When I was a kid, the word divorce barely came to mind until one day one of my relatives divorced his wife, each of whom raised one child. This family tragedy extremely shocked all our neighborhood. Almost everyone were murmuring to one another, “What could this happen to our community? Who should be blamed?”

Three decades later,  the divorce rate in Taiwan continues to climb. The latest report in 2007 said that an average of 177 couples filed for divorce every day. Divorce news has become daily happenings. Even among Christian communities, statistically 50% of Christian families get divorced today in the U.S.

Divorce was also common in ancient times. One time some Pharisees tried to trap Jesus with this question: Should a man allowed to divorce his wife? According to their interpretation from the Law of Moses, a man could wishfully divorce his wife as long as he wrote her wife a letter of divorce. But Jesus replied to them, “God’s plan for a man and woman is to be united into one. God has joined them together; let no one separate them. Your hard-hearted wickedness has made you do so” (Mark 10 5-9).

Marriage is a holy and continuous commitment made by both couples. Marriage is also a choice by which two couples love each each out of their own decision, not out of whether the other has something deserving to be loved.