Group 4 members :

1. Konlan Emmanuel Mandiaya

2. Adu Agyei Prince

3. Abraham Atugiba Ayaaba

4. Akuka Anthony

5. Andrews Musa

6. Opoku Andrews

7. Mayeem Emmanuel

8. Oppong Elijah

9. Nicholas Blessing

10. Daniel Sogbo

11. Issah Thomas

Question: A newly married couple in your church are always fighting. You have tried in vain to

settle the issue.Then one of them insists on divorcing the spouse he/she is married. Will you

agree to the spouse's request?

INTRODUCTION

Human society has units which are very peculiar to it and

one of such is the institution called marriage. Every race

and culture have her marriage custom and practice, some

are closely similar while others are different, though the

essence of this union tends to be similar in all cultures.

This union which in the beginning often have an

expectation of a lifelong relationship sometimes have a

contrary ending with its attendant effects on the human

society. In some cases, there is a temporary separation

while in some other cases the marriage ends in divorce. In

the case of divorce,

Marriage is an age long institution said to be established by the Creator

of the Universe Himself for the purpose of procreation, companionship,

unity, love and pleasure. The marriage institution is the bedrock for

every society as it helps in modelling and shaping individuals and

communities for rapid growth and development. To this end, a divorced

marriage certainly has its own repercussions on the family; husband,

wife, children and even the community and society at large. To the

African, marriage means more than husband and wife relationship as it

extends beyond the extended family to the community. This is very much

unlike the western concept of marriage where it is viewed as a husband

and wife issue, tending to be more individualistic. The African worldview

on the institution of marriage is therefore not in agreement with some

westerners ’concept of marriage. The incursion of western foreign

cultures on marriage has impacted adversely on the African marriage

institution. This has resulted in many divorce cases, giving rise to many

social vices such as prostitution, child pregnancy, baby mothers, state of

insecurity and insurgency, kidnapping, and drug abuse among other

societal problems.

It important to note that many times a marriage can be implicated with a

lot of conflicts, confusions and fights which threatens the solidity of the

marriage relationship, which if not carefully resolved can lead to divorce.

Conflicts and fights can arise as a result of disagreements on issues,

when expectations are not met, infidelity, poor communication spousal

abuse domestically, abandonment and trust issues. When all these

aforementioned issues are deeply rooted in the way that a partner is not

willing to let go and let God in, divorce is the last resort. But before we

move forward we need to understand that in some cases it offers a

permanent relief and in other instances it offers just temporary comfort

awaiting the intervention of God.

AFRICAN PERSPECTIVE ON DIVORCE

In the African worldview the main aim of marriage is to procreate. This

underscores why divorce cases are high in Africa when such marriages

do not produce children. A woman who is married and cannot bear

children is sent away packing. In extreme cases, even when she bears

children and all are females, the husband is at liberty either to divorce

and remarry or simply marry another wife who will give him male

children or at least one to continue with the family’s lineage upon the

death of parents. Bujo adds that “a married couple with no children is

like a dead tree in the eyes of the African community” (1998 pp. 94-99).

PERSPECTIVES ON CHRISTIAN DIVORCE

Divorce continues to be a sour grape for Christian ethicists as there is no

common agreement for reasons for it. Moralists observe that divorce

was permitted in the Old Testament and Jesus may have given a leeway

about sexual immorality and there may be instances where divorce may

seem ok! for the good of the children as well as for the spouses. Moses’

teaching in Deuteronomy 24:1-4 is appealed to by proponents of divorce

(Kunyihop 2008 250). Other passages alluded to are God’s query to

unfaithful Israel where He asks Israel "Where is your mother's certificate

of divorce with which I sent her away? (Isa 50:1 ). Also in Jer 3:8, The

Lord God gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce and sent her away

because of all her adulteries. These passages seem to give credence to

divorce on account of adultery in the Old Testament by the issuance of a

certificate to annul the institution of marriage. Thus the instrumentality

of divorce was the certificate which legalized the nullity of the marriage
contract. This therefore presupposes that in Christian marriages divorce

should be avoided at all cost. Alternative ways of settling disputes

between spouses should be sought for such as guidance and counseling

from Church counselors and other specialties on marriage issues.

ARGUMENTS FOR AND AGAINST DIVORCE

Christians are divided on the issue of divorce. There are three arguments

put forth as follows: There are no grounds for divorce. There is only one

ground for divorce. There are so many grounds for divorce.

Proponents of no divorce school of thought give the following reasons to

support their claim:

Divorce contravenes God’s plan for marriage. In the New Testament,

Jesus to echoes the law when he told the inquisitive Pharisees 'Anyone

who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce. “But I tell

you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality,

makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced

woman commits adultery (Mat 5:31-32 ). When the Pharisees asked

further, "why did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate

of divorce and send her away in order to trap Him, Jesus replied that

“Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were

hard. But it was not this way from the beginning (Mat 19:8 ). Paul

statements on divorce are a categorical no to divorce for married

couples. He says, “A wife must not separate from her husband. (1Co 7:10

) but if she does, she must not must remarry. Here, Paul is categorical

that a divorced wife must not remarry, but he has not expressly stated
whether a divorced husband could remarry. Paul’s advice to the believer

who marries an unbeliever is loaded with conditions of “if” and

“willingness” on the part the spouses. He says, if any brother has a wife

who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not

divorce her. This applies also to the believing woman who has an

unbelieving husband (1Co 7:12-13). In his final submission, Paul states

that a woman is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her

husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, but he must
belong to the Lord (1Co 7:39 ).

A Church elder must not be a divorcee and he must be the husband of

one wife (1Tim. 3:2). Divorce violates a sacred typology of the heavenly

marriage between Christ and his bride, the church. According to this

view the “exception” given in Matt 19:9 refers to fornication (premarital

intercourse) and not adultery after marriage, therefore there is no

ground for divorce what so ever.

A second view says that there is only one ground for divorce. And that

ground is adultery. Proponents of this view are however quick to point

out that divorced persons are not to remarry (Matt 5:32). They cite Jesus

and Paul teaching to back up their claim.The teaching of Jesus in Matt.

19:9 where He says “except for marital unfaithfulness” permits divorce,

however it does not permit remarriage, even as this is considered

adulterous (Kunyihop 2008, 253).

The last view is that there are many grounds for divorce.

The act of adultery is a good reason for divorce (Matt 19:9, Matt 5:32).

When an unbeliever deserts one of the believing partners in marriage,

divorce may be allowed (1Cor. 7:15). Where there is spousal abuse or

one of the partner’s contracts as infectious disease or neglect divorce

could be effected (Geisler 2010. 306-307).

This view is supported by the Mosaic Law in Deut 24:1-4 which stipulates

that the if the man “finds something indecent about her” he may divorce

her in spite of the Lord’s hatred of divorce as recorded in Malachi 2:16.

The hardness of hearts of the Jews, it would appear was the reason why

God permitted divorce but it was not intended to be so from the

beginning. God therefore understood that in a fallen world, the ideal

cannot always be realized therefore He accommodated divorce in his

plan.

From the forgoing three schools of thought on divorce, it can be

conjectured that God intends that marriage be a lifetime monogamous

relationship and this is God’s standard for Christian marriage. Divorce

therefore is breaking God’s command. God hates divorce and there are

no scriptural grounds supporting divorce. Divorce is failure to measure

up to God’s standard destroying his plan for marriage.

OUR STAND ON THE MATTER

No decision to divorce, whether clearly supported

biblically or not, should be made in a vacuum. God

places a high value on marriage and love, and

expects us to do the best we can to keep our

relationships intact. The faithful Christian response to

marital discord demands that we do everything we can to

keep our marriages together which includes the following:

seeking counseling, going to marriage workshops, reading

books, spending time trying to understand each other,

making personal changes, working as hard as we humanly

can to avoid divorce and most importantly fervent

heartfelt and consistent fasting and prayer.

Jesus and the Bible set high standards for love and

relationships. There is no doubt God wants us to be holy

and righteous, and that marriage is meant to be a symbol

of God’s covenant with us.

Secondly, in the case of abuse or domestic violence we recommend that

the couples can separate from each other for while and the abusive

partner can go through counselling or therapy before coming back

together again.

CONCLUSION:
God’s plan is for lifelong, faithful marriage. The church

must be on the forefront of premarital, marital, and post-

marital counseling in order to create and preserve healthy

relationships. However, when a married couple is

estranged beyond reconciliation, even after thoughtful

consideration and counsel, divorce is a regrettable

alternative in the midst of brokenness. There is

devastating emotional, spiritual, and economic

consequences of divorce for all involved.

So, with this in mind, realizing God’s first desire is for

those who marry to stay together, but also accepting we

live in a broken world where God’s will is not always done,

let’s discern quickly the pointers or sign post of divorce

and do our best to determine God’s way of navigating

through them.
REFERENCE

1. Bujo, Benezet. “Common Characteristics of African

Marriages “ The Ethical Dimensions of Community. Nairobi:

Pauline’s Publications Africa, 1998.

2. Geisler, N. L. Basic Elements to Christian Marriages:

Christian Ethics Options and Issues. London Barker Books,

1990.

3. Jim, Smoke, Growing Through Divorce. Irvine, California:

Harvest House Publishers, 1976.

4. kuuliyop, Samuel Waje. African Christian Ethics. Nairobi,

kenya: Hippo Books, 2008.