"There is no divorce."
Now, for those who know me here, I'm a feminist of the old school. I believe that women being able to divorce is one of the powers women wrested from men to give them opportunity to be something other than chattel in society. Women have the power and the strength now to divorce unsuitable/abusive spouses.
There was no way I thought that it was right that there was no divorce and that Jesus supported the Hebrew bible rules that if one did divorce, one was committing adultery. In a Christian world, one was bound for hell for adultery if you were not sorry, and I knew the reasons my mother got divorced 3 times and my sister 1. There was no way they were ever going to be "sorry" they got divorced. And so there were going to hell? Women were all going to hell for divorcing abusive/bad husbands?
thank you ZK. that was very interesting. yes, i too struggled with the divorce thing. my mom did a lot of divorcing, and as a married woman with a marriage that has had many, many ups and downs, i have considered it from time to time.
i'm going to play 'god's advocate' for a minute, if you don't mind. about being an adulterous if one divorces, well, i think the bible points out the sin of our actions, and what the consequences would've been had jesus not have died for our sins. no, i people don't go to hell for divorce, but the whole message of the bible is that we are sinners, and our sin is not god's plan, as god says "i hate divorce". the bible is full of "don'ts" and i think the point is only to show how we absolutely cannot live up to god's standards, or refrain from sin, thus, we needed jesus to 'pay the price' for us. the message is that we can't do it alone, we can't abstain from sin, therefore we cannot be made perfect for god...except that jesus took on all the sin of the world for us, and paid the penalty, and if we claim him as our savior, we will be made clean through him.
i'm sorry, i'm not trying to preach. i'm just trying to explain what most christians believe about the impossible 'don'ts' in the bible. i'm not trying to change your mind, and i fully respect your belief. i'm just stating the 'other' side, if you will.
also, i think god hates divorce because a lot of the time it's based on serving #1...rather than putting one's spouses' needs ahead of one's own. we live in a world that teaches "whatever makes YOU happy", and we are used to looking out for ourselves first and formost. this is not all a bad thing, but it can be if we're consumed with ourselves rather than others.
anyways, divorce is on the rise now, and i don't think it's god's desire that we all get divorced. i think a lot of marriages suffer because we've forgotten how to give, but rather focus on recieving. you may disagree with me, and let me point out that god would never ask a woman to stay with a horrible husband. abuse, violence, adultery, or anything else that's harmfull, unproductive, or toxic is nothing to put up with, and warrents a divorce most definately. god said "husbands, LOVE your wives, and give yourself up for her as christ gave himself up for the church." so , god wants men to put their wives needs above and beyond their own, and anything less, is not god's way....
i know i sound preachy, and i don't mean to be. i'm just responding from a different viewpoint, just to keep this thread going, and to show many sides of our belief system today.
keep posting. i'd love to hear more of your thoughts.