Divorce

On a gushing Facebook post, a parent proudly proclaims with an abundance of heart emojis, “I love my kids to the moon and back!” Do you, really?

Scrolling through Facebook, I sometimes see a Christian friend whose wife does not look the same as I remember her, or else she has mysteriously disappeared from all of his pictures. I then realize that his old wife is gone. Divorce has struck another home! It breaks my heart to see so many marriages dissolving within the body of Christ.

At the end of the day, the adults will give an account to God for their choices. However, what bothers me the most is the blank, hurt looks on the faces of their children.

By Don Shirk. Read Part 1 and Part 2.

By David Huffstutler. Read Part 1.

“Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found myself asked to present my view on divorce and remarriage.” This paraphrase of Jude 3 reflects how I feel as a Christian and pastor who has dealt with the difficult topics of divorce and remarriage after divorce. Perhaps you feel the same as I do. Divorce involves a broken marriage, broken hearts, suffering, and sin. And even if one allows for remarriage, painful memories linger. Can we talk about salvation instead?

Editor’s note: Baptist Bulletin ran a three article set on the topic of divorce and remarriage in the November/December 2020 issue. Below is the first, an introduction by the magazine’s then managing editor.

By David Gunn

In some ways, marriage and other family relationships is where the rubber meets the road for Christian ministry and living. Here, in the daily hustle and bustle of human lives lived in close proximity to one another, theory and doctrine are put to the test. Sometimes we rise to the challenge and glorify God in and through those relationships. Sometimes we don’t.