A dysfunctional dating relationship sealed by marriage doesn’t make any problems go away; it simply cements you in a dysfunctional marriage. Marriage won’t improve your man. Marriage won’t change your man. (The same is true of a woman, of course.) Marriage simply weds you to your partner’s problems. When you raise a significant issue in dating and the man or woman responds by crying and … Continue reading Thomas: Please Don’t Marry Him
One of the most profound days of my life was the day I told my mom and dad I was pregnant. I wasn’t married. I had just moved home and out of the apartment I shared with my boyfriend. I was beginning my first semester at a technical college trying to make the most of my messed up life. It was far from stable. After … Continue reading To All the Girls Who Didn’t Say No
By Mrs. S. B. H. E., Originally published here, Aug. 8, 2005
Purity is a concept that is intriguingly beautiful. When thinking of purity, a pure, white lamb comes to mind–one with no blemishes, flecks of dirt, or streaks of mud. While this concept so readily comes to mind, it does not as readily spring out of one’s life. We are sinners, and, unless we are saved by Grace, we have no hope for righteous living (I John 1:9).
As a child, I became a Christian in a non-Christian home. While turning to the homes of Christian friends for brief respites, I struggled with the reality of my own home. I had a heart for living a pure life, and when I watched “The Waltons” or “Little House on the Prairie,” my heart ached for a “Pa” to sing hymns with after he read the Bible to our family. But, no, the only Bible in our home was a large leather-bound tome that sat primly on the coffee table and was never opened.
From the age of eleven, I navigated the waters of faith independently. It was natural to me to call a friend for a ride to church. I read my Bible with my door shut, hiding it after finishing to avoid teasing from my siblings (some of whom are now Christians!). But as closely as I guarded my spiritual life, there is one truth which I did not know or comprehend. I did not understand the iron-clad link between my spiritual life and my emotional life. I did not understand the need for purity emotionally in order to protect my walk with God. Continue reading “Emotional Maturity as a Young Woman with an Unbelieving Family”
If, like me, you’re single and crying out not to be, you’ve probably heard at some point or other (perhaps many times) something like this: You should find your satisfaction in Christ, rather than hoping to have that ache inside filled by a future spouse. It sounds so right. And that’s because it is, in one sense, absolutely true. Jesus should be our all-in-all. He … Continue reading I’m Single. Is Jesus Enough?
By Pastor Scott Brown, of Hope Baptist Church
His disciples say unto him, If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry. But he said unto them, All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given. For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother’s womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it. Then were there brought unto him little children, that he should put his hands on them, and pray: and the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven. And he laid his hands on them, and departed thence. (Mat 19:10-15)
When these words were given, our Lord was teaching his disciples about what the kingdom of heaven is all about and as we have been walking our Lord’s explanation we can see what a wonderful kingdom it is and how good it is to live in the kingdom that is governed by God the father, by the Son the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of God. The Lord has just finished correcting the disciples view of marriage and then their view of divorce because they’ve become so saturated with a bunch of wrong ideas about marriage and divorce that the Lord sets the record straight, takes them back to the scriptures to establish the foundational principles of marriage and divorce.
He turns from the foundational principles of marriage and divorce and the issues of singleness, and we’ll spend most of our time there, and of children. Continue reading “Singleness And the Sovereignty of God”
[Editor’s Note: It’s okay to want to get married. Feminism has made it seem a crime. But the Lord has designed us for it and calls us to it. Pity is a dangerous thing, don’t accept it. Self-pity is an addicting sin. It breeds discontentment, insatiable self-interest, makes you emotionally needy, weak and annoying to others, and it feeds the notion that God is not … Continue reading The Difficulty of Admitting We Want to Be Married
In this message, Scott Brown reveals some important matters that single Christians need to consider as they navigate the sometimes difficult waters of singleness. First, he begins by speaking of the times we live and the questions and problems that modern single living presents. Second, he identifies important matters of the culture you build in your church that are either a blessing or harmful to … Continue reading Correct thinking about singleness – SermonAudio.com
By Mrs. Chancey
I was sitting in class learning about all the ways our country was slipping from its constitutional foundations. And in a moment of exasperation, I raised my hand and called out, “So what’s the solution?” … I knew how hard it was to change the culture and was losing my will to believe there really was a solution. But I was hoping that maybe this passionate, articulate, creative professor had some new ideas to teach us…. Dr. Hubert Morken didn’t disappoint. He looked at me with a twinkle in his eye and let his grenade fly: “Get married, make babies, and do government. That’s how we win.” His response was so different from what I was expecting that it nearly knocked the wind out of me…. Even though I grew up in a Christian home, with parents who were committed to staying married…I had picked up the idea from the Christian culture around me that celibate service was superior to marriage and that to be truly spiritual, you had to at least be open to the possibility. Now this was professor was telling me that God’s plan for believers, most of them anyway, and for the future good of society, was marriage and babies. Family. It was a shock to my system. ~ from the introduction to Get Married by Candice Watters
I first came across Mrs. Watters’s writings on Boundless.org, the webzine she started in 1998. Boundless overflows with thought-provoking articles for Christians who want to live by God’s Word in a world that is often hostile to its precepts and principles. I’ve been most encouraged to see a number of Boundless writers stand firmly for Christian marriage, encouraging men to grow up and pursue it and women to prepare and pray for it.
Let’s face it; there are thousands of unmarried Christian women out there who wonder where all the “Mr. Rights” have gone. Where are the men who desire a godly wife and have a vision to bring up the next generation of Christians? In our culture of “hooking up” (yes, sadly, even in Christian circles) and extended adolescence, a mature, respectable man is regarded like a UFO sighting: rare, unbelievable, and unlikely to pass by again.
So when Candice Watters boldly declares that women need to get serious about marriage and pray for it to happen, it might seem a bit pie-in-the-sky to jaded women who’ve nearly given up. But Mrs. Watters doesn’t just cast the vision; she provides practical, biblical steps that single ladies can take in their quest to become a “Mrs.” Continue reading ““Get Married” – Candice Watters’s Bold Apologetic (Book Review)”
By Geoffrey Botkin From Western Conservatory, So goes the centuries-old English proverb about romance and human affection. Just in time for Valentine’s Day, British fantasy-pornographer Erika Mitchell has revived this cruel idea in a major motion picture1. In Mitchell’s narrative, an innocent college girl is deceived, tormented and abused for the apparent sexual gratification of the criminal doing the beating. True to the proverb, the … Continue reading A Woman, A Dog, and A Walnut Tree…
[Editor’s Note: An article from 2004 but as applicable today as ever. I would point out that it is not futile to argue. If the author really believed that he would not have finished writing the article. The advances that we’ve seen by the Pro-life movement are great examples of arguing the point and seeing fruit. Be willing to give an answer.] What is lost is the … Continue reading The Tragedy of the Sexual Revolution
