“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).
Echoed Disrespect
“The disrespect that children have for their fathers in this area [courtship] is really just an echo of the disrespect that fathers have of their own office” (Her Hand in Marriage, pp. 31-32).
What Is Marriage?
“A common error among Christians holds that if the sexual act is completed, then the couple are married ‘in God’s sight.’ Many destructive complications occur in contemporary culture because we have adopted the idea that people can be married in God’s sight without being married. It is hard to say where this idea originated, but …
Oxymoronic Adultery
“No double standard exists in God’s law. If a woman were an adulteress she could be executed for it, and if a man were an adulterer he could be executed for it. So the double standard on the part of Christ’s adversaries here is evident. They catch a woman committing adultery all by herself, and …
Romance No Foundation
“Romance is believed to be ‘the thing’ which ties a marriage together, and it is further thought that young people understand the dynamics of romance far better than their elders. Now the emotional attraction and attachment we have for one another is a gift from God. But romance has the same function as the curtains …