Remarriage and Divorce

[JohnL]

What does your church believe about remarriage and divorce?
Please no bashing or criticisms of anyone.

[ohio jones]

How about reading some old threads on the subject before rehashing a divisive topic? What's with your curiosity about our beliefs on so many subjects anyway?

[Robert]

This topic has been hotly debated and discussed over the years.

I come from a point of grace, forgiveness and mercy. I do think society is way to quick to divorce and remarry. I think time and closure are needed before anyone can move forward.

[Thomas_muntzer]

What does your church believe about remarriage and divorce?
Please no bashing or criticisms of anyone.

The pastors and bishop preach against, and neither divorce nor legal separation is supported.

So far, there have been no divorces, but if one were to happen, I don't know what decision would be made

[JohnL]

How about reading some old threads on the subject before rehashing a divisive topic? What's with your curiosity about our beliefs on so many subjects anyway?

Having a grumpy day?
You can read my older posts to understand why.

[JohnL]

This topic has been hotly debated and discussed over the years.

I come from a point of grace, forgiveness and mercy. I do think society is way to quick to divorce and remarry. I think time and closure are needed before anyone can move forward.

I agree.

[Ernie]

What does your church believe about remarriage and divorce?

We believe that marriage should be for life.
We believe that if an unbelieving partner divorces their spouse, the believing partner should not participate in the divorce.
We are ok with separation and even legal separation when needed at times, but never divorce. Divorce generally carries the connotation that the marriage is over.
We believe that divorced partners should not remarry, but rather pray for their estranged spouse. It is hard for an estranged spouse to seek repentance if his/her partner divorces and remarries. We know of many situations in which a sinning spouse repented years later, due to the fact that their partner stayed celibate, did not remarry, but rather tried to win their spouse back to the Lord through chaste conversation.

[mike]

What does your church believe about remarriage and divorce?

We believe that marriage should be for life.
We believe that if an unbelieving partner divorces their spouse, the believing partner should not participate in the divorce.
We are ok with separation and even legal separation when needed at times, but never divorce. Divorce generally carries the connotation that the marriage is over.
We believe that divorced partners should not remarry, but rather pray for their estranged spouse. It is hard for an estranged spouse to seek repentance if his/her partner divorces and remarries. We know of many situations in which a sinning spouse repented years later, due to the fact that their partner stayed celibate, did not remarry, but rather tried to win their spouse back to the Lord through chaste conversation.

Our church believes essentially the same.

One of my employees (not a Mennonite, Wesleyan Holiness) was in the situation described in your last paragraph, lived conscientiously as a single mom and raised her children to adulthood before being eventually reconciled with her husband.

[JohnH]

What does your church believe about remarriage and divorce?
Please no bashing or criticisms of anyone.

Try this link:

MennoNet.com - divorce & remarriage

[JohnH]

We believe that if an unbelieving partner divorces their spouse, the believing partner should not participate in the divorce.

Practically speaking, how does a believing partner "not participate in the divorce"? For example, legally speaking, when your spouse decides to divorce you, you're legally compelled to give a response. The response can't just be "I don't believe in divorce". The response is expected to be what you think should happen in the divorce, such as dividing property, who gets how much parenting time with the children, and so forth. Refusing to respond would generally just mean the other party would have 100% of the parenting time. I don't think most conservative Anabaptists would agree that that's a good outcome.

We know of many situations in which a sinning spouse repented years later, due to the fact that their partner stayed celibate, did not remarry, but rather tried to win their spouse back to the Lord through chaste conversation.

This sounds like a utilitarian argument for doing so, and I question how common this really is. I would not feel comfortable at all with encouraging the spouse who left them, married someone else, and had children with that person to somehow abandon that new spouse (& the children resulting from it) and achieve some kind of reconciliation. I'm not saying the Bible prohibits this - I'm just saying I would have a very hard time encouraging this.