Honest question for evangelicals: why do so many evangelical Christians tolerate divorce when Jesus spoke so clearly about it in the Gospel?
With so much literal interpretation of the Old Testament, it has always seemed odd to me that Protestants view the words of Jesus himself as “negotiable.”
I have read that divorce rates are about the same for Christians and non-Christians. In Malachi God says “I hate divorce”. Apparently lots of Christians just don’t care.
Careful, FRiend: this Protestant Christian and many others takes seriously his vows before God to be faithful to one woman “till death do us part”.
Do you even know the views of Catholics? Do you know what the polling shows, and how they vote pro-abortion, and pro-homosexual, versus the incredibly, massively, social conservative vote of Evangelicals?
You have a valid point.
The difference between evangelical Protestants and traditional Roman Catholics on this issue has been obscured by the massive collapse of marriage in America — and that is not just a Protestant problem, unfortunately. Easy annulments are not exactly unheard of in Roman Catholic circles, though to the credit of Catholics, at least they have maintained a stronger stance on the importance of marriage.
While there are differences about whether marriage is a sacrament and about remarriage after a biblically legitimate divorce (which basically means adultery) the gross tolerance of easy divorce and remarriage is an evangelical scandal.
One of the few good things I can say about evangelical churches on this issue is that the more seriously a denomination or local church takes doctrine, the more likely it is to have a strong emphasis on why divorce is wrong. It's the “loosey goosey” evangelical megachurches and their wannabee little brothers — the types of churches that are more likely to emphasize fun youth groups and loud music, and more likely to offer deep rich cocoa-flavored coffee than deep biblical exegesis from the pulpit — which are not demanding high standards in many areas of people's personal lives.
That problem of low standards for membership and discipleship is bigger than marriage, though it certainly is a big part of the bad fruit brought about by low standards and lack of church discipline.