Adultery And Divorce

[goldenchild17]

This question was posed on another forum

"Why does the Church of Rome not permit divorce in cases of adultery? Jesus seems to think that it's permissible under those circumstances. I'm not denying, of course, that divorce is a terrible evil, and if a couple can forgive one another for adultery then they should, but why isn't exception made for adultery?"

What say you?

[Aloysius]

if two people are lawfully married (i speak of 'lawfully' as in, validly, sacramentally, truly married in God's eyes) they cannot be set apart. Jesus said that Moses added that exception into the law because of the people's obstinance. Jesus said what God has joined together let no man seperate, except in cases of an unlawful marriage, i.e., it can be prooven that the marriage was not valid in the first place.

no one can break apart a valid marriage, divorce is never allowed. as the Didache says "God [color=red][b]HATES[/b][/color] divorce"

HATES. pretty strong wording.


[quote]Therefore now they are not two, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let no man put asunder. 7 They say to him: Why then did Moses command to give a bill of divorce, and to put away? 8 He saith to them: Because Moses by reason of the hardness of your heart permitted you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so. 9 And I say to you, that whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and he that shall marry her that is put away, committeth adultery.[/quote] [i]The Words of Our Lord Jesus Christ in The Holy Gospel According to St. Matthew, Chapter 19, Verse 6[/i]

Jesus there says that even if someone seperates from their spouse, they are still technically married to them and thus would commit adultery by marrying anyone else. That is Jesus' position.

He does say:
"But I say to you, that whosoever shall put away his wife, excepting the cause of fornication, maketh her to commit adultery: and he that shall marry her that is put away, committeth adultery." [i]The Words of Our Lord Jesus Christ in The Holy Gospel According to St. Matthew, Chapter 5, Verse 32[/i]

This might be a case for annullment, I'm not sure

but some subtlety i'm picking up is that in the case of fornication, the person putting away his wife doesn't cause her to commit adultery, for she has already committed adultury. REmarriage can't happen, neither can DEmarriage. if it is a real marriage, it countes till death do you part, you know the part in the Bible about swearing, make your nos mean nos and your yeses mean yes, Marriage vows are binding. only if the marriage is invalid, and thus the marriage never existed in God's eyes, may one get married to another (because technically they were never married in the first place)

[Dave]

The case that Jesus cites for adultery doesn't use the usual Greek word for adultery -- "moicheia." The word used instead is "porneia," which means unlawful sexual intercourse. That's where the word "pornography" comes from, btw. But I digress ... anyway, "porneia" is mainly used in the Bible to refer to incestuous unions (which the Church wouldn't recognize anyway) or concubinage, where there's no marriage to begin with. So Jesus wasn't saying that divorce is ok if your spouse cheats on you.

[Theoketos]

Jesus speaks of divorce as ok in cases of "porneia", which loosely translates to adultry. Thus divorce is ok (it still is a kind of evil and grave matter), but remairage is not, as the spouses would still be married.

However if it can be proved that there were impediments to the marriage before the marriage was consumated, the marriage can be declared as null.