“The courting relationship should be handled carefully by Christians because it is a volatile sexual relationship. The fact that it is unconsummated does not keep it from being sexual. When a young many approaches a girl’s father, there is no sense anyone pretending that something platonic or spiritual is happening. ‘Mr. Smith, may I have …
Real Trophy Wives
“In our society, women are repeatedly told ad nauseam, by those periodic packaged lies called women’s magazines, that it is their responsibility to deck themselves out in such a way that they ‘keep’ their man. A woman may be able to do this successfully in her twenties, and then have to work a little harder …
In Other Words, No More Than a Quarter Inch Deep
[Speaking of 1 Peter 3:3] “Women in the Roman world used to really ‘crank up the volume’ in their personal appearance. The problem addressed by Peter is not hair-arrangements in themselves, or the perfidy of pony-tails. No, Peter is directing his attention to women who were ostentatious, making a display of themselves. The women of …
Certain Religious Sects Notwithstanding
“The Bible does not require pretty girls to wear paper bags over their heads to keep from stumbling all the brethren” (Her Hand in Marriage, p. 48).
Making Authority Tolerable
“Trust is at the center of all family life. Trust is what makes authority bearable” (Her Hand in Marriage, p. 45).
Getting the Will of God Too Easily
“A young suitor has absolutely no business telling a young lady that he has ‘prayed about it,’ and that the Lord wants her to marry him. He should be acting on what he believes to be the will of God for him; the will of God is not a ‘club’ to be used on her. …
Like Straw in Fire
“Many parents try to teach their sons about sexual self-control after sexual temptation becomes an issue. But sexual self-control is just one species of the genus ‘self-control.” Sexual self-control is simply a subset of self-control . . . When sexual temptation first arrives, the necessary response of self-denial must not be an entirely new concept. …
The Trouble With Boys
“As parents consider their little boys who appear to have a surplus of this initiative, a surplus of masculinity, they may err by leaving it entirely undisciplined, or they may seek to discipline the troublesome masculinity out” (Her Hand in Marriage, p. 38).
The Power of Imitation
“He should also be taught what the atmosphere of married life was intended by God to be. The best thing godly parents can do here is provide the children with several decades of viewing consistent Christian living within marriage — in the home in which they were born. The value of this is inestimable. The …
A Distinction to File Away
“The Bible says true marriages can be entered disobediently, while other forms of disobedience do not result in a marriage at all, but rather in perversions. There is a difference between a disobedient marriage, and a disobedience which pretends to be a marriage” (Her Hand in Marriage, p. 35).