# How do Protestant literalists reconcile divorce? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 5, 2009, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-protestant-literalists-reconcile-divorce/520071 "2009-12-05T04:54:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-protestant-literalists-reconcile-divorce/520071/41 "2009-12-07T16:52:23Z")
> [@coffeecat](#): > > "And God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth grass’ " (Gen 1:11) > "And God said, ‘Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth’ " (Gen 1:29) > > I have a pipe that’s decorated with those passages. In the original Hebrew. 😉 So, no sinsemilla, then? ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-protestant-literalists-reconcile-divorce/520071/42 "2009-12-08T04:57:59Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Even literalist Christians have no problem with divorce. It’s the ‘remarry’ part that’s iffy. My grandparents were literalists, and when my mother divorved by father, they basically told her that she had chosen a life of celibacy. She tried to remarry once, and when she took her boyfriend to meet my grandfather, he threw such a fit that it killed the wedding and the guy went away. Good thing there was no problem then. ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-protestant-literalists-reconcile-divorce/520071/43 "2009-12-08T04:59:28Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > Adultery (marital unfaithfulness), would also include spiritual adultery, which is the worship of other gods by one’s spouse. So if the spouse is worshiping anything over God, such as sports pools, porno, money, power and control through abuse, or work that would be grounds as this is spiritual adultery. Looks like there are enough loopholes to cover everyone, then. ---
**Author:** ![statsman1982](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e79b87/32.png) [@statsman1982](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/statsman1982)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-protestant-literalists-reconcile-divorce/520071/44 "2009-12-08T07:10:12Z")
People tend to choose their moral codes by what’s easiest for them to live with. ---
**Author:** ![dhkendall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9adbd/32.png) [@dhkendall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dhkendall)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-protestant-literalists-reconcile-divorce/520071/45 "2009-12-08T17:04:11Z")
> [@norinew](#): > > It just amuses me that he won’t dissolve his marriage, which is a totally legal thing to do, but he will absolutely toke up at any given opportunity, which is a totally _illegal_ thing to do. > > Needless to say, I think the illegality of it is stupid beyond belief, but it _is_ illegal. Well, somewhere in Paul’s letters (don’t really have time to look it up now) it says that Christians must also be subject to the laws of the land. So, if you’re tokin’, and the (earthly) law says that’s not allowed, then as a Christian, you’re breaking God’s law as well. Yeah, there’s also cases (especially depending upon where you live) of laws that are explcitly against clear-cut Bibilcal laws, can’t recall how that works (I think it’s “Follow God’s law first, if it’s not clear or i silent, follow the earthly law.”) ---
**Author:** ![Siege](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@Siege](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siege)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-protestant-literalists-reconcile-divorce/520071/46 "2009-12-08T23:40:24Z")
I think when it comes down to the reasons individual, Bible-believing Christians divorce, it often comes down to that time honored cry, “Yes, but my case is _different!_” We used to have a regular poster here who strongly opposed homosexuality and who believed non-Christians, including Catholics, were going to burn in hell. As we got to know her, we found out that she had divorced and remarried twice. I consider divorce immoral, although sometimes the best of a bunch of bad alternatives, so I asked her how she could oppose homosexuality so strongly when, if I applied Bible-based standards, she, too, was living in a state of sin, and that was pretty much the answer she gave. She also believed God would forgive her sins, as do I. God seems to be a fairly generous Fellow when it comes to such matters. Besides, I haven’t noticed Catholics being that strongly against divorce in practice. A former boss of mine once went to some lengths to get an annulment some years after his divorce because the woman he intended to marry wanted a traditional, Catholic church wedding and the only way they could be married in church is if he got his first marriage annulled. As far as I know he saw nothing wrong with it and I kept my mouth shut. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-protestant-literalists-reconcile-divorce/520071.md?page=2)