M.G. "Pat" Robertson
Pat Robertson says divorce of a spouse with Alzheimer’s is allowable since the partner “is gone.”
A viewer had asked Robertson how she should advise a friend who had begun dating another woman although his wife was still alive — but suffering from dementia brought on by Alzheimer’s.
“That is a terribly hard thing,” Robertson said. “I hate Alzheimer’s. It is one of the most awful things because here is a loved one—this is the woman or man that you have loved for 20, 30, 40 years. And suddenly that person is gone. They’re gone. They are gone. So, what he says basically is correct. But I know it sounds cruel, but if he’s going to do something he should divorce her and start all over again. But to make sure she has custodial care and somebody looking after her.”
The 700 Club’s co-host Terry Meeuwsen gave Robertson an opportunity to reconsider the advice he had just offered, asking: “But isn’t that the vow that we take when we marry someone? That it’s For better or for worse. For richer or poorer?”
Robertson responded that a spouse was obeying the “death till you part” vow because the disease is a “kind of death.”
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posted September 15, 2011 at 2:48 pm
…to be my wedded husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till you’re diagnosed with Alzheimer’s then you’re on your own, according to God’s holy ordinance; And today, I pledge you my faithfulness….
posted September 15, 2011 at 2:54 pm
WHAT “GOD” IS ROBERTSON STUDING???? SOMEBODY DUCT TAPE HIS STUPID MOUTH SO HE DONT STICK HIS FOOT IN IT AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
posted September 15, 2011 at 5:13 pm
Robertson gives no scriptural basis for his humanistic comment. He has gone off the deep end the last several years and should not be in the position he is in, much less trying to tell the people how to live!!!!!!! I have wondered for a long time if he has alzheimers!
posted September 15, 2011 at 6:59 pm
What about the marriage vow, “in sickness and in health”? Isn’t alzheimers a sickness?
Robertson sounds like a selfishm self-centered creep!
posted September 15, 2011 at 7:42 pm
It is very, very scary when a man that has this much exposure spews such beliefs…. this shows he has no heart of soul and would do such a thing to his spouse…
Mrs. Robertson, hear this? Watch out!
Very, very scary because this man has many followers, and, well, you know, monkey see, monkey do…
posted September 15, 2011 at 8:10 pm
Wow! I think he is off his rocker. If he had even 1/8
of his brain he would know that alzheimers is a disease and the person is still alive. He is crazier then the great people that i take care of on a daily basis who have alzheimers! Get him off tv and away from teaching because he is wrong!!! People who have alzheimers need to have the people who knew them before this horrible disease took over. I will not listen to anything he says again!
posted September 15, 2011 at 9:47 pm
“Pat Robertson says divorce of a spouse with Alzheimer’s is allowable since the partner “is gone.””
Jesus says otherwise.
posted September 15, 2011 at 10:38 pm
What about the in sickness part. I think that is selfish and cruel to leave someone you claim you love. They need there family also.
posted September 16, 2011 at 12:29 pm
It is a “KIND OF DEATH”, but NOT uite DEATH!
Why am I not surprised about this advise?
A judge allows murder to go unpunished, ABORTION, that is KILLING of human beings running rampart in the world. If a MOTHER can kill her own flesh and blood without any hesitation, then what is divorcing a sick spouse by comparison?
We are no longer human, we have BECOME cannible, IN AS MUCH AS WE PRAY ON ONE ANOTHER, KILL WHAT EVER GETS IN OUR WAY, INCLUDING OUR OWN CHILDREN, SPOUSES, PARENTS, AND self.
Mr. Robertson, are you too developing Alzheimer, and hence, are you losing your thinking powers?
GET WITH IT!!
Anna Grasso
posted September 16, 2011 at 1:33 pm
A wife or a husband is not “gone” if you can see them breathing [if they have not been pronounced dead because they are still breathing, then they are still alive]. Robertson should know better. The Bible teaches us that the only gounds for divorce is adultry and or abandonment. And, in case Robertson doesn’t know it…[according to the Bible...even if you divorce your mate, you should not remarry]. Death is the only release from your mate.
posted September 16, 2011 at 1:54 pm
I have long held a low opinion of Mr. Robertson. Where is the love of God in any of the things he says? I remember when he “prayed away a hurricane” that was threatening his Virginia compound. That the hurricane destroyed other areas seemed to bother him not. No, I do not believe that his prayer turned the hurricane elsewhere.
I saw him recently on TV, and I wondered if he was losing his mind. Now, I know. His words are contrary to God’s. He is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
posted September 16, 2011 at 3:57 pm
This is the worst advice ever! I hope he never gets Alzheimer’s disease! Marriage is until death do you part…that person is still alive even if they are no longer “there” in the mental sense. My mom has Alzheimer’s and she still has lucid moments once in a while so there is no way that this is true! Shame on Pat.
posted September 16, 2011 at 5:06 pm
It’s a good thing we have Christians like him to “defend the sanctity of marriage!”
posted September 16, 2011 at 5:22 pm
PatT Roberson is giving the wrong advice to the Christian world, Everone knows that the law and vowes each couple speaks in a wedding ceremony before God is until death do us part.I love my husband with all my heart soul and body I AM WITH HIM THE REST OF OUR LIVES
obinson
posted September 16, 2011 at 5:58 pm
I am so saddened to hear this, and it brings great sorrow to think that someone who professes to follow Scripture would adhere to such a belief. “In sickness and in health” means just that, and those loved ones I know who are suffering from this disease are still breathng, and hence, are NOT dead. We don’t determine the appropriateness of divorce based on suitability of our partner. This kind of reasoning is akin to saying that a baby is nothing but a mass of issue and is expendable. Marriage is a convenant till death do us part. I pray no one will use this counsel as an rationalization for committing adultry, and for Mr. Robertson, shame on you.
posted September 17, 2011 at 9:14 am
Pat went too far and it is a wrong advice to christians specially for those who are trying to respect God’s word.PAT should seek for answer from God first before leading people in wrong direction.Please,pray for him.
posted September 17, 2011 at 10:05 am
Pat Robertson is crazy!!!!! Just because a spouse might become afflicted with Alzheimer’s does not make the marriage worth divorcing. My mother died from Alzheimer’s and my father didn’t divorce her. He loved her for almost 43 years and never once did he or she ever think about divorce. Pat Robertson is nuts on this subject and should reread his Bible. It says nothing in the Bible about divorce in the case of Alzheimer’s.
posted September 17, 2011 at 11:30 am
This is absolutely wrong! My husband has alzheimer’s disease and I still want to be by his side as much as possible. He is like my right arm. If you can abandon your spouse at this difficult time, you must not have had a very good marriage.
posted September 17, 2011 at 5:17 pm
I know that such a thing is hard to live with. But I would not ever, never devorice my wife if she was stricken with such a desease. It’s for better or worse till death due us part and that is that Mr. Pat. Better thank on this one old boy. I also read somewhere in our bible that if a man merrys a devorce woman then he himself has commited adultery. Boy, I’ll say one thing, them there words sure are strong. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
posted September 17, 2011 at 5:42 pm
This is the most ignorant statement any word could make much less a pastor. I say he needs to retire from preaching. God’s word clearly tells us for better or worse in sickness and health. And he will be held accountable as a minister for the utterances that come from his mouth. He is a disgrace to public television and to people all over the world. Telling people this. God have mercy on him come judgment day for all the people who he leads astray.
posted September 17, 2011 at 7:54 pm
evidently Mr.Robertson is forgetting another part of the marriage vows that we promise God to stay together “in sickness and in health”. Alzhiemers is a “sickness” that attacks the mind first and then the body! The man must be listening to the voice of Satan. Wht he advised did not come from God.
posted September 17, 2011 at 10:12 pm
This is just another example of a person who professes to be a Christian, but makes compromises with the Word of God for selfish reasons. Pat has every opportunity to repent of this statement and belief. I pray that he does. I know I face less public struggles myself. God help all of us sinners.
posted September 17, 2011 at 11:58 pm
The marriage vow holds until death. Someone with Alzheimer’s is not dead. They are ill. You don’t desert someone when they need you. The spouse of the Alzheimer’s patient is being called to fulfill their vow, in sickness and in health. In a sense, he or she is being asked to make a large sacrifice. Isn’t that what Christian love is all about?
I have to disagree with Pat on this one. He is flat-out wrong.
posted September 18, 2011 at 7:21 pm
Easier said than done. My Daddy had a disease called Louie body Dementia. It was awful and for three and 1/2 yrs. my mother took care of him. He was in his 80′s when he started showing signs of the disease. And Pat is right, the person ou knew is gone, never to come back. Someone else inhabits th body. If a couple is younger I can see how they would want to go on with a new partner but step inside the shoes of each couple.
posted September 18, 2011 at 7:26 pm
for better or worse I say.
posted September 18, 2011 at 8:38 pm
The bible says do you take this man/woman for better or worse, sickness and in health? Do you not feel that Alzheimer is a health issue, be it mental or physical? You will be seeing the devil in hell, Pat Robertson. And to think of all the years the people on earth have beleived in your word. You must be the Anti-Christ, and the money you have takend from all of the nieve people who beleived in you. Your love of money and not your wife will be your burning in hell!
posted September 18, 2011 at 11:51 pm
The devil is a tricky one… hold close the words of OUR LORD and follow HIM, not some man who twists around the words to suit humankind or himself. TILL DEATH DO US PART is crystal clear.
posted September 23, 2011 at 1:04 pm
read the posts, and most were really touching! in sickness and in health was my pledge, an oath i took in a church under Gods roof. i will stick to that, and so should everyone else. God bless us all, its getting rocky out here!
posted September 23, 2011 at 2:35 pm
My godmother’s husband died last May from Parkinsons’ induced dementia – for the last four years of his life, he didn’t recognize her or their children. Yet, she stayed by his side and continued to love him and take care of him. This despite the gentleman friend that kept asking her out to dinner and so forth – she maintained her vows and was faithful. Marriage is not just for when it is convenient – it is in times of trial that our vows are truly made manifest and our faith in the sanctity of marriage and in God’s presence are most visible. I pray that Mr. Robertson learns to listen to the Voice of God and does not continue to lead his followers astray.
posted September 26, 2011 at 10:00 am
“The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them, He delivers them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted, and saves those who are crushed in spirit. A righteous man may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all.” (Psalm 34: 17-19)
WHAT would Jesus DO, And what did Jesus DO?
“Take Jesus’ encounter with the “sinful” woman, Those around him were disgusted when she began weeping uncontrollably at his feet, washing them with her tears and drying them with her unbound hair.
But Jesus rebuked them, responding with compassion to this woman who understood more than anyone else at that table that she had been rescued from so much.
In other instances we see Jesus extending compassion to social outcasts like lepers, offering healing and forgiveness of sin and even skin to skin contact, something that was so socially repulsive that it was actually forbidden. We see him reacting in love to those who were possessed with evil spirits, drawing physically and emotionally near to them when no one else would.
I can’t help but believe that this is what Jesus wants us to do with those who suffer mental illness. Instead of ignoring it, pretending it doesn’t exist, or relegating those who suffer it to the very fringes of our congregations (much as the demoniac who was forced to live in a graveyard), I believe Jesus calls us to embrace those who might otherwise be deigned social outcasts, to acknowledge their sufferings, and to show love and compassion.
Mental illnesses like clinical depression are difficult to understand for those who haven’t suffered them. The church is still responsible to reach out in love to the mentally ill, like I think Jesus would do, with love and compassion and a great deal of grace. ” Lets not forget the golden rule” Treat others as you would want to be treated”
posted October 2, 2011 at 1:05 pm
I think Pat Robertson should step away from all public speaking & enjoy sitting on his porch in his rocking chair, because I think this is proof that he is losing his own mental capacity & perhaps he even have Alzheimer’s himself. This is against the marriage vows that I’m sure he himself said at weddings he may have performed.