While most of that ire is directed towards their common stance on gay relationships and gay marriage, even the subject of adultery has come into question from some circles. This report will cover the traditional Christian position on adultery as well as some opposing views and some other dimensions of the subject and the argument that centers on the same (Cherry)
For example, ELCA Lutherans have a much different take on gay marriage, on the whole, than Missouri Synod Lutherans. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is a Catholic but some of her stated beliefs run extremely counter to a lot of the dogma coming from the Catholic Church including the Pope himself (Benedict, to be precise), but the former Speaker also has a lot of supporters who agree with her (Gros)
Even relationship statuses or lifestyle choices that run afoul of established Christian dogma have "rules" or at least understood and informed agreements that are to be followed. Many to most homosexual relationships are at least partially monogamous and even less traditional (and/or illegal) lifestyle choices like "swinging," bigamy, polygamy, polygyny, and the like are not nearly as exclusive as a "one to one" relationship, but there are agreed upon rules and people are generally content as long as the rules are followed (Knapp)
The first viewpoint is that "biology" should not be confused with "temptation." In other words, just because the opportunity exists to cheat does not mean it is right and it does not mean that the person being tempted cannot just say no to the opportunity and keep their vows intact (Singh et al
One of the most frequent manifestations of empty nest syndrome is loneliness (Peplau, 1982). Loneliness can cause many mental health issues that are not directly related to the empty nest syndrome but because the empty nest syndrome causes the loneliness the ramifications of loneliness are important to understand in relation to the empty nest syndrome (Rokach, 1997)
" When a parent faces the fact that their children no longer need them, it is not difficult to understand why they have a need to feel needed. When they cross the line into an affair however, because of the empty nest syndrome they now threaten to destroy the relationship they have with their spouse (Jones, 1990)
Knowing the teen won't come barreling through the door at any moment, knowing the friends are not going to be spending the night anymore, and knowing that nobody will be asking for a twenty to get gas because they have a date, is something parents joke about hating, but when it ends, they often feel sad and let down. Spending every single day for two decades considering the needs of the children, working their lives around the children, and putting the children's schedules ahead of their own is a habit that is firmly engrained (Peplau, 1982)
Many studies have concluded that adulterous affairs have nothing or very little to do with the actual sexual component. The affair has more to do with alleviating the feeling of loneliness or in the case of empty nest syndrome, the feeling of being abandoned than anything else (Perlman, 1989)