[OrthodoxPresbyterian]

Then that is all the more reason why duped dads should be allowed to walk upon learning they'd been deceived. ~~ ETH

In other words, punish the child for the mother's behavior. You care more about the man than the child, which is not surprising since we live in an age of "me me me." If this happened to me (and I am female so this is a hypothetical) I would continue to love the child as if she were my own out of human decency and love of the innocent person I raised up to that point. Anything less is cruel to the child who has been blind-sided. I realize most would reject that, as it takes showing compassion to the helpless. ~~ JMJ333

• Query: According to THE BIBLE (see Saint Paul, for example), is a Man lawfully permitted to completely put away a wife who has been sexually Unfaithful to him, with NO legal obligation to her?
• Answer: YES.

Does this mean that the Wronged Husband should not show Compassion for the child-of-adultery who is born of the wife's unfaithfulness? No, the Husband can and should demonstrate whatever Christian Charity (by definition, uncompelled) that the Holy Spirit lays upon him -- not the least of which would be (if legally possible), removing the Child entirely from the household of an adulteress and raising the child as his own.

But the husband's prerogative of showing Uncompelled Charity does not define for us his LEGAL responsibilities. As with ALL legal morality, the Bible defines our legal responsibilities. And the Bible says that a Man is lawfully permitted to completely put away a wife who has been sexually Unfaithful to him, with NO legal obligation.

Since End the Hypocrisy's position is Biblically correct from a legal standpoint, ETH's position is morally correct.

The Word cannot be Broken. QED.

---

• it is only a matter of time before DNA testing is mandated for all births. And that would be an excellent idea. ~~ John O
• DNA testing at birth is the way to go. Just mandate it, so the guy doesn't have to be the jerk to ask. ~~ dogbyte12
• The only real solution is to mandate DNA testing at all births. That way, everyone is apprised of what is what. ~~ Chancellor Palpatine

HELL YEAH, baby.

WE HAVE NO GOD BUT CAESAR, that's what I always say!!

Anything that expands Caesar's power and control of his subjects, has GOT to be good. He's from the Government... he's here to help us.

I observe in passing that this is yet ANOTHER problem which is created by the State Dictatorship over the definition and certification of Marriage.

In New Jersey, as in most other states, children born during a marriage are the legal responsibility of the husband - even if he isn't the biological father.

When you let Nero define and certify "marriage", then the Marital Responsibilities are whatever the insane Caesar says they are. It was OUR choice, Messiah-State "christians", to whore out the Institution of Marriage to the bed of Caesar; so now we hardly have cause to complain when he subjects our prostituted institution to some "rough trade".

Were Marriage established by Private Partnership (see Abram and Sarai, or Moses and Zipporah for examples), the Marital Responsibilities would be established in advance -- by private contract.

EXAMPLE:
In the event of proven sexual Infidelity (defined by the contract), the Faithful partner shall have the right to dissolve the Contract, shall receive ALL assets held in common by the partnership, and shall have NO legal obligation to the Unfaithful partner. The Faithful partner agrees to assume full responsibility for all faithfully-sired children (or, "all children", if so contracted), and will receive TOTAL custody of same.

Or, whatever variation the two Contracting Parties think is best. Different strokes for different folks.

Everyone would know in advance what their legal standing would be... defined by Contract, mutually-agreed and sworn before Witnesses (such as a Presbyter!). Cut...and...dried.

We now return you to your regularly-scheduled "solutions"... defined as, "ever-increasing the Power of the Messiah-State".

[JMJ333]

Again...tell it to the kid whose been hit between the eyes. There is an esablished bond of 14 years and it won't disappear overnight. Legal matters aside (not arguing this point), the man shouldn't just break with the kid. Period. Its hurtful, and no matter how the man has been wronged, it doesn't trump the welfare of the child, which has her life crumbiling about her. Charity and love is all I'm arguing for, not state control of families. You inserted an argument I didn't make.

[John O]

We now return you to your regularly-scheduled "solutions"... defined as, "ever-increasing the Power of the Messiah-State"

Mandatory DNA testing (like mandatory blood tests) is a way to avoid more contractual messes by eliminating them up front. It will force women to be faithful as the results of unfaithfullness will be seen.

You seem to always forget that "we" are the state. There is no Caesar, there are only the laws that we citizens decide will govern us. If we do not police our own contracts then who will. It is easy to say that gov should have no say in marriage or family matters but eventually there will be a case where the family needs help from outside to settle a contract (such as paternity). Whoever that help is, is the government, as we are all the government.

You can hide behind the "government is bad and unbiblical" bogeyman all you want but it won't change the fact that OrthodoxPresbyterian is part of this government and that if OP doesn't like something than he has failed his civic duty to change it.

God Save America (Please)