Divorce & the Christian, part 1

Another thing you do: You flood the LORD's altar with tears. You weep and wail because he no longer pays attention to your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands. You ask, "Why?" It is because the LORD is acting as the witness between you and the wife of your youth, because you have broken faith with her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant. Has not the LORD made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth. "I hate divorce," says the LORD God of Israel, "and I hate a man's covering himself with violence as well as with his garment," says the LORD Almighty. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith. (Malachi 2:13-16)

There are other teachings on divorce in both the Old Testament and the New. There is an exception clause in Matthew 19:9, and some believe there is another exception in 1 Corinthians 7:15 if the one leaving is an unbeliever. It is amazing to me how these two exceptions can be stretched, broadened, and multiplied so that exceptions are now wide enough to march an army division through them.

When we spoke our vows, did we insist on quoting these exceptions in case we might need them in the future?

Why are we looking for reasons to divorce? Why aren’t we looking for the basic sentence instead of the subordinate clauses?

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