Can a wife be divorced for fornication if she gave her husband an STD?
Question:
If a husband suspects his wife of cheating but never caught her, nor did she ever admit to it even after giving her husband an STD. Can the husband divorce his wife and remarry?
Answer:
Generally getting a sexually transmitted disease from your spouse would be evidence that the spouse had been having sex with someone else. However, there are some things that need to be considered. First, some STD's can be transmitted in none sexual ways. For example, it is thought possible to pick up HPV (genital warts) from the environment. A second consideration is how long the spouse had the STD. It is possible for someone to get an STD before marriage and the symptoms do not show up until later. Both cases would be unusual, rare, and dependent on the type of disease under consideration.
Given that there is suspicion due to other events plus the evidence of the STD, that would probably be enough to say that adultery was occurring.
Question:
Ok, thanks for the clarification. I asked this question because some people make it seem as if you have to have hard evidence (i.e. photos, statements, etc.) in order to be allowed to remarry after divorcing your spouse for infidelity.
Answer:
What people are trying to avoid is a claim of divorcing for fornication on a mere accusation. The marriage covenant needs to be treated more seriously than this. An STD would be hard evidence, but not always conclusive evidence. But you don't have to catch the adulterer in bed to know it is going on. For example, Joseph was going to put Mary away because she was pregnant. That was hard but indirect evidence (Matthew 1:18-19). And it is an example of an extremely rare case of coming to the wrong conclusion. This is why important decisions ought to be based on multiple witnesses.