Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: wdt@attctc.dallas.tx.us (William Trent) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: divorce Message-ID: Date: 18 Jan 90 05:56:00 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: The Unix(R) Connection, Dallas, Texas Lines: 26 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu I have a question in reference to the issue of divorce as stated in Matt. 19:9. If two people, both of which have been married before, enter into marriage with each other, both of whom being member of the body of Christ before the second marriage. Is it required of them to dissolve this second marriage in order not to be living in sin? The first marriage being dissolved for other reasons than adultery. [(1) some groups allow remarriage after divorce. It's now fairly common to take the view that while divorce is a bad thing, sometimes the alternative is even worse. Normally groups that allow divorce also allow remarriage. (2) even groups that prohibit remarriage after divorce might well take the view that in the situation you mention a second divorce would only make things worse. This would be particularly true if there were children from the second marriage. (3) There's an axiom in chess: "There is no good move from a bad position". There may be situations where it is impossible to avoid sin, and one can only try to find the least bad result. From the point of view of people who reject remarriage after divorce, this situation would be an example of that. In that case, may I suggest that it would probably be a mistake to suggest solving this problem by invoking rules. Let me suggest that it would have to be solved by the people involved, after prayer and counselling with people who know them. --clh]