So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
-Genesis 1:27, KJV
Divorcing a cheater would not hurt as much if she was pure evil.
That is my opinion. I am not saying what she did was anything less than evil. That is pure evil. Such is adultery (see Deuteronomy 22:22).
My point is that even a cheater is made in God’s image. They do not live up to that image by choosing a dark path with their actions.
However, they still bear His image.
This manifests in the good memories we have of our cheater. The qualities that are arguably still good in them or once were so.
That said, I feel it important to tell you that it is okay to acknowledge those good things and still not want to be married to the cheater.
We do not need to dehumanize our cheater in order to leave him or her for our own well-being.
Thank you for another thought provoking post. I believe what you are saying from a ” head knowledge ” perspective, but the memorializing of the marriage is very difficult for me. The same cognitive dissonance my WW engaged in that allowed her to demonize me and justify her cheating is what I grapple with now. I’ve revisited much of our history, and what seemed to be good times or pleasant memories have a particular stench now. It’s as if there was a sewage backup that ended up soiling it all. I don’t know if that’s too melodramatic or if I’m understating the situation. I don’t see her as wholly evil. On one level, I don’t see her at all. She’s just a very blurry outline.
Exactly 👍
I experienced this as well.
The evil things my former spouse did to me overshadow any good memories I once had of him.
To this very day, ten years later,
I still feel dirty and disgusting knowing that he cheated on me multiple times. However, my knowing that he cheated once was painful enough.
At times, I find myself asking God (Jaweh) to erase those bad memories of him (former spouse) from my mind.
Thanks for sharing, Sir👍
God bless and keep you, in the Name of Christ, Jesus.