Sure she can.
She needs to read "How I Found Freedom In An Unfree World" by Harry Brown.
Now that she has told him that she intends to divorce him, she must do it. Things will never be the same in that marriage and the potential for violence is now extremely high.
"In any event, I don’t believe that emotional abuse constitutes grounds for divorce in either the Old or the New Testament."
If I understand what Christ taught correctly (Note: I am not a Christian), the greatest commandment is twofold; to love God with all of one's heart, mind, and strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself.
Also, I understand that love is an action, not a feeling. One loves by engaging in behaviors that are loving.
Emotional abuse is not a loving behavior. Therefore, one who consistently engages in that behavior is not following Christ's command, and cannot rightfully claim to be a Christian.
Ping to a few saints for discussion
Bump for later.
The liberal world tries to twist the Bible to meet its sensual needs or ignores it altogether. What a heartache, if true, for this woman to be in that situation with her husband. However, both need counseling in several facets of their lives to overcome their difficulties. Her husband has the right to divorce her for infidelity, but this does not absolve him of his responsibility for creating a wretched relationship, if he did.
If she divorces from her husband, she can not scripturally marry again per what Jesus says in Matthew 19. People simply need to excercise a lot more discretion BEFORE marrying and get their spiritual lives in order BEFORE marrying. Such would go a long way toward resolving problems.
I do consider real abuse to be a form of abandonment. If abandonment is putting distance between yourself and your spouse, then abuse is forcing your spouse to a great distance.
I disagree that emotional abuse is somehow not as bad as physical abuse. Physical abuse is more immediately dangerous the physical well-being of the abused spouse, but emotional abuse absolutely cuts the heart. I don't have the stats currently at fingertip, but emotional abuse is more an indicator of an impending divorce than is physical abuse.
Emotional abuse is one partner demonstrating his/her contempt for the other. It is a deadly, poisonous environment, and unless healed, the only way to deal with it and maintain one's sanity is to put distance between the two parties.
Oh, by the way, the worst students that I have to deal with in school come from broken homes or from homes where parents have divorced and remarried sometimes more than once. Such children are frequently very difficult to deal with.
May be goin' to hell for divorcing a drunk?
Darn.
Bump for later.
God hates divorce.
Of Marrige it is wriiten in the Bible,"What God has jined together let no man put asunder" and in the vows"TILL DEATH DO US PART" ring any bells!
God put you two together the first time for a reason...pray and dump the second party..it will only bring worse promblems upon you..and go to confession!
Hmmm... sounds pretty 'lukewarm' to me.
An excellent article. Neither my ex nor I cheated on the other; and we are both Christians. Stayed married for the benefit of the kids until they were grown, and it was well worth the sacrifice of putting their needs first.
We never should have married each other in the first place, but we have three very spiritually mature Christian kids who are doing well.
Goes to show that God can even use our mistakes for good.
Wow. This is one of the best articles I've ever seen in the religion forum. A bump for the night owls.
Matthew 19.3-9
"And the pharisees and tested him by asking, "Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?" he answered, "Have you not read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one? So they are longer two but one. What therefore God has joined together let no man put asunder." They said to him, "Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?" He said to them, "For your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you whoever divorces his wife, except for unchastity, and marries another commits adultry."
Here are some excerpts from the Catholic Catachism.
2382 The Lord Jesus insisted on the original intention of the Creator who willed that marriage be indissoluble. he abrogates the accomodations that had slipped into the old law. Between the baptized, "a ratified and consummated marriage cannot be dissolved by any human power or for any reason other than death."
2383 The seperation of spouses while maintaining the marriage bond can be legitimate in certain cases provided for by canon law. If civil divorce remains the only possible way of ensuring certain legal rights, the care of children, or protection of inheritance, it can be tolerated and does not constitute a moral offense.
2384 Divorce is a grave offense against the natural law. It claims to break the contract, to which the spouses freely consented, to live with each other till death. Divorce does injury to the covenant of salvation, of which sacramental mariage is the sign [the church is the bride of Christ]. Contracting a new union, even if it is recognized by civil law, adds to the gravity of the rupture: the remarried spouse is then in a situation of public and permanant adultry.
1651 Toward Christians who live in this situation, and who often keep the faith and desire to bring up their children in a Christian manner, priests and the whole community must manifest an attentive solicitude, so that they do not consider themselves seperated from the church, in whose life they can and must participate as baptized persons: They should be encouraged to listen to the Word of God, to atttend the sacrifice of the mass, to persevere in prayer, to contribute to works of charity and to community efforts for justice, to bring up their children in the Christian faith, to cultivate the spirit and practice of pennance and thus implore, day by day, God's grace.
Clearly in the Scripture passages, Jesus did not condemn divorce outright, though he maintained it was not God's original intent: "From the beginning it was not so" and "What God has joined together let no man put asunder". Thus the Catholic Church teaches in the catachism 1649 certain situations may call for a physical seperation such as infidelity and abuse, but spouses do not cease to be husband and wife in God's eyes. Couples also have a recourse to "civil" divorce to allow for legal rights and care of children. But even then the church maintains that the spouses are still husband and wife in God's eyes. Let me clarify the phrase "in God's eyes" means that the original marriage was valid and recognized by the church. Therefore a new union cannot be recognized as valid (catachism 1650), (Mark 10:11).
I think I agreed up until this part. Matthew 19:9 in no way authorizes the guilty party to profit from their sin. Remarriage in such a case is continued adultery.
Interesting.
The Catholic Church would recognize verbal abuse as well as physical abuse. As witnesses are asked anyway and verbal abuse and extreme controlling can be told of in the same manner as physical abuse.
Well, too bad. What you intended is inconsequential.
This is a conservative news forum and anything posted is subject to the whim and pleasure of anyone reading it.
This arrested development female needs to grow up. And, although too late, she must understand that threats are the defining tool of the immature.
Good luck to her. My advices is to grow up.
Let's see. She decides she doesn't like her husband and has an affair.
I'd say he has grounds for divorce, custody of the children, and the majority of marital assets.
Of course, she'll get the kids, the house, most of the money and big monthly checks for years to come.