Christian Divorce: A Case Study Part I

Part I

A feature article by an Alumbo member, Apr 14, 2008

Summary:
This first article in the series, is designed to show, from a biblical perspective, that a Christian divorce is often necessary so as to avoid much greater fallout in the lives of those affected as well as society. The article begins to demonstrate costs of bad, ongoing "marriages" which bring damage in directions not usually considered by the churches.

Christian Divorce: A Single, Global, Long Term Plague

He was born in 1879 in the little town of Gori, Russia. His father, Vissarion, was an abusive, violent husband toward his wife (Yekaterina) and son (Iosif). Iosef�s mother was a devout Christian woman. She endured a nightmare at the hands of her husband. She never considered Christian divorce (herein used to mean �a Christian who legitimately initiates a divorce�) even though the home was a place of utter terror.

The son grew embittered. Why would no one help his family? Couldn�t anyone stop the father�s tantrums? How could his mother put both of them through this horrid trauma? Why not go ahead with a Christian divorce instead of clinging to a position which �kept the family together� when the �family� was an ugly brutality?

Iosif grew up hating the Christianity which protected the torment of his home and life. Iosef�s mother did not believe in Christian divorce. Therein lies the problem: - The Church was impotent (no �Christian divorce�) in teaching her what to do, except �hang on�. - The State was impotent to sanction the husband. What happened to Romans 13? �For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil.� The only terror going on in that household was thoroughly evil. - If no Christian divorce, what happens to the principle, �Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good�?

Christian Divorce: Replies to the Challenge Sadly, standard �Christian� replies to the challenge for Christian divorce, return answers like the following: 1. In preference to a Christian divorce, she was �overcoming� evil with her quiet godliness under trial. Reply: What then was actually �overcome�? Was evil stopped? Did it have its power broken? Was the husband sanctioned, confronted, punished, or stopped? What did Yekaterina accomplish in her personal �witness�? She lost her son to atheism, her marriage to brutality. 2. In preference to Christian divorce, she is never to return evil with evil. Reply: True. But, failure to stop or restrain evil is also evil. The Church and magistrate should have been havens for her. She should never have had to fear. She should have been able to go straight to church for guidance and the magistrate for protection. And why couldn�t the church interpose for her with the magistrate? That doesn�t happen because the churches are trying to �save� marriages or don�t want to be perceived as �judgmental�.

3. In preference to a Christian divorce alternative, the very idea of divorce is evil. Therefore, she had no recourse. After all, she married him. She is stuck with him. Reply: That is what this article is contesting. Divorce is a provision of legal refuge in the civil legislation of the Bible. Of course, the laws of God are also contested in the churches, leaving Christians like Yekaterina, without relief. However, if Churches would handle problems scripturally, then even the non-Christian would benefit enormously from our solutions. 4. In preference to a Christian divorce alternative, Yekaterina should not �resist evil�: Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil��Matt. 5:38 -39 Reply: Christ�s principle was already embedded in the Laws of the Lord, specifically the book of Proverbs. Say not thou, I will recompense evil; but wait on the LORD, and he shall save thee. -Proverbs 20:22 If Christ is applying the same principle, then such a quote is contextually bound to Old Testament passages which insist upon sanctions against the wicked like Vissarion. In other words, deal with him in church and state, and deliver her and the boy. Christian Divorce: History and Result

The young boy was embittered toward the Christian faith of his mother. He became involved in radical movements such as Mesame Dasi, a movement espousing �an end of exploitation�. Such movements attract young adults through rhetoric designed to stir a perverse sense of �justice� in them against Christianity, herding them toward social violence. Iosef is known to history as Josef Stalin, the dictator of Russia and responsible for the following: 1. The deaths of over 20 million Russians. 2. The massive attack of Soviet Communism upon Christianity worldwide. 3. Joseph Stalin�s push for a �revolutionary Christianity� now espoused in Liberation Theology. Deaths tallied in the millions in Asia, Central and South America and Africa. 4. 6 million Kulaks (middle class) of the Ukraine murdered. 5. Secret agreements with Hitler and the Nazis. 6. The slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Poles whom he allowed to be devoured by the Nazi war machine without helping them� 7. The enslavement of Eastern Europe.
8. The massive brutalities of the governments he put in place in Eastern Europe. 9. The division of Germany.
10. Inciting the fall of China to Mao�s Communist thugs. 11. The Communization of North Korea and the Korean War. 12. The seizure of the atomic bomb and the Cold War terror. There have been bacterial plagues which were tame by comparison.

Christian Divorce: The Scoreboard?

So let�s tally up. Christianity managed to �save� a marriage at the price of the bitterness in heart of a brutalized boy:

Loss of that home to a brutal monster.
Millions of lives and families destroyed. (I thought we were trying to save �family�?)
Literally dozens of wars, revolutionary movements.
Enslavement of Russia and Eastern Europe.
Cold War threat of nuclear annihilation.
Radical movements unleashed upon the world in unprecedented numbers.

Scoreboard (as opposed to Christian divorce) Unrighteousness: Untold millions
Righteousness: 1 saved �marriage� (but not its home and family members)

Those who take the position that no Christian divorce was warranted here have only one possible argument. That argument: �God says �No divorce� � no matter what reason.�

With such results facing us daily, that�s certainly a position to be questioned.

Chrys Ostom has both undergraduate and graduate degrees in schools in business (with economics), ministry (and counseling), theology and history. He has extensive counseling experience concerning problems and solutions surrounding divorce, marriage, and remarriage in the history and customs of the churches. He has accomplished work in both home mission and foreign mission training and church growth. Please visit: http://tinyurl.com/5jxvmj

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