Divorce

What God intends for marriage, why divorce falls short of it, and how the Church treats those who go through it.

Marriage Is Meant to Last

The Lord's design for marriage is not that it end at death, let alone before it. Marriage between a man and a woman is central to His plan, and when sealed by proper authority it is meant to continue into eternity. Divorce is a departure from that design. It is not part of the plan; it is a consequence of the plan being broken, whether by sin, by selfishness, or by the choices of one spouse that the other cannot control.

For this reason the Church counsels that every reasonable effort be made to preserve a marriage and honor its covenants before divorce is considered.

What Christ Taught

When the Pharisees pressed the Savior on divorce, He pointed them back past the law of Moses to the original design of the creation.

Matthew 19:8–9

“Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.”

Two truths sit side by side in that answer. Divorce was permitted — God did not forbid it absolutely — but it was a concession to human weakness, not the standard. “From the beginning it was not so.” The permission acknowledges that in a fallen world some marriages will not survive; the standard reminds everyone what marriage was always meant to be.

This is why the Church neither forbids divorce outright nor treats it lightly. It holds up the ideal while making room for the reality.

Compassion, Not Condemnation

Many who divorce did everything they could to save the marriage and still lost it through no fault of their own. The gospel does not add shame to their burden. Members are directed to forgive, to lift, and to help those who have experienced divorce — never to condemn them. A divorced person is not a second-class member and is not cut off from any eternal blessing.

The same invitation the Savior extends to all the weary He extends here: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” God's promise is that every faithful person will, in the end, receive every blessing of eternal marriage, even if it did not come in this life. No righteous soul is finally denied because of another's choices or a mortal failure honestly repented of.

Key References