Divorce is Not the Answer

Spike and I recently heard a talk by one of our major church leaders, Dallin H. Oaks, about the serious nature of divorce. I thought the speaker approached the subject with great sensitivity but still laid out some hard to hear truths. About ten minutes into his talk, he said:

"A broad based international study based on the levels of happiness before and after major life events found that on average, persons are far more successful in recovering their level of happiness after the death of their spouse than after a divorce."

Spike perked up and looked at me with great interest. "So I should kill you?"

I get no respect. This is what happens when you marry a guy for his money.

Comments

Special K ~Toni said…
I have always said I would kill Kenny before we would get a divorce.
Robyn said…
I thought the talk was well done, but could visually see squirming going on from people not in the room. It seemsI will be attending quite a few funerals in the future. ;-)
Ryan said…
sooo funny, b/c I told my husband "I guess I will kill you before I divorce you". Its so much easier really. I love our church leaders!
Lianne said…
When you husband is beating the crap out of your children and having delusions of insanity, it is time for a divorce.

I have never been happier.

But then, I don't know how I'd feel if I'd killed him.
S'mee said…
Not to get all serious on everyone and all, but just the day before (not exagerating)I was talking with a friend who has divorced. She felt as though the church leaders had not heard her plea, her anguish, her deperation due to the ugliness of her situation via divorce. This talk was exactly what the dr. ordered. Her faith was somewhat restored.

That said, I am sure she thought that killing him would have been easier...I know I did!
Sarah said…
Talks like this are always hard to hear but I think he did a good job balancing "divorce is sometimes an option" and "marriage is becoming too casual." I hope nobody in the audience was offended by what Elder Oaks said, it seemed spot on to me.
Colleen said…
Jim said exactly the same thing!
Sarah said…
I guess I should feel relived that my husband isn't the only one with a totally sick sense of humor. It caught me off completely off guard since the talk was so deadly serious.
I have to say that it was nice to hear a current interpretation of the difficult divorce scripture from the NT.

Adam must be quite the card!
Carina said…
We say the same thing.

I just loved that he drilled in the message that it all starts with choosing the right person and knowing them as fully as possible before making the ultimate commitment.
katherine said…
Following these words of Elder Oakes he mentioned about marrying the right kind of person. I don't know the exact wording, but my dad leaned over to my step sisters kind of fiance (she said yes, retracted and won't give back the ring) and told him, was that clear enough for you?

So funny! Hopefully his talk brings clarity to all who were looking for it.

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