Many people get divorced and remarry but remain members of our churches. Is this right? Shouldn't they be disciplined?

What you observe is generally true and potentially cause for concern. Has the church followed our culture and become permissive? Or are these events often complex, deserving additional examination? Thanks for bringing the subject up for comment.

Currently in America 40-plus percent of first marriages, 60-plus percent of second marriages, and 70-plus percent of third marriages end in divorce. Our culture is saturated with sex, starved for love, and indifferent or antagonistic to God's wise will for people. Since God designed marriage to be a lifelong union, the multiplying of divorces signals wholesale sin. Statistics indicate that church members who have active worship patterns suffer divorce significantly less often, but too many marriages still end among us. We lament so much misery and know that the well-being of souls is often in jeopardy.

ALLOW FOR MISPERCEPTIONS

Before we assume that most of our divorced members are guilty of sin, however, let's pause to make important distinctions. Causing the breakup of a marriage, for example, is different from legally seeking a divorce decree. Sometimes one partner may sinfully empty the marriage of significance (e.g., through one-sided unfaithfulness or malicious desertion), but the other partner may go to the courts to have that failed marriage legally recognized as over. We may be aware of the legal proceedings but not as aware of the root causes behind it. Also, legal grounds may be given as "irreconcilable differences." Or for economic or emotional reasons, a "no-fault" divorce may be sought when in fact adultery or another cruel abandonment of the marriage bond might be the undisclosed yet real reason for the divorce. Let's distinguish between overt and potentially hidden causes. This will give us pause in assuming divorced members are guilty and unrepentant.