America is Down With Divorce Being Up

"'…I hate divorce,' says the LORD, the God of Israel, 'So take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously.'" Malachi 2:16

Like so many principles of "LIFE" which are ignored wholesale by even those who wear the name Christian, divorce is gaining acceptability.

According to Gallup's latest poll, 70% of Americans believe divorce is morally acceptable. "That is an 11 point increase from seven years ago." 11 points in 7 years--that is huge.

Another black mark against this once great nation is that 40 million children are shattered by the selfish ambition of one parent or both. That is 40 million future adults who will have a tainted view of marriage themselves thus perpetuating the ease with which divorce is obtained as a solution to one's "imagined happiness."

According to Citizen Link, "Mike McManus--Co-founder of Marriage Savers--said the 'Church is not doing its job.' 'The Church hardly ever preaches on the issue of divorce or cohabitation or marriage,' he said. 'It’s God’s first institution, but it’s often the Church’s last institution.'”

I have to agree with McManus to a big degree but fact remains, Christians--not churches--are responsible for their own actions and for their own spiritual integrity. The church is there to assist, not to take over. That being said, I DO believe that most churches have a very sloppy view of marriage and divorce and an even sloppier application of such principles.

Church discipline is virtually unheard of these days and when a church does attempt to actually observe the principles of Scripture regarding such discipline, the church--meaning the pastor--can take quite a hit even losing his position.

I say, that's no excuse for not acting on what is biblically proper. After all, at the end of the day, we will answer to the God who said, "What I have joined together let no man separate."

The least churches should be doing is making pre-marriage training mandatory. It's pretty straight forward at Faith; if you won't do the training, you won't be married by us.

McManus speaks in exaggerated terms when he says, that you can "divorce proof" marriage with the proper training. But I know first hand that in over 20 years of weddings which I have performed, I have had only one couple get divorced and they didn't complete their training. Maybe McManus isn't exaggerating after all…