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Well, after getting a lot of feedback on this topic, I've decided to post my divorced status on my dating profile. It seems as if most of the women think I should, but some of the guys think I shouldn't.

As for the original question is this thread, it appears I should be more concerned about my debt issues than the divorce label, as most of you have stated that it wouldn't matter if you understand why the divorce occurred.

I especially appreciate the advice on keeping things short and sweet as to the reason for the divorce. The only reason I had all that info before was that I felt like I should have a reason. I feel like if I don't put the reason, it just sounds like I just got divorced because I wasn't committed or loyal to her, which is not true at all.

I have always considered myself to be a man of my word, so the very thought of having to file for divorce was pretty painful for me, but given the circumstances between the affair, lying, refusal to go to counseling, and everything else, I felt things were beyond repair. There was so much lying and distrust going on that I realized her very words were meaningless. I couldn't tell if anything she was saying to me was true or a lie.

I hate divorce, and I still have to remind myself sometimes that I am divorced. I never thought five years ago I would be sitting in this position today.

So, I will be stating something along the lines of "I'm divorced, unfortunately my wife was unfaithful" line to my profile, and leaving it at that.

Thanks for all of your feedback on this topic!

As for the date I had with the woman last week, well...I sent her a message asking for her phone number on Friday and she still hasn't responded. It appears we won't be having that divorce discussion. LOL. No big deal.
 
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