Menu Close

Christians Say the Darnedest Things: God Hates Divorce by Brian Hobbs

brian hobbs

One Texas lawmaker is trying to make no-fault divorce no more in the Lone Star State.

Texas State Rep. Matt Krause of Ft. Worth filed a bill that would effectively disallow divorce on the grounds of “insupportability,” meaning no-fault divorces.

Currently “all 50 states offer some type of no-fault divorce, (and) in 17 states and the District of Columbia, you can only file for divorce on no-fault grounds,” said a KXAN-TV news story.

Meanwhile, evidence shows that a majority of divorces in Texas are filed on no-fault grounds, and Krause believes this policy will lead to a decline in divorce and family breakdown.

“I think people have seen the negative effects of divorce and the breakdown of the family for a long time. I think this could go some way in reversing that trend,” he said.

….

Currently, Texas offers six categories of fault-based divorces, including: “adultery, cruelty, abandonment and a felony conviction, living apart for at least three years or confinement to a mental hospital.” Krause said the bill would establish “some type of due process. There needs to be some kind of mechanism to where that other spouse has a defense.”

The idea of re-introducing fault is not about assigning blame as much as it is about treating divorce more seriously and substantively. Krause cited a Heritage Foundation report that said, “A recent University of Texas study of divorced spouses found that only a third of them felt that they had done enough to try to save their marriage. Moreover, children of divorce disproportionately suffer from such maladies as depression, compromised health, childhood sexual abuse, arrests and addiction.”

Whether or not the bill ever becomes law, the policy idea itself raises some important issues for Christians to consider. As Christians, we understand the devastating effects of divorce and have seen it in our own families, neighborhoods, churches and communities.

If we are perfectly honest, we will admit that divorce has become all too commonplace and convenient. We further recognize that “God hates divorce” (Malachi 2:16) and that, according to Jesus, it was because of the hardness of their hearts, that God permitted divorces among the Israelites, “but it was not this way from the beginning” (Matt. 19:8).

Even though Jesus and the Apostle Paul have outlined some limited Scriptural grounds for divorce, we have institutionalized divorce in a way that would have shocked Paul. We also have lost sight of the fact that divorce is a tragic step. To that end, churches should not leave it to politicians to address runaway divorce and family breakdown.

— Brian Hobbs, The Baptist Messenger, Conventional Thinking: Ex-es in Texas, No More?, January 13, 2017

9 Comments

  1. Avatar
    Brian

    Evangelical Christianity loves to interpret scriptural writings in whatever way they can to bring further harm to people who are already down, already suffering. Patriarchal anal orifices gloat over old testament scripture and apply it with the stupid mud puddle depth of insight used by preachers like Steve Anderson who is memorizing the Bible so he will finally be free of his own thoughts and just quote the copyrighted Gawd.
    It makes me tired. Sunday is the traditional day of rest here in the mountains of B.C. I will now have a glass of red wine (blood of the grape, not Jesus-red) and seek some respose. By the way, who dresses up these dingbats for their show and tell? They look like Kraft Dinner versions of real bipeds.
    Let me count the insults I have hurled: A one and a two and…

  2. Avatar
    Ami

    Divorce can be a very sad and traumatic thing for everyone involved.
    It can also repair a family. I have seen so many people who were happier living apart that I can’t see divorce as only a bad thing. People don’t usually enter into marriage with any intention other than staying together… so who the hell is this guy to decide for other people whether or not they should remain in a marriage that no longer works?

    Where the hell are all these dickheads coming from???????

  3. Avatar
    TLC

    Oh, yeah. God hates divorce! Which, when screamed in your face by a fundagelical pastor or other asshole, means, “God hates YOU because YOU’RE DIVORCED!!!!!”

    So sick and fucking tired of having this shoved in my face by these sanctimonious bastards. Sorry for my language. But being single and divorced was a major reason why I was treated like shit in these churches, and why I’ll never go back.

    tRump’s divorces, however, don’t seem to have made any difference. Maybe because he has a penis? And money?

  4. Avatar
    Steve

    Of course The Lord hates divorce, duhhh! My question is does he hate post-divorce sex, as it is REALLY awesome!

    Sure hoping he doesn’t 🙂

  5. Avatar
    Rachel

    The studies that suggest that children whose parents are divorced suffer “disproportionately” from depression, other mental health issues, poorer life outcomes, etc all seem to contain the same error: they are comparing the kids of SOME divorced parents with the kids of parents who are happily married. Of course, in such a comparing, the kids of the latter group are going to come out better! What I don’t think has ever been done (and I don’t know if it’s possible to devise a methodology for this) is compare the kids of parents of warring parents who got divorced with kids of warring parents who did not get divorced.

    My understanding would be, kids of warring parents (divorced or not) experience more depression, lower confidence, etc. The endless conflict, played out in front of children, often using the children as pawns, is what hurts kids. My own parents stuck together, partly because of religion (or the need to have the approval of the priest, at least) and partly for a ton of other dysfunctional reasons. My siblings and I, now middle-aged, are still living with the long-term legacy of this childhood which was dysfunctional, abusive and, also, hypocritical.

    Divorce is sometimes the BEST thing that can happen to a family. (And I hate the way “broken family” is slapped as a label on a family where the parents are divorced; our own family was broken, well and truly, but our parents were very skilled at presenting a presentable face to the wider community.)

Want to Respond to Bruce? Fire Away! If You Are a First Time Commenter, Please Read the Comment Policy Located at the Top of the Page.

Discover more from The Life and Times of Bruce Gerencser

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading