Divorce |
Latter-day Counsel |
Gordon B. Hinckley, President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has explained: “There is now and again a legitimate cause for divorce. I am not one to say that it is never justified. But I say without hesitation that this plague among us, which seems to be growing everywhere, is not of God, but rather is the work of the adversary of righteousness and peace and truth. “There is a remedy for all of this. The Lord proclaimed, ‘What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder’ (Matthew 19:6). The remedy for most marital stress is not in divorce. It is in repentance and forgiveness, in sincere expressions of charity and service. It is not in separation. It is in simple integrity that leads a man and woman to square up their shoulders and meet their obligations. It is found in the Golden Rule, a time-honored principle that should first and foremost find expression in marriage.” From http://www.mormon.org/question/faq/category/answer/0,9777,1601-1-1202-1,00.html Marriage--especially temple marriage--and family ties involve covenant
relationships. They cannot be regarded casually. With divorce rates
escalating throughout the world today, it is apparent that many spouses
are failing to endure to the end of their commitments to each other.
And some temple marriages fail because a husband forgets that
his highest and most important priesthood duty is to honor and sustain
his wife. The best thing that a father can do for his children is to
"love their mother." The adversary has long cultivated this overemphasis on personal autonomy,
and now he feverishly exploits it. Our deepest God-given instinct is
to run to the arms of those who need us and sustain us. But he drives
us away from each other today with wedges of distrust and suspicion.
He exaggerates the need for having space, getting out, and being left
alone. Some people believe him-and then they wonder why they feel left
alone. And despite admirable exceptions, children in America's growing
number of single-parent families are clearly more at risk than children
in two-parent families.9 Further, the rates of divorce and births outside
marriage are now so high that we may be witnessing "the collapse
of marriage."10 When couples who have not fully repented of past sins go to the temple
to be married, they are starting their marriages on very shaky ground.
I believe this is one of the main causes of divorce in temple marriages.
If a man who is dishonest in his personal life, as it pertains to his
wife and children or his business dealings, goes to the temple, he is
heaping damnation upon his own soul and is in great need of repentance. Marriage is a divine institution, ordained of God. Achieving success
in the home is a supernal challenge--no other success can compensate
for it. Unless, however, a husband and wife learn to work together as
one, marriage can also be an infernal ordeal. There are too many unhappy
marriages in the world today. There are too many marriages that do not
stay the course, ending prematurely in divorce. There are too many children
who are silently suffering from a lack of nurturing and care because
their parents' union is unhappy or dissolved. But among the greatest of tragedies, and I think the most common, is
divorce. It has become as a great scourge. There is a remedy for all
of this. It is not found in divorce. It is found in the gospel of the
Son of God. He it was who said, "What therefore God hath joined
together, let not man put asunder" (Matthew 19:6). The remedy for
most marriage stress is not in divorce. It is in repentance. It is not
in separation. It is in simple integrity that leads a man to square
up his shoulders and meet his obligations. "If we continue with present trends, we can expect to have more
emotionally disturbed young people, more divorce, more depression, and
more suicide. Divorce can never really be final. How can mothers and fathers really
divorce themselves from their own flesh and blood children, or from
the memories of days and years of shared experiences which have become
part of their very lives. Divorce rarely occurs without immense emotional,
social, and financial upheaval. Most people underestimate the alienation,
bitterness, disruption, and frustration between a divorcing couple,
and among their children, friends, and relatives. Some never adjust
to the resulting emotional consequences. See http://www.lasvegasmormontemple.org/What_Do_Mormons_Believe.html, for more information on what Mormons believe |