CS Lewis says there is nothing wrong with divorce, Why be chained to misery?
If your family were some of the thousands who were too chicken to blow off a faithless husband or wife and move on then that is your demon, not mine.
"Gee, I have that new Pontiac, I can put up with Bob banging his secretary on Tuesdays and Thursdays.""
Better to be alone with a crust of bread than miserable with a feast.
"CS Lewis says there is nothing wrong with divorce"
CS Lewis was wise, but he was not infallible. Further, I'd bet anything you like that he's looking down from Heaven right now and saying, "Boy, did I ever get that one wrong."
I'm sure you're aware that all denominations of Christianity rejected divorce until the 1930s, right?
"Why be chained to misery?"
That's a long, long explanation, and I doubt that I'd be able to pursue it to your satisfaction unless we were marooned on a desert island. Half of the short answer, which I'm sure you won't buy, is "duty." You make your bed; you lie in it. The other half is, "What God has joined together, let no man put asunder."
"If your family were some of the thousands who were too chicken to blow off a faithless husband or wife"
No, my mother was widowed by Kim and Mao. Never remarried.
"Gee, I have that new Pontiac, I can put up with Bob banging his secretary on Tuesdays and Thursdays."
Okay, firstly, adultery has always been accepted as one of the very few valid grounds for divorce, so mocking an extreme that never existed doesn't speak to the argument.
Secondly, your answer seems to reflect an attitude that is both widespread and distressing among American women--that attitude being that it is heroic to refuse forgiveness.
I've never cheated on my wife, but if I thought she'd take that attitude, I might do it just to defy her.
Well, no, I guess I wouldn't, but it's a pretty obnoxious attitude.
I've read an enormous amount of CS Lewis's writings - doubt he ever said there was nothing wrong with divorce. That is an openly anti-biblical position.
He MAY have said it is sometimes preferable to the alternative. It IS biblical that divorce is an acceptable option under some circumstances.
I encouraged my son to get a divorce. He married young & over our objections to a woman who habitually lied. Right after the marriage, he found out the woman also believed she had the right to beat her husband. He refused to fight back - she would beat him with her fists & he would leave the house as she threw things at him
We found out a few months later (lived in another state). He called at midnight one night. I can still remember her screams of obcenities because he dared to call his family.
We offered to pay for them to go to counseling. She refused - said there was nothing wrong with her behavior. So I encouraged him to get a divorce. I saw no future in a very abusive marriage. The violence seemed likely to escalate - and if he ever responded, HE would be the one in trouble. They had no kids, and it seemed wise to get out before they did - can't imagine what she would do to a child.
After 5 months, they divorced. He still feels bad about it - that HE failed to be a good enough husband.
There is a LOT wrong with divorce - but it was allowed in the Bible because it sometimes is better than the alternative.
And God says He hates divorce. I think I'll go with God's word on the matter.
"Why be chained to misery?"
It's called commitment, something you appear not to place a high value on. That "for better or worse" clause isn't in there for filler. Unfaithfulness and serious abuse are the only just causes I can see for divorce, and both are cases in which the covenant of marriage has already been broken.