Divorce is NOT the Sin!
Here are a few Random Thoughts from a Bald Headed Texas Cowboy and Recovering Bapticostal Minister Turned Therapist Type . . .
Many years ago when I was 15 years of age, my parents divorced – at a time when divorce still carried sets of moral, religious and social labels meant to shame all involved. To top it off, my dad was a preacher – so a double whammy!
I recall going to my first Fellowship of Christian Athletes camp that summer after my sophomore year in high school. While there I struggled intensely with all of those labels that had been applied to my family and surreptitiously to me. I struggled with the words that divorce was a sin . . . period! Everyone who had ever talked about it told me that! And further . . . remarriage was an even more heinous sin! I looked out on a seemingly bleak future with fear, guilt and shame.
Through the years since that pivotal time I came to terms with all the issues as best I could . . .
Recently, that old line of religious interpretation surfaced again as I read articles on divorce and its effects on families. It appears that those messages of shame and denigration have survived after all. There it was – right there in front of me! DIVORCE IS A SIN! My spirit recoiled as I read those words.
As I sat in the wee hours of the morning pondering the issue I experienced an epiphany of sorts. In those quiet moments of meditation, these words came to me:
“Divorce is not the sin! Divorce is the wages of sin. If what the Bible says is true that ‘the wages of sin is death’ then the death of a marriage is surely representative of the outcome of sin and not a sin in and of itself. The sins are all the actions taken or not taken; words spoken or not; honesty given freely or withheld; time wasted; opportunities squandered; faith and trust destroyed; fidelity mocked. In light of this, divorce can actually become a point of redemption – an acknowledgement that sins have led to the dissolution of a marriage.
From this perspective, Divorce becomes a point of repentance – a turning from what has been destroyed toward something that is new and full of possibility. Divorce becomes a line of demarcation – an historical marker on the road of life that recognizes that something of significance has taken place. It becomes a point in time when renewal, re-creation, re-invention and re-direction can happen. It becomes the memorial service for and burial of that which was once alive and is now dead.”
We may never know all the sins that lead to divorce. We may never really WANT to know all the sins that lead to divorce. Knowing all the sins that lead to divorce may be immaterial in the end anyway. What matters is taking the time to determine what steps we take next, in what direction and for what purposes.
I don’t know if this is useful to anyone, but I found it at least interesting that these thoughts came flooding into my mind so many years after I was personally affected by a series of events. Isn’t it odd how the Ripple Effect moves through time.
May we be ever mindful of our intents and actions and may they always be based in that which is healing, helpful and honoring.
Peace!
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