I agree with one exception, the church doesn't cut off the spouse who doesn't come, but wants that spouse to be there with the one attending. I'm not saying betrayal is deserved, so don't mis-understand.

However, the betrayed spouse, like the unfaithful spouse, has made a choice not to attend the church.

That's different from the corporate setting where spouses are not even considered. Spouses are invited to church, they choose not to go. Spouses are typically NOT invited to work.

So while it may seem the same, in this key aspect, it's very different.

This is actually a pretty common response from active waywards. "God wants me to be happy" - so, if taking a big steaming dump on your family makes you happy, then God is all for it. Right?

Don't worry - it all makes sense in WS world.

For me, I think part of my downfall was the "I am such a great Christian, virgin when I married, pure person, I will never have an affair." So since I was obviously immune to such trifles, it didn't even enter my mind to see the red flags. There is a verse in the Bible that says, be careful when you think you stand, lest you fall. Boy, I should have memorized that one a long time ago. I think that happens a lot with us church folk who were raised in church and know all the right phrases and right songs and right words.

EE,

Even when the spouse does attend church seldom do they both have the same activities they are involved in unless they set out to do so on purpose.

Mulan,

I keep trying to figure out where this idea of God wanting us to be happy above all else comes from. I frankly can't find it in scripture. What I do find is that God says that if we do things His way and do what He says we should do that we will be happy. God doesn't want us to be happy. He wants us to be like HIM, holy (set apart from the rest of the world), just, honest, fair in all that we do and to realize that we are NOT HIM.

The only lie the devil ever had to tell is that we can be like God and actually know ourselves the difference between right and wrong. When we take upon ourselves the decision as to what is right and what is wrong we step into the realm of being gods to ourselves. And THIS is where we fall down and fail to do what is right.

Luri,

We are told to resist the devil and he will flee from us. But Paul instructs us that we should avoid temptations of immorality or even the appearance of immorality. We think we are immune because we are doing what God tells us to do, yet when He speaks to us and tells us we are in danger, we always seem to find a way to ignore Him or to try to justify what we are doing instead.

This is really a unique danger within the halls of Christianity because often the things we are doing are things we think God IS telling us we should be doing. We see ourselves as doing what God requires of us and so we think that means that we can do nothing wrong along the way.

We regard sin as a line we should not cross when it is really a direction we are headed. The road to ruin always leads there if we travel that road. The prompting of God's Spirit tells us to not go that way and we find a way to make it about not being there yet instead of heeding His warning.

Joseph actually suffered for doing what was right. He did NOT give in to temptation but fled from it and because of his choice to flee, he paid a price of years of imprisonment. We err when we try to come to a decision on what to do based on our own definition of what is right and what is wrong.

In all direct attacks of the devil we are told to resist and yet we see by Joseph's example and in the words of Paul that when it comes to sexual impurity we are to flee from the temptation rather than to resist it. Some place around here I have a story of illustration for this. I'll try to dig it out and bump it for you when I get time. I don;t have the time to retype it right now.

Mark

I hope their God finds a special place in he11 for both of them. What complete and total losers. That's about the deepest fog I've ever seen. Sure would be great to see them get their due.

They will. They just aren't aware of it yet.

Mark (aka: Da dancin' Svenska pojke)

Yep, this is the one that I read. UGH.

It's sickening.

First let me say that i have been a fan of both Amy Grant's for 30 years, i am a believer and have followed her professional career for a long time. vince gill is a favorite of mine and my husbands, have been to both of thier concerts and enjoyed thier talents.

when this first broke on the news/entertainment circuit, didn't pay it much attention. never one for alot of tv, music, gossip. I have a life....

then, after listening to Amy's cd's after the split and then marriage to vince...i wondered how much water was under the bridge?

well, fast forward to real life for me....I'm here on this forum, need I say more? Then i get my trustworthy, Goodhousekeeping mag., i mean really, it has to be trustworthy, after all my mother-in-law subscribes to it...right? after reading the article, and going thru what i have. it is very clear to me that an EA was evident. i can not be an objective observer here...my WH had an EA and thus i am here....with that being said....at the least...an EA was evident....that they have yet to acknowledge....that is where they are wrong....they should be up front, and honest about that very fact....whatever happened between the two...that is for their ex-spouses, their children, the family's lives, the hopes,dreams, committments,pacts,covenants before the God that they profess to believe in....that is for them to come to terms with...the destruction that they will need to repair....but for me...someone who enjoyed their talents...i can not ever, never, ever listen to either one of them again.....this is not about judgement, not about belief.....this is about hurt, having been on the receiving end of an EA, this is about honesty, committment, believing in the vows that you said before God and everyone........ yeah....not a fan anymore.