Being a child of a broken home, and having watched several of my sibling divorce (including one who was an Independent Fundamental Baptist preachers wife for reasons of mental cruelty and mind-control to the point of alienating her from anyone in her family) I have to say that if ANYONE in my family wanted to come and stay with use, regardless of whether I agreed with the reason for their divorce or not, I would allow them to stay here. Why? It would be better for them to be around Christians with guidelines in their home than to be out there where nothing else/or nobody else matters.
I have one brother who has been divorce 2x, another who has been divorced 3x and another who has been divorced 8x. One of the youngest ones has been divorced 1x, and one sister has been divorced 4x and she's only 29. Though Vivian and I don't agree with divorce, we know there are circumstances, such as the one mentioned above with my sister and the "mind game" IFB pastor husband, that I believe would make it permissible. He would not work to support his family of five girls and his wife, leaving my sister to carry that load while he laid about and went on visitation when he "felt led" to. He has played mind games on my sister and his daughters for nearly fifteen years, and then tried to have my sister arrested for telling him she was divorcing him. He has constantly harrassed her, tried to intimidate her and the kids and has gone to such lengths that he should be declared a mental case and sent to a mental hospital for observation. But, she didn't ask to come home or to go and stay with relatives. She's still in church, serving the Lord and growing now that she's out from under that mind controlling influence of unscriptural teaching and mental abuse. It came to the decision of divorce not only because of the mental, but he also threatened to "hurt" someone that night. This has been an ongoing process. Even since the divorce he has intimidated her, tried to get her thrown out of her SBC church she attends, follows her (STALKING, folks), and has tried to sabotage her real estate career so she will have no income and he can try to have her declared an unfit mother.
Diane, you and I probably do not agree with adultery being the only Biblical cause for divorce. I believe if there is a peril to those involved, wife, children, or the husband if coming from the wife, there are sufficient grounds for divorce. Also, the Bible tells us that if a man won't support his family, he is worse than an infidel. He has been reproved many times in marriage counselling for this, but has not heeded the counsel of other pastors, trying to start churches with no money or even a churchgoer to attend. All he wants is to be "in the ministry", "behind the pulpit". He doesn't want to work, and he's told our family so...the ministry is his work. If he's "worse than an infidel", then I believe this opened the door as an "unbeliever". He negated his side of the marriage vows when he would not support his family.
Now, in your daughters case, if she' just divorcing him because she doesn't love him, or they have grown apart, I'd say she'd better be buying some super glue and putting that thing back together. She's relying on emotion and not on Biblical principles. Love is not a feeling, but, an action. It is not a "chemical" thing alone. I know you're aware of it, but is she aware that marriage takes work and not just a few days, sometimes it is months, years, decades????
I will definitely make it a matter of prayer. I hate divorce!
