by Amy Kate
Divorce. What a nasty word. Other than the lawyers who specialize in it, I am not sure anyone likes this word. As a Christian, it wasn't a word I even allowed in my vocabulary for a very long time. I remember very clearly the day I sat with my then fiancé and we agreed we would never
Valentine’s Day. For those whose relationship has not survived sex addiction, it’s a day that seems to rub our singleness in our noses. The implication of the Valentine’s message? "You’re missing out on the ultimate delight — romance. Too bad you’re such a loser."
Those of us who have been married to a man who is
Last week was the first segment in an article by bestselling author Pastor Gary Thomas. Today, Gary continues with his thoughts on the church's stand on divorce: in the face of abuse (including porn addiction and abuse).
Gary began the message by quoting the following passage:
If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and
Reprinted with permission from the blog of best-selling author, Pastor Gary Thomas.
If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. — Luke 14:26
What does it mean to “hate” someone we are elsewhere called to sacrificially love? We
This is the final week in the Biblical Divorce series. The reason for tackling this rather uncomfortable topic is that there has been too much so-called biblical scholarship used to beat up wives on this and other topics over the ages. I believe this is done completely contrary to God’s will, His nature, and even contrary to good biblical
Last week I opened up the discussion of how “biblical scholarship” is often used to tell women in very bad situations that they can’t divorce their husband. The kinds of bad situations I have in mind are:
- Habitual porn use and other types of sexual addiction/offending that may not involve “intercourse with a woman”
- Emotional and spiritual abuse
For awhile I’ve had it stuck in my craw that a number of our bible scholars – and even some pastors working in the sex addiction field – have been claiming that, from a biblical stand point, a woman whose husband is a habitual porn user has no (biblical) right to leave that husband.
Like many of you, I knew this