All Podcasts With Gretchen Baskerville
Podcast: Taming the Wolves in Christian Marriages with Gretchen Baskerville
Tuesday, 07 December 2021 15:39How do we make sure our church members are safe in their marriages? I conclude my conversation with Gretchen Baskerville, author of The Lifesaving Divorce: Hope for People Leaving Destructive...
Abusive Relationships and the Culture War on Marriage
Tuesday, 30 November 2021 12:25Keeping people in abusive relationships is not the way to fight a culture war on marriage. I continue my conversation with Gretchen Baskerville, author of The Lifesaving Divorce. We look at how...
The Church and the Life Saving Divorce
Tuesday, 23 November 2021 16:14It is high time for the church and Christians to start rethinking about divorce. I start my conversation with Gretchen Baskerville, author of The Lifesaving Divorce: Hope for People Leaving...
Abusive Relationships and the Culture War on Marriage
Keeping people in abusive relationships is not the way to fight a culture war on marriage.
I continue my conversation with Gretchen Baskerville, author of The Lifesaving Divorce. We look at how churches and other pro-marriage organizations seem to focus on the statistics of divorce - instead of the underlying reasons for it. We also take a look at the common misconceptions about the result of divorce - including the impact of ending an abusive marriage has on children.
Excerpt
Reuel Sample:
In the Old Testament, we see an outlet for divorce. We see laws that are in the Talmud and other places for both men and women to get to get out of an abusive or unfulfilling marriage. So why are churches so reluctant to embrace this idea today?
Gretchen Baskerville:
Yeah, I think part of it is that we have made divorce a culture war issue. And, you know, we've had other culture war issues in the past, but today it is a culture war issue.
Reuel Sample:
Now when you when you say culture war, you're basically saying that we as Christians have have drawn the line at the sanctity of marriage is that is that Christians are committed to marriage, they're committed to keeping things going and that's what separates us from them.
Gretchen Baskerville:
Right. It's sort of this litmus test, and because some of some leaders in Christianity, I don't know if you want me to name names have actually gone public and said, Listen, our divorce rates need to be lower than the rest of the world, and they just aren't, you know, they don't look good. And how are we going to prove that Jesus changes lives if we don't divorce less? And so this one particular Christian leader, you know, basically made it made a big deal, made divorce to be the evidence of moral decay, not the things that cause divorce. And my response to him, I I didn't reach out to him directly, but my response to that is OK. If serial adultery, if sexual immorality, if physical violence, if emotional abuse, if family crushing addictions all ended tomorrow. We know mathematically that the divorce rate for Christians would drop in half by next year. I mean, it's it's very simple. We've already discussed that about half of divorces in the United States today are for genuinely life saving reasons, those incredibly serious reasons. So if we, as Christians want to say, Hey, we God makes a difference in our life, faith makes us better people. Ok, let's see it happen. Let's see those marriage endangering sins disappear because I guarantee our divorce rates
The Life-Saving Divorce: Hope for People Leaving Destructive Relationships
Are you in a destructive marriage? One of emotional, physical, or verbal abuse? Infidelity? Neglect?
If yes, you know you need to escape, but you’re probably worried about going against God’s will. I have good news for you. You might need to divorce to save your life and sanity. And God is right beside you.
Important Links
What is a Life-Saving Divorce? How many are there? - http://lifesavingdivorce.com/what-is-a-life-saving-divorce/
40 denominations: What’s their policy on divorce for abuse? - http://www.lifesavingdivorce.com/comparison
20 Denominations that need to clarify their divorce policy - http://lifesavingdivorce.com/unsafe
Bible verses on divorce - http://lifesavingdivorce.com/abuse-in-bible
The effect of divorce on children - http://lifesavingdivorce.com/abuse-and-kids
Good parents are good for kids. Bad parents are bad for kids (Jaffee study)- http://lifesavingdivorce.com/jaffee
Will this unhappy marriage become happy in 5 years? No, not if there’s abuse (Waite study) - http://lifesavingdivorce.com/waite
Didn’t Dr. Judith Wallerstein write a book saying divorce universally destroys kids? No. In fact she said don’t stay for the kids if there’s abuse - http://lifesavingdivorce.com/wallerstein
Jesus heals on the Sabbath and angers the religious leaders - http://lifesavingdivorce.com/luke13
Point-by-point critique (and correction) of two misleading Focus on the Family articles on kids and divorce - http://lifesavingdivorce.com/fotfdivorce1 AND http://lifesavingdivorce.com/fotfbisignano
As an Amazon Associate, the Pastor's Voice earns a small commission from qualifying purchases.