Divorce (How Evil)

Another marriage is shattered, Lord, the divorce will be final next week.

He said it was a breakdown of communication and the subtle infiltration of boredom.

She said it was an accumulation of things.

He said she was unnecessarily preoccupied with home, children and activities.

She said he stifled her dreams and ignored her achievements.

He said he felt in prison, restricted; that night after night he got the old pushaway.

She said he was harsh and brutal and often embarrassed her in public.

He said her critical attitude contributed to his sense of inadequacy.

She said she felt lonely and unappreciated with no claim to personal idenity.

He said she wallowed in self-pity and refused to acknowledge her benefits.

She said he was shiftless and irresponsible.

He said she didn't understand.

She said he didn't care.

Lord, how tragic that through all the wasted years niether of them asked what You said.
by Ruth Harms Calkin

"Hey Jesus, Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?" - The Pharisees, Matthew 19:3

Breaking The Law?

The Old Testament taught that you were not to remarry your ex if she/he married another and divorced again. (Deuteronomy 24:1-4)

The New Testament teaches that divorce is only legal in the case of marital unfaithfulness (Matthew 5:31, Matthew 19:9), or when someone has been abandoned (1 Corinthians 7:10-11,15).

America puts no stipulations on divorce. Ronald Reagan signed the first no-fault divorce law in 1970, bowing to conventional wisdom that divorce would be less harmful to children if it were easier to obtain and didn't require a finding of fault (I've had a hard time forgivng Reagan for this one).

Breaking Society

1. Who cares if divorce is breaking the law. Consider how it is breaking our Community -

"Divorced women make up 50% of our welfare recipients." (Concerned Women of America)

"Marriage difficulty is the number 1 cause of decline in the workplace." (USA Today, January 8, 1990)

2. Consider how it is breaking our Children -

"Divorce is almost always more traumatic for the children than the parent." - according to Judith Wallerstien, Psychologist and Divorce Research Expert

Children of divorce experience more anxiety, more anger, more discipline problems. Less resistance to drugs, alcohol, and pre-martial sex. They are more likely to drop out of school. And more likely to commit suicide.

Cal Thomas writes, "The folks who gave us 'no fault' divorce and tried to persuade us that it mattered not how we lived, only that we be 'happy,' have inflicted profound unhappiness on countless children abandoned by their parents." He goes on to say, "Far from the initial impact on children, which fades with time, divorce is a cumulative experience that produces stark emotional scars and shapes the attitudes, behavior, and relationships of the children of divorce into adulthood."

It is these "stark emotional scars" that have convinced me that divorce is THE GREATEST EVIL of our time. And it happens so often that we take little notice! God says, "I hate divorce." He goes on to say in the same sentence, "I hate a man's covering himself with violence..." (Malachi 2:16) which says to me that God equates divorce with violence. How is divorce violent?

Consider what divorce does to a child's ability to trust, and what that alone will do to all the relationships the child will develop in his or her lifetime. Consider the fact that children of divorce are more likely to be raise in poverty, with emotional and behavioral problems, and less resistant to drug and alcohol abuse... Consider the downward spiral of crime and chaos we've created by saying divorce is okay for any and every reason.

3. Consider how it is breaking You -

2 years after a divorce, 7 out of 10 people admit it was a mistake

5 years after a divorce, 5 out of 10 are remarried and divorced again

10 years after a divorce, 1 out of 10 people claim to be happy

Dr. J.D. Unwin, a British social anthropologist, spent 7 years studying the births and deaths of eighty civilizations. His studies showed that all civilizations begin with strong moral principles and strong family values. But history records that in time these principles deteriorated and led to the destruction of that civilization. Dr. Unwin stated that when a man is devoted to one woman and one family, he is motivated to build, save, protect, plan, and propser on their behalf. However, when for example, his sexual interests are dispersed and generalized, his effort is invested in the gratification of sexual desires. He spends all his time trying to satisfy self and neglects family. Dr Unwin concluded, "Any human society is free to display great energy preserving the family or to enjoy sexual freedom. The evidence is that they cannot do both for more than one generation."

Since 1960 there has been a 400% increase in the divorce rate and a 200% increase in the number of children raised in single-parent homes.

80% of school-aged children come home each day to an empty house.

Go Bless,

Pete Baumgartle, Lanesville, IN

http://www.fireproofthemovie.com/

What God has joined together, let man not seperate. - Matthew 19:6