The Assemblies of God in Australia (which includes Hillsong) was expected to vote last week to relax their rules regarding grounds for divorce (sorry, I scoured the Web to find the results of the vote, but with no luck). Currently the church only blesses divorce in cases of adultery, but if this vote passes, it would include serious physical abuse and abandonment as valid grounds for separation. The move is provoking some controversy in Australia.

This is a tricky issue. On the one hand, the Bible makes it abundantly clear that divorce is evil and re-marriage after divorce is adultery. In Matthew 19, Jesus mentions fornication as a possible exception to this rule, which is why most conservative denominations have that as their only valid grounds for divorce.

However, that hard line puts pastors in an awkward position when faced with a woman who is being violently abused by her husband or a person whose spouse left him or her years ago. AOG Australia said that often their pastors found themselves "violating policy to help people," which is what caused them to rethink the policy in the first place.

INTERACT: What do you think? Is the Biblical standard clear or is there room for debate here? Is this a matter of scriptural clarity or more of a forgiveness issue?