You Don’t Have a God-Given Right to Sexual Expression

This article isn’t about homosexuality.

I know you thought it was going to be when you read the title.

But it’s not. It’s about divorce and remarriage.

Divorce is an epidemic in the so-called church which has been running rampant for the last couple decades. Despite protestations to the contrary, polling data suggests divorce to be higher among conservative so-called Christians than their unchurched counterparts.

Here are the results of a 1999 Barna Research Group study showing the percentage of adults who have been divorced:

Non-Denominational Christian Groups – 34%
Baptists – 29%
Mainline Protestants – 25%
Mormons – 24%
Catholics – 21%
Lutherans – 21%

By the way, Atheists and Agnostics came in at 21%--a full 8% behind the Baptists and a whopping 13% behind the non-denominational groups.

So why are Christians plunging head-long into divorce? Simple: They think divorced just means single. Target correction made. Do over.

Imagine what would happen if we actually taught people in churches what the Bible says about divorce and its consequences? Imagine a session where a husband comes to his pastor:

“I don’t think I can live with her any more—her nagging is driving me nuts and it’s hurting the kids.”

“Well,” pastor puts on his best concerned look, “as long as you realize you will have to remain single for the rest of your life.”

“What? You mean I can’t divorce her and be done with it? Can’t I start over?”

“Biblically you can leave, but you must remain celibate or be reconciled with your wife. Are you willing to do that?”

“Gee, pastor, thanks for your advice. Uh, I think this Sunday I might give another church a try. You sound kinda crazy.”

In the US we believe we have a right to sex—at least to married hetero-sex. If our first marriage “just didn’t work out” we can remarry at will, without regard to any consequence.

I wonder what would happen if the institutional church began being a little tougher on the married heteros and spent less time consuming itself with the gays who want to marry?

Maybe then we could actually call ourselves “Pro-Family.”