Sex is unclean if it is not in the blessing and grace in love consecrated by God in marriage between a man and a woman, since only then does it become a bond of unity, a language of mutual address in the spirit between lovers and a shared gift for pleasures within the framework of an integrated path of life, through good times and bad, towards holiness.
...was directed a divorce.
Encourgaed by the same sexual revolution bringing us promiscuity, spouses that selfishly destroyed their children's lives for the trophy second husband/wife have arguably wreaked more havoc on society.
In addition, we have untold heterosexual violations of this dogma and countless children born out of wedlock. That, too, has a caustic impact on souls and society.
I know, "society has accepted divorce. Move on." But God is forever pining away, waiting for us to awaken. It is never too late to repent. I recently heard of a long divorced man repenting, admitting that leaving his wife (now deceased) decades ago was wrong. It took a lot for him to do that, but his receipt of Holy Unction by a Greek Orthodox priest paved the way for a peaceful passing away. His children's knowledge of a reunited Mom and Dad in heaven has brought them unfathomable joy.
It's not a perfect story, but we surrendered Perfection in Eden. Let's not let perfect be the enemy of good. Have a glorious Sunday!
Wrongly placed empathy for people getting divorced came about because these are so often hard cases, where someone is being done wrong and there is no getting around it. We should not be surprised because in scripture divorce is intimately associated with someone having a hardened heart. And this empathy was then through unnumbered compromises, goings along to get alongs, to the practice in general.
Just as critical, though, is people who have divorced (no matter their cause or lack thereof) remarrying.