She Wants to Divorce Her Husband Over Vaccinations
One woman told me that she wants to divorce her husband because he wants to vaccinate their children. Let me tell you something, her children would be far better off if they were vaccinated (and I am completely against vaccinations) rather than having their parents divorced and their lives destroyed. Another problem this woman would face is that the father will still be able to vaccinate the children without the mom’s consent because no judge will side with her. When he has the children, he can easily go get them vaccinated. These are issues to talk about before marriage, but this issue shouldn’t be a deal breaker, in my opinion.
We didn’t vaccinate our children. We researched them before deciding and decided not to do so. I am still against vaccinations, and I know it’s an extremely hot issue but it’s not worth destroying a marriage over. I hate divorce more than I hate vaccinations. I know some godly women who are against vaccinations but vaccinate their children in submission to their husbands. They pray over their children and feed them as healthy as they can. They have given it to the Lord. Divorce devastates ALL children. Vaccinations don’t.
Here are a few responses to women in the chat room about this issue:
“Divorce means custody and medical decision disputes and the courts are just about guaranteed to side with whichever parent wants to vaccinate. So she will be pretty much handing him the tools he needs to take them completely. Also, if she loses the ‘battle’ but remains married and is educated on the dangers, risks, and hopefully knowledgeable on the signs of a reaction of vaccinations, she will be in a better position to care for her kids than if they were away from her and he did it anyway.” (Deena B.)
“God didn’t command us to avoid vaccines (or to take them). He did command wives to obey their husbands. Thus, this is a clear case of Biblical authority instructing this woman to obey her husband. It’s not submission if you agree. Submission means you give in even though you disagree. Also, I guarantee you divorcing her husband will do far more damage to her children than vaccines will.” (Lindsay H.)
“They will get vaccinated for sure if she divorces him, and they would probably administer them all at once. It’s not worth it at all. Although I am not a fan of vaccinations, I would recommend honoring her husband and slowly catching them up on vaccines or decide together which ones are most important. And pray for their children’s protection, physically and spiritually. In my own experience, when I am morally opposed to something that my husband decides, God has heard my prayers and is faithful. He has always protected my family. Not saying this is the case for every single situation, but our God is a good God and He loves us and hears our prayers.” (Erika T.)
“I agree it’s not worth a divorce. He would win and the child would be vaccinated anyway, since that’s the standard of care so it wouldn’t solve any issues and would only add more issues, one of them being not having a dad in the home. You can vaccinate them and detox them if you are in the home and you can space them out if you’re the one in charge of it. If you get a divorce, what the court orders is what you do.” (Kaitlynn B.)
“It sounds to me more like she has a general spirit of rebellion. I personally wouldn’t even address the vaccination issue and instead get to the heart of the issue, because I guarantee the problem is bigger than the vaccine.” (Sarah G.)
Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
Ephesians 5:22-24
28 thoughts on “She Wants to Divorce Her Husband Over Vaccinations”
Submission to your husband is a command vaccinations is not. To divorce your husband on this is so unbiblically. I would question her faith.
As someone who has had first hand experience of dealing with the government and going in and out of court, obey your husband on the issue of vaccination. It’s not worth divorce, government and court.
(Yes, I’m still happily married. My husband echos my sentiments.)
That’s a tough situation for sure. Would you agree that a wife should not submit to her husband if he commands her to sin? What if she truly believes that vaccinating is a sin?
She can’t keep him from vaccinating the children, Emily! There’s no way she can accomplish this. The courts would side with him and this would cause so much destruction for the children – having their children quarrel and even potentially go to court and get a divorce.
This is not a Biblical reason for divorce. The Lord would consider her a covenant breaker and an adulterer. There are bigger issues at stake.
If she believes vaccination is wrong, that would be an issue of conscience for her, not a command in scripture to all believers. Wives are to submit to their husbands on matters of conscience. Only where scripture clearly speaks to forbid certain sins (e.g. adultery, murder, lying, theft) should she disobey her husband if he commands her to do such things. On matters of conscience, God has given her husband authority and commands her to obey her husband.
I agree, she shouldn’t divorce over this issue, especially since, as you wisely pointed out, it wouldn’t help in a practical way anyway. I’m just wondering if she should obey her husband if she truly believes he’s leading her to sin, or if she should push back in that case and try to change his mind. Thank you so much for taking the time to respond!
It’s interesting that the only people who are anti-vaccines live in countries where vaccinations are readily available. Parents living in countries where vaccines have saved millions of lives and are hard to come by will do anything for a chance to have their children vaccinated. I am not big on medical interventions in general and always try a home remedy when possible. I had qualms about loading babies up on vaccines, and this was 30 years ago. My compromise was to work with the pediatrician to spread out the vaccines over a longer schedule. We had a good working relationship and eventually all of my kids received most of their vaccines. I haven’t had any vaccines other than smallpox and polio, however, this year I will get the flu, pneumonia and shingles vaccines. A friend of mine just permanently lost the vision in her right eye due to shingles and at 68, I no longer fear any long-term ill effects, since my “long-term” is probably pretty short.
For a husband whose wife threatened divorce over his decision to vaccinate their children, it would surely induce an epiphany of “I chose poorly” (although, to be fair, this is a far less frivolous excuse for divorce than most would use). Lori is certainly correct in stating that this is one of those important issues a couple needs to discuss and reach agreement on BEFORE marriage, not after the children have already arrived.
A woman who wants to divorce her husband over vaccinations is a woman looking for any excuse to divorce him. No reasonable Christian woman would think such a thing. Her heart has hardened and she’s looking for an exit. “Those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart”.
We vaccinate but know many good Christian parents who choose not to. Many people don’t think about their stance on vaccines until after the children come.
It definitely isn’t a deal breaker. It’s mostly women who are against vaccines. I don’t think men are nearly as opinionated about it.
In my opinion vaccines are safe and effective. There’s nothing in there that is harmful for most people. The virus getting injected is a dead virus. Vaccines normally take at least a decade to get on the market because of safety. For those that can’t get vaccinated there’s herd immunity if enough of the population is vaccinated. Formaldehyde is used to make live viruses inactive and then it’s removed. Aluminum improves the bodies response . Thimerosal used in the flu vaccine prevents bacterial and fungal growth. No human or animal cells are present in vaccines. Human cells are needed to make some vaccines but once the virus has been grown it’s separated from the human cells. And it’s from 2 legally aborted babies from 1960’s . That’s where the human cells come from.
Yeah, the time to bring up these issues–or anything else on which you feel very strongly–is BEFORE you get married. I hear of too many couples who “overlook” serious differences in the dewy-eyed courtship-and-romance phase and then fixate on them after settling down to the married life; in reality, the period of dating and engagement is when we should be at our most critical, praying for the wisdom to discern whether we really want to follow this man for the rest of our lives.
I just want to add a word of advice:
-She should stop reading all anti-vax posts, articles and threads.
– She should unfollow every anti-vax account on every platform.
– Delete every anti-vax bookmark, throw out every magazine or book.
– If she has friends or family that want to influence her, she needs to stop them and tell them unequivocally that she sides with her husband.
– She needs to confess to her husband that she has allowed others to undermine his authority in their marriage and ask for his forgiveness.
-She also needs to confess her sins to God and ask for His forgiveness and for Him to cleanse her heart and mind of thoughts of divorce and replace them with love for her husband.
Lindsay, your blog looks interesting, glad you left a link.
Where is your chat room at? I emailed you a while ago asking but never got a reply. I figured it must be private since I can’t seem to find it with any ease.
Yes! The court system is horrible. Suddenly, a judge who does not know your family, your beliefs, or your children, is making the decisions for them.
Do whatever you have to do, to stay out of that awful system.
If this silly woman divorces her husband over such a ridiculous reason she’s going to find herself with even less power, as the court will side with her husband and allow the children to be vaccinated. No court is going to rule that vaccinations are bad.
If she stays with him, she has the opportunity to perhaps negotiate with her husband and just do the vaccinations that her husband feels most strongly about. Then, if the children are fine afterwards, they could do the rest. But if she divorces him to try to force his hand, she will find herself the loser all around. Not to mention that it’s the worst possible outcome for the children. Children need both their mother and father in their lives, every day.
Agree! Too many times you see this being played out in marriage. The wife thinks her convictions on things are above her husband’s authority. Unless its clear sin a wife needs to obey her husband.
It’s called “Always Learning Chat Room” and it’s on Facebook.
My husband was wonderful when it came to vaccines. He helped me learn about them and helped with the decision process. I loved his guidance and input. We ultimately chose to vaccinate our children. But I have been friends with many families who chose not to and it was never a big issue.
I would love to have an argument on vaccines be the problem in my marriage. I wish that woman would understand that if her only problem in her marriage is vaccinations she is a blessed woman.
“Your husband is more important than your kids.” Doris
By the way, my co-worker (who passed away years ago) loved her four children very much. Thing is, she loved Harry, her husband, even more.
She said, after a busy day keeping house and minding their small children, around 3:30 or so, it was time for the kids and her to get cleaned up because Daddy would be home around 5. They were not rich people, just regular middle class. Harry drove a delivery truck for a living.
Harry was blessed with an amazing wife!
I mean, don’t get me wrong, I understand being scared of vaccines but there is absolutely nothing in the Bible that says vaccines are a sin. There is a lot in the Bible that suggest not submitting to your husband and divorce is a sin. It comes down to that in my opinion. It’s real simple.
I am just really grateful that my husband and I see eye to eye on these matters. Ultimately it comes down to trust. My husband trusts my research and judgement on all things related to childbirth, babies, and young children (and health in general). I trust his research on all things finances and employment. We will have conversations about these things, but we each have our role and defer the main decision making to the one most invested in the outcome. With this couple, I wonder if there is a foundational issue of trust that has been disrespected in other ways.
If we obey our husbands in EVERYTHING like we are called to do, then this wouldn’t even be an issue for an argument, let alone grounds for a divorce!!!
Great article, and great perspectives. It is so unfortunate how divorce is often used as the ultimate ultimatum because one doesn’t want to do what you want them to.
Many believe injecting aborted fetal cells into their children is sinful (MRC5 is male and WI-38 is female) due to their beliefs about abortion but also the biological impact of injecting male DNA into females and female DNA into males along with an immune-stimulating adjuvant that goes to the brain. Is this contributing to the rash of gender confusion?
No. Read Romans 1.
Irrespective of a wife’s personal views, ultimately the final word on any decision is with her husband.
She can and should express her opinion, but she must then obey his decision.
Divorce is a sin and should never be an option. Sadly it is the failure of so many women to truly submit to their husbands under Christ which leads to many a divorce.