I have read many comments pro and contra divorce provoked by the recent sad events involving the marriages of the so-called celebrities. I have also read the articles by some religious leaders (mostly Catholic priests, especially on Facebook), trying to shed some light on the burning issues of humanity and public order. I appreciate their generous and charitable efforts.

Perhaps we could listen again to this song by Reggae Legend LUCKY DUBE:

“The parents are the people we’re depending on
For the growth of the children
If they treat them right
We gonna have a brighter future
If they treat them wrong
We gonna have brats in the world

If they grow up without the parents
Who’s gonna tell them this is right
If they grow up without the parents
Who’s gonna tell them this is wrong

If you divorce your wife
Just think about the children
If they grow up without the parents
Who’s gonna tell them this is right

Without the mother, children are suffering
Without the father, children are suffering
Without the parents, children are suffering

Born to suffer, born to suffer
Born to suffer, born to suffer
Born to suffer, born to suffer
Born to suffer, born to suffer
Born to suffer, born to suffer

You’ve got to watch out my son
If your mother doesn’t care for you
You’ve got to watch out my girl
If your mother doesn’t care for you

kwashiorkor is there
Its gonna attack them
They need parental care
They need spiritual care

If they grow up without the parents
Who’s gonna tell them this is right
If they grow up without the parents
Who’s gonna tell them this is wrong

They need parental care
They need spiritual care
If they grow up without parental care
Who’s gonna tell them this is wrong

Without the mother, children are suffering
Without the father, children are suffering
Without the parents, children are suffering”

Lucky Dube was indeed prophetic. The message is clear. If we have so much killing in the world today; just imagine a world where killing is legalized. If we have so much stealing, robbery and fraud in the world today; Just imagine a world where stealing, robbery is legalized. If we have so much adultery and extramarital affairs in the world today; Just imagine a world where adultery and extramarital affairs is legal. If we have so much cases of divorce in the world today; Just imagine a world where divorce is legal, biblical and ethical and an accepted Church teaching.

That your marriage did not work does not mean you should make your unworkable marriage a norm or model for others. Following Kantian principle, if divorce is universalized and made into the general accepted moral law and standard, we wouldn’t want to imagine what will become of the world.

The family is the basic nucleus of the society. This nucleus has come under serious attack in recent years through many ideologies that want to undermine its divine origin. What makes a family: a father (husband, male), a mother (wife, female) and children. Some ideologies want us to accept that the family can be made of a man and a man or a woman and a woman – some fell into the trick and are attempting to propose it as a model for others. Now they are selling out another idea and commodity for our consumption: divorce. And they want to generalize it.

Every society frowns at divorce, no matter how legal it has been accepted today, there is still always a feeling that goes with learning that someone is or was divorced etc. Lucky Dube in the song above was prophetic and explains well the effects of having children without parents living together. We all know this, and some are victims or have come in first hand contact with this bitter reality, but sometimes we just want to join the flow.

I am a Christian, and according to the Christian Ethics based on the biblical foundations, DIVORCE is unchristian, unethical and shouldn’t be accepted like we have been forced to accept that gender (male or female) is not a given, that a child can decide to be male or female when he or she grows up and thus the springing up of many trans-genders in the world today. I don’t know if we have ever imagined a world (or a society) where more than half the population will be transgender, half of the population divorcees, half of the population engaged in same-sex union, half of the children from broken homes. It will be such a terrible world.

From time immemorial humanity have been guided by established and accepted moral norms. When these norms are not respected and followed, humanity find herself in a chaotic situation. The Genesis account of creation shows that the world in which we live was created out of an intelligent order. Never let down your morals. Human being is a moral being. Morality has been tied with humanity. Immorality of all forms is contra-humanity and inhumane. And so is divorce.

Thanks for reading…

Share it with others

Valentine Umoh

08.09.2021