Alright. Enough of this—I’m seeing way too many Christian friends from my old “church” committing adultery in public. Time to call you out, not by name, but by the mere Word of the living God. And, evidently, your pastors are too chicken shit to correct you (huge ecclesial L, by the way—is $$$ more valuable than your sheep’s souls, pastors?). So here we go.

Jesus taught, explicitly, “whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery” (Matthew‬ ‭5‬:‭32‬) [obviously, this applies to both sexes]. It’s been a while since I’ve scrolled through Facebook, or interacted with a lot of you since becoming Catholic, but I’ve noticed a lot of divorce and “getting back out there.”

This is a direct contradiction of the Scriptures, for our Lord immediately goes on to hold us all accountable to the words we swear by (which you did in your marriage vows): “Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes’ or ‘No, No’; anything more than this comes from the evil one” (‭‭Matthew‬ ‭5‬:‭37‬); and again: “I tell you, on the day of judgment you will have to give an account for every careless word you utter; for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matthew‬ ‭12‬:‭36‬-‭37‬). Do you have courage to be judged by the living God for the breaking of your marital vows? I pray not.

For those who justify their divorce, citing Matthew 5:32 and/or 19:9, “I can divorce because he/she cheated on me”—did you pay attention to Jesus’ previous words, “everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart” ‭‭(Matthew‬ ‭5‬:‭28‬)? With that false justification of yours, it would logically deduce that divorce can be issued out left right and centre! But this is clearly not the intent of Christ in verse 32–rather, He intends to DECREASE the instances in which divorce were allowed, not increase! So what does 2000 years of Church teaching tell us (excluding innovative interpretations of the fake church of the sexual revolution)—especially the centuries of the Church closest to Jesus’ day?

The word some translate as “unchastity” is the Greek word “porneia”, and is literally translated to the broad phrase “sexual immorality”. But again, this is not consistent with Christ’s intent to minimize the instances of divorce. Rather, “porneia” is also meant to describe some kind of unlawful sexual immorality within the nature of the sexual union—I.e. a same-sex “marriage” or an incestuous “marriage”. This even extends to “marriages” where full consent was not given by both parties, or where one party never intended the keep the vows he made. THIS has always been the interpretation of the Church, and it is finally the interpretation consistent with Christ’s intolerance with divorce—unless your “marriage” wasn’t actually a marriage in God’s eyes to begin with, NO MAN CAN TEAR IT ASUNDER (Matthew 10:6).

This, furthermore, answers the question as to why His disciples were awe-struck at how risky it must be to get married (Matthew 19:10)—in their culture, as we know, there were all kinds of get-out-of-jail-free cards. But Jesus only offered one way out of a divorced marriage: permanent chastity (hence, why He described eunuchs for the Kingdom, Matthew 19:11-12).

And indeed, it is terribly hard. The Lord gives us NO other reason to divorce, and by that I mean for the purposes of “remarriage”. Being separated from your one true spouse because of physically or spiritually dangerous behaviour is a different scenario—and you are, nevertheless, forbidden from so-called “remarriage”. In God’s eyes, if you both intended to have children and educate them as a union of two persons in one flesh—I.e. if you freely MEANT the words you said on your wedding day—you are married until you part in death.

Which means, that girl you’re dating? That’s adulterous, bro.

I don’t want to be saying this as if I’m off the hook. Jesus is explicit that adultery is hugely wrong, and that ALL of us, including myself, are guilty of it if we’ve ever looked with lust. But some kinds of adultery are worse than others due to their ability to sink the fangs of condemnation deeper and deeper into the soul of its victim; some sins are easier to stop doing than others, and have greater temporal consequences, regardless of the equally eternal consequences of separation from God, and the fundamental violence against your spouse by breaking your marital vows by looking with another with lust.

This is a HUGE cross to bear—one that frightened the Apostes. But perhaps through the circumstances you have endured, God has called you to be a eunuch for the Kingdom. You do not have permission to become an adulterer for sake of ease—you never have permission to sin “because Christ died for me,” for by doing so, you crucify Him again and again (Hebrews 6:6).

So what do you do? You’ve fallen into erotic affection and attachment to this concubine of yours. Your one and only spouse has moved on, with no intent to forgive and get back together with you. Or maybe he/she is, but would be a danger to you. What do you do?

Well, it’s your opportunity to be like Jesus in so similar a way you never imagined: chaste, and abandoned by the world—but totally satisfied by and in love with the Father. You have a unique opportunity to suffer with Christ like few people are willing to. Jesus promised you you’d have a cross to bear; He promised you the way to the Father would be narrow, and few who would find it. What an extraordinary cheat code Jesus just gave you: this is, obviously, the cross that unites you to Christ’s Resurrection and Ascension.

Embrace it fully—because that’s how you get to Heaven. There is no other way; the easy way—the way of adultery—will send you to Hell.