Wish I would be invited to teach seminary students on adultery and divorce

If I could write my own ticket, I would teach a seminary class on helping adultery victims and holding cheaters accountable.

-Included in this class would be a primer on how divorce is not always sin as well as how divorce can be a mercy to victims of infidelity. Anger and ire ought to be aimed at the sin of adultery plus deceit and not the victims of said sins.

-I would expose “The Shared Responsibility Lie.” No student would leave the class without grasping how irresponsible and cruel blaming the faithful spouse for the cheater’s actions is.

-Plus, I would point out how adultery is soul rape. My hope in illuminating this spiritual truth would be to engender empathy and understanding for adultery victims. Being cheated on is a horrible soul trauma.

-Another lecture would be upon learning about grief and how pushing “forgiveness” too early is extremely harmful to soul rape victims. Basic commonsense says primary spiritual care for a rape victim is not to pressure her to forgive her rapists. The same thing goes for soul rape victims.

-Next, I would talk about cheater tactics and the need for true repentance for godly reconciliation. Pastors–in my experience–often are too naive on these matters. And cheaters are refined manipulators and con-artists.

If you are going to shepherd the sheep, you need to recognize when the wolves are feasting on your flock.

So much more I probably would cover, but those would be the major themes and lessons. Such is class is sorely needed, in my opinion, from people who are not bowing down society’s cheating permissiveness.

Adultery needs to be taken seriously!

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*A version of this post ran previously.