The breakdown of a marriage involves
breaking promises made before God
during the marriage ceremony and it's
seen by all Christians as a tragedy.
Not all Christians agree
whether divorce is
permissible or even possible.
Jesus talked about
divorce in the Gospels
- he was anti-divorce,
but pro-forgiveness.
In Mark 10:2-12 Jesus says that Moses
allowed divorce because of people's
"hardness of heart". But he says that the
creation of manking marriages were
meant to last for life, and if a divorcee
remarries it's he same as adultery.
Matthew 5:31-32 and 19:8-9
say the same thing - except
that divorce is permitted to
someone whose partner has
already been unfaithful.
In John 8:1-11, Jesus freely
forgives a woman caught
in he act of adultery. But
tells her, "Go now and
leave your life of sin".
Nonconformist Churches (e.g. Baptists
and Methodists) will generally remarry
divorcees, but an individual minister
can refuse to do so if this goes against
his or her own conscience.
The Church of England says that
divorce is acceptable, but that
divorced people can only remarry
in church if they can find a
minister willing to marry them.
The Roman Catholic Church
states that it is actually
impossible to divorce. Marriage
is a sacrament - God has made
the couple into one flesh, and
this can't be undone.
However, a
marriage can be
anulled -
annulment means
that it was never a
true marriage in
the first place.
This can happen if: either partner did
not consent to the marriage or didn't
understand what marriage is about; the
couple didn't or couldn't have sex, or
one partner refused to have children.