One of the greatest problems facing Christians today is the issue of divorce. In Mark 10, Jesus takes a very hard line against, which is only slightly diluted by the addition of the 'except on grounds of adultery' found in Matthew 5.Evangelicals tend to add 'violence and abuse' into the equation as also being reasonable grounds but would be stretched to find scriptural warrant to do so. Only Roman Catholics take a line which is fully opposed to divorce.
The further Christians move from the above, the more we enter into the realms of liberal church theology, although in fairness, it is abundantly clear that Jesus's pronouncements were very much to protect women from men divorcing and dumping them in a society which lacked compassion. Divorce for women in those days was a truly dreadful fate.
Even in Malachi at the end of the Old Testament it states that 'God hates divorce'.
Marriage of course, has a spiritual and symbolical dimension and our society has got it all so badly wrong when it is incapable of grasping this point. Our own personal, self interest must always take precedence in an increasingly hedonistic world where 'duty' and 'responsibility' are no longer considered to be of great import.
More than one marriage in three will end in divorce; half the children born today are illegitimate and ephemeral partnerships have replaced a large percentage of marriages.
This is a recipe for social disaster - and guess where the finger of blame should be pointed - as usual - yes, the liberal left.
Divorces will always have to happen but making divorce so easy was a very big mistake.
