Christian divorces are a greater threat to the sanctity of marriage than the rights being granted for gay unions, according to an article in Focus on the Family’s “Citizen” magazine. “Like radon gas seeping undetected into a home and threatening its inhabitants,” the church has allowed “a phantom leak” that more fundamentally undermines marriage’s health and well-being, says author Glenn Stanton.
Pastors need to recover an understanding of the biblical teaching on marriage, he says, citing the “high-profile marital betrayal” by singer Amy Grant–who earlier this year remarried to singer Vice Gill after her divorce from Gary Chapman–as an example of the high level of marriage breakdown among Christians.
Stanton criticizes Grant’s “imperfect” theology of marriage and the advice given her by one counselor who, the singer said, recommended divorce if the couple was not thriving. “A fine counselor, don’t you think,” he writes in the current issue. “One who views marriage as a life enhancement, a mere adornment or utility, rather than a sacred institution to be honored and worked at.”
Stanton also points to the second divorce of former Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, as another example of failure to honor commitments. He writes that marriage as God intended is “not disposable,” and that Christians redefine marriage when they tolerate “anything less” than the holy ideal of it having been established “for the glory of God” and the benefits of the couple and children.