Where is the list of the grounds for divorce in the Bible.

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   Ericdierkerposted 10 years ago

   Where is the list of the grounds for divorce in the Bible.
   
   I know somewhere there is an old list that goes right through all the "legal" grounds in a list form for why there can be a legitimate divorce.

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2. 79

   dashingscorpioposted 10 years ago

   In the U.S. where we have separation of church and state it is not a requirement to have a "list" to determine what is a "legitimate" ground for divorce. The term "irreconcilable differences" covers just about everything. Essentially one is saying we're not on the same page. Each of us is also entitled to have our own "deal breakers".  A divorce for the most part is a public admission that a (mistake) was made in the mate selection process.
   Although most people will agree that human beings (make mistakes) ironically when it comes to getting married many of them act as if people (always choose) the "right" spouse and they were all meant to last. Maybe a pre-marital assessment should be required for every couple contemplating marriage.
   The truth is many people get married before they know who they are and what they want/need in a life partner. In my opinion selecting the "wrong mate" is and always has been the number one cause for divorce.  The number two reason is lots of people get married for the wrong reasons! (An ultimatum was given, they had an age goal, all of their friends were married, there was an unplanned pregnancy, grew "tired of being single" and decided to marry the "next one" that came along...etc)
   Some people often say; "Getting a divorce is the (easy) way out." However most of these people have never personally gone through a divorce! No one gets married planning to be divorced.
   Getting married is a LOT Easier than going through a divorce!
   There is no amount of "work" or "communication" that can overcome being with someone who does not want what you want.
   The goal is to find someone who shares your same values, wants the same things for the marriage as you do, (naturally agrees) with you on how to obtain them, and last but not least there is a (mutual) depth of love and desire for one another.

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   1. 45

      Ericdierkerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Excellent comment and can I move it to where it belongs?
      On my recent hub on this subject -- Divorce and Love
      Here I am looking for a list of Biblical stuff.

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   2. 79

      dashingscorpioposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Absolutely!
      Happy New Year!

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3. 0

   Deborah Sextonposted 10 years ago

   There is only one reason for divorce
   The only reason to divorce a spouse is if that person has sex with a third party person. It is called fornication, which differs from adultery, and has only one meaning.
   Adultery means two things 1. When a married person has sex with a third party.(this permits divorce)
   2. When someone lusts after someone in their heart. (this does not permit divorce)
   Matthew 5:32
   But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.

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      Ericdierkerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      This was the best that I could do also. And my horror is that the bible really only allows a man to divorce a wife. And the wife has no cause.

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      dashingscorpioposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Ericdierker, Biblically speaking women are not "equal" to men on many fronts. No woman could be like King Solomon having 700 wives and 300 concubines. They're no women prophets or priests either. Only men could initiate divorce. Deuteronomy 24:1-3

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      Deborah Sextonposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      In the Jewish life women are very important. They are considered precious in their men's and God's eyes. Women are allowed to divorce if there is fornication by the husbands. Yes the Bible speaks to the men, but there were many women of God who led

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4. 45

   Ericdierkerposted 10 years ago

   The great answers leave us with this: Where do these grounds come from?
   
   •    Simulation of consent; (canon 1101§2)
   •    Deliberate deceit (canon 1098)
   •    Conditional consent; (canon 1102)
   •    Force or grave fear imposed on a person to obtain their consent (canon 1103)
   •    A serious lack of the discretion(canon 1095 n.2)
   •    Psychic incapacity (canon 1095 n.3)
   
   (this is about annullment but that is a distinction without a practical difference -- and this short version may be misleading but it is the list)
   
   Now where does this lead us when dealing with Biblical notions as opposed to church notions. Today a Woman has rights. Is the "church" changing those rights or adding them in opposition to the bible and if so what else should or could they change to meet modern times.
   
   There is something about not adding to or taking away what was written

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      Deborah Sextonposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I wrote a hub on divorce
      http://deborah-sexton.hubpages.com/hub/ … -The-Bible

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5. 62

   Disappearingheadposted 10 years ago

   As far as I can tell it was only permitted in the case of adultery. However the biblical/Hebrew definition is where a married woman sleeps with another man or a man sleeps with a married woman. The law was skewed against women, that is, a married man was free to sleep with any woman he liked as long as she was not married. I think the law was not so concerned about morality as it was with a man soiling another man's property, namely his wife.
   
   Thus the notion of adultery today is somewhat different. It is equally applied to both sexes and is concerned with violation of trust. So what we have in mind is not what Jesus had in mind and as long as we feel free to reinterpret biblical principles according to our society, that's ok. But if as many Christians insist that the bible cannot be reinterpreted, such as the case of homosexuality, then technically the married man who sleeps with a single woman does not commit biblical adultery.

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      Deborah Sextonposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      The only reason is for fornication, not adultery since adultery can just be lust in the heart but fornication is the very sex act. Men was not allowed to sleep with just anyone

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6. 78

   Judah's Daughterposted 10 years ago

   Jesus, in Mat 5:32 was answering Jews who were asking about the Torah (see vs. 31 and its cross-reference in Deut 24:1-4).  Fornication and Adultery are not the same thing.  Fornication involves unmarried persons, while adultery involves at least one married person.  In Jewish custom, the man and woman would enter into a marriage contract and during the betrothal period, the woman would remain at her father's house until the man came to get her for the marriage ceremony and consummation.
   
   The betrothed couple would be considered husband and wife, though the marriage ceremony had not yet taken place, let alone the consummation.  If the betrothed woman committed fornication during the betrothal period, the betrothed man could divorce her (void the marriage contract) and for no other reason.  Moses added to the reasons, as shown in Deut 24:1-4, but that is not what God's original Law reflected when He made them male and female to become one flesh.  Some marriage unions were discovered to be unlawful, in such cases as finding out they were near relatives (as an example).
   
   Once a marriage was consummated, a woman was only free to remarry if the marriage was unlawful or if her husband died.  This is why David had Uriah killed when he wanted Bathsheba as his wife...not only that, but both he and Bathsheba could have been stoned to death, if Uriah remained alive and made such a decision.  He would have found out about it, since his wife was pregnant and not by him.
   
   We can look at Mat 1:19-20 to see the divorce allowance, or if Joseph had chosen, his 'wife' (as she was betrothed) could have been stoned to death as a public example, at her father's house (Deut 22:21).  Stoning a married spouse who committed adultery would set the innocent spouse free to remarry under the Law.
   
   In the case of a marriage joined by God, such as with Hosea and Gomer (both Hebrews), adultery did not end in divorce or Gomer's death.  God instructed Hosea to remain faithful and even buy his wife back from slavery (she had abandoned him and the children, two by adultery, and returned to prostitution and was sold into slavery).  Hosea brought her home. 
   
   There is only one other biblical reason I can see for divorce and remarriage (which is defined as adultery, if the spouse still lives) - this 'adultery' is given the mercy of God, namely Baal (foreign god) worship/idolatry.  Israelite men divorced their foreign wives in Ezra 10 and obviously remarried within Israel.  In Hos 4:14 God's mercy was shown to the daughters and wives of the fathers and husbands that were committing sexual sin in Baal worship.
   
   We need to properly understand what God's Word teaches and take the marriage covenant seriously; yet, show grace and mercy as God did with repentant Israel and even toward all who call upon His name by faith.

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      Deborah Sextonposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Fornication involves married and unmarried. The reason it does not say adultery is a reason for divorce because it has two definitions
      When a married person has sex with a third party, and when they lust in the heart. Fornication brings divorce

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      Ericdierkerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      So then our modern notions (other than fornications) would all be sin. So is it a forgiveable sin if there is a divorce for physical abuse?

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      Judah's Daughterposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Fornication and Adultery are not the same. Adultery in Hebrew is naaph (Lev 20:10); Fornication is zenunim (Hos 1:2). Adultery in Greek is moichaó, while Fornication is porneia (both used in Mat 5:32).The difference is unmarried vs. married persons.

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      Deborah Sextonposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I know divorce and adultery are not the same I explained it in my post here
      Read my definitions. You are confused about what fornication is. You say it is for single people and that's not totally true. It is for married people 2 & grounds for div

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