We, as the church, all agree that divorce is an ugly subject, a forbidden issue at some churches, just because, we believe, that God hates divorce.
We believe that we are mandated by the Word of God to keep that which is evil out of the church because it is the House of the Lord, and woe be it unto us to allow someone who has been tainted by divorce to lead a church or a Sunday School class, or start a divorce support group within the church. A divorce support group would look like a group all by itself with people who in some way, sinned against their spouse, and is now going through a divorce...a divorce that is a sin against God!
Yes, divorce is full of sin! It is evil when a man abandons family and God and co-habitates with his mistress. The issue of adultery brings on a force of evil that vomits jealousy all over it with vengeance and hatred and manipulation while on the other side permits sexual sin, irresponsibility with income, alcoholism, a huge mentality of self, self-seeking and false accusations against their spouse. It entangles the lives of not only two lives, but sometimes four lives and the lives of each couple's children, and family and friends of each couple. Alcoholism and drug abuse spreads like a tsunami as it rips into the marriage, causing role reversals of partners, all types of abuse, a large depletion of income and financial worries. It causes selfishness and greed and apathy against the marriage...all because of the craving of a bottle and a needle. It pushes away from the marriage, and each spouse spins out of control from a marriage gone bad. A divorce that happens just because both spouses grew apart and no longer desire to be together is a marriage unplanned, uncommitted, a marriage that opens the door to the more notorious sins...adultery, greed, manipulation, and like-gender relationships.
The results of divorce are devastating. It means an incredible loss of income due to the split and living in two households, astronomical legal fees, counseling fees...sending millions into deep poverty...poverty that some cannot escape from, unless there is help and the compassion of Jesus. Divorce causes heart break beyond belief that shatters the emotions of spouses left betrayed, rejected, abandoned - left to fend for themselves. Divorce leaves a hole in a person that creates debilitating sadness, causing the betrayed person to pull within themselves a sense of catostrophic unworthiness, hopelessness and fear...that becomes their only guide... unless the church steps into their lives and wraps their hearts around the broken pieces with hope, and encouragement, and strength. Falsehoods become truths and truths become falsehoods - a picture that exudes the very evil and craftiness of satan, the father of deception. It always binds their spouse from any knowledge of their sin, yet when the deception is exposed, the deception turns into a rage of accusations, placing blame against the unsuspecting spouse, wringing out any kind of trust that existed within the marriage...unless the church reaches out and shows them a better way...a way to fully trust in the Word of God. Divorce is as black as can be.
But that's not all. Because divorce is so ugly, it causes some churches to close their hearts to those who are hurting the most. It causes Christians to make remarks like, "I'm not divorced, so I won't have anything to do with their divorce. It causes churches to make extremely unfair policies when it comes to employment, never considering the fact of the one who was dealt treacherously against by their spouse...God hates that sin of divorce, but He sustains the righteous and the blameless, He does not shame those who face the evil (of their spouse), and He richly supplies those who are facing famine...Psalm 37:16-19.
Yet, if the divorced are dealt treacherously against... by the church, then Jesus has something to say about that too. Part 2>
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