In the beginning, divorce …

It could well be argued that an accelerating rate of marital breakdown is one of the chief distinguishing characteristics of contemporary western society. Whichever statistical instrument is employed to measure the phenomenon, it is clear that increasingly large numbers of marriages encounter difficulties which prove insurmountable. The church in general, and the Seventh-day Adventist church in particular, has not been immune to the malady. Moreover, it would be a mistake to believe that the problem among Adventists is an entirely modern one; divorce has been a contentious issue in the Seventh-day Adventist church from its very inception. At a business session in October 1862, the Michigan State Conference of Seventh-day Adventists tackled an agenda which included the ‘matter of divorced marriages’. Delegates considered whether those whὀ had divorced and remarried prior to seeking membership, for reasons considered by Adventists to be unbiblical, should be received into fellowship by the believers. Adventists resolved that matter relatively painlessly in favour of the would-be members, but increases in membership, and changes in social mores and laws, have broadened the range of domestic problems with which the church has had to deal. Divorce remains an issue which absorbs considerable energy of administrators who attempt to formulate workable policies, of pastors who seek to apply them, and of members whose personal crises inevitably weaken the church in various ways. The purpose here is to trace the history of this problem in the life of the church.