Christian Women on Divorce: When is it Appropriate?
Celebrity scandals such as Ashton Kutcher’s alleged affair and his pending divorce speculation from Demi Moore has spurred American Christian women to question when divorce is appropriate.
Demi Moore has allegedly filed for divorce after her husband Ashton Kutcher cheated on her in San Diego on their 6th wedding anniversary, according to British newspaper the Daily Mail.
This scandal attracted the attention of American Christians, for whom adultery and divorce has always been a controversial topic.
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Many Christian women are questioning the reasons for adultery, especially in the Kutcher/Demi scandal. Is it the wide age gap that will cause the Hollywood couple to allegedly split? Or perhaps they just became bored after their five-year mark? Does any of this merit a Christian divorce?
The Bible advocates marriage over divorce, even in the case of adultery.
According to Deuteronomy 2:19 “he must not divorce her as long as he lives.”
Joseph Northcut, Director of Church Ministries at Divorce Care, argued that for a Christian woman, divorce is not a black and white issue.
“There are so many different variables that are involved,” Northcut told The Christian Post. Children and the type of sin committed by one’s partner all play into the means for divorce.
“For Christian people the consideration is God’s design,” he added.
Another question relates to the Matthew 19:26 verse: “with God all things are possible.”
When asked if this verse applies to a marriage on the rocks, Northcut responded with “absolutely.”
“As a ministry organization we are going to push people back towards God’s original desire, which is marriage,” Northcut contended.
Debbie Nicodem Carsten, author of "Detoured by Divorce" and creator of the website "Divorce Help for Christian Women," argues that divorce creates new opportunities.
"God can make this holy ground, the path to a new life," she states on her website.
Carsten also argues that it is better for the Christian woman to focus on who she personally is, rather than what she does for a career or what her marital status may be.
According to Christianmarriage.com, "A woman may leave her husband and a woman may ask her husband to divorce her but she may not divorce him."
Currently 50 percent of marriages in the U.S. end in divorce. Many Christian organizations, such as Divorce Care and Fair Recovery, advocate compromise before divorce.
If divorce is inevitable, Northcut argued that "Divorce Care takes people who have gone through divorce and helps them to find hope and feeling so in the future they will not repeat the same pattern if God leads them into a similar situation."
