Yahoo Answers is shutting down on May 4th, 2021 (Eastern Time) and the Yahoo Answers website is now in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.
Trending News
When did protestants start accepting state issuance of writs of divorcement?
The Jews used to issue writs of divorcement (refer to Moses). Jesus put a stop to that. No Christian church anywhere issues a writ of divorcement to this day. In the Catholic Church, the Church has the authority to pronounce an annulment which says that a marriage was never valid to begin with, but claims NO authority to issue a writ of divorcement in any way whatsoever just as it has always been in the history of the Church since Christ. No divorced person is allowed to re-marry in the Church UNLESS the Church has recognized that the previous marriage was never valid.
Protestants, as far as I know, never declare any marriage to have been invalid. I've never heard of it happening before anywhere. Does it? Also, they will allow remarriage in their churches (with certain restrictions) because at some point in history, they decided that the state has a right to issue a writ of divorcement that they will recognize.
When, historically, did they start believing that?
3 Answers
- TashaLv 61 decade agoFavorite Answer
Protestants do not view marriage as a Sacrament. Even in colonial America, the Northern colonies allowed divorce because it was a civil matter (because it was viewed from the Protestant standpoint) while the Southern colonies did not (per the Roman Catholic/Church of England Traditions). The Middle colonies went both ways.
Source(s): Roman Catholic Paralegal student currently in a Family Law class...we just went over the Common Law and Colonial approaches to marriage and divorce - SerenaLv 61 decade ago
Well, historically speaking it started with Henry the 8th. The Anglican church was founded (and England broke with the Catholic church), so the king could get a divorce.
That isn't when the Protestant movement started, but that is when the church's role in divorce began to change.
- ?Lv 71 decade ago
We figure God can see everything and knows every heart, and is not in any way constricted by a human piece of paper, produced either by the state or a church.
Human marriage was not ever a requirement to belong to the family of God. Divorce is not the unpardonable sin. People can repent and be forgiven and join fellowship.
The RCC has an absurd way of deciding which sins will dis-fellowship a person and which will not. Considering that divorced parents are rearing little innocent children who are not guilty of any wrongdoing in the divorce, what Catholicism is possibly doing is barring the door to the children of divorce.
Aside from that, the RCC has possibly perpetuated spousal abuse because of this policy. God hates divorce, and no one can argue with that. But a church should not be an arm of mistreatment of those most vulnerable who most need protection--an abused (or cheated on) spouse or the offspring of divorce.
Source(s): Also at the time of Henry VIII, children and women were property. Non-protestant, non RCC Christian// Divorce atty