March 10, 2008 The "Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" in Marriage By Dave Boehi In recent weeks I've been talking about why marriage is important in an age when an increasing number of couples are choosing to live together but not get married. I continue to receive some perceptive e-mails on the subject,…

MARRIAGE Captain Caleb Holt is a firefighter who loves his job, and thinks he knows what it means to love his wife, Kathryn. While he is valiantly fighting fires and saving lives in the community, a fire of another kind threatens to destroy his marriage. As a firefighter, Caleb knows it is important…

Love that is special, and a marriage that lasts, are not automatic. Many of the celebrities we are fascinated with wish they could have found lasting love. Jack Nicholson, now in his 73rd year, admits that “his wandering attentions haven’t made for lasting relationships. ‘I’ve been in love in my life,…

Tarek and Christina El Moussa of the hit reality show Flip or Flop were, by all appearances, the perfect couple. That was until reports revealed they had separated from each other during several months of season 3’s filming. It seems that reality television is hardly reality at all. Producers of the…

A recent study out of Norway shows that divorce rates there are about 50% higher among couples who shared the housework compared with those in which women did most of the chores. One clue to the reason for this comes from another study by Bosch, the high-end dishwasher company. They say that 40% of couples…

One of the results of the divorce revolution in our culture is that many who have experienced their parent’s divorce are delaying or rejecting marriage. Over 60 percent of them think cohabitation before marriage is a good idea, and they are more likely to be living with their partner than those from…

The very first institution created by God was marriage. (See Genesis 2:24) When Paul looked for a way to describe the relationship between Christ and the church, he chose the marriage relationship. (See Ephesians 5:22-33) Because marriage is so essential in God’s economy, it is only logical that it comes…

DIVORCE According to researcher George Barna, the ratio of Christians who have been divorced is higher than the percentage of non-Christians. In his sample of almost 4000 adults, Christians led non-Christians in divorce by a margin of 3 percentage points, 27% to 24%. —REV Magazine, May-June, 2000 Illustration…

Psychologist and researcher Judith Wallerstein spent 25 years studying the results of the shift in divorce laws that occurred in the 1970’s. No fault divorce swept the nation beginning in 1969, and by 1980, the divorce rate had doubled. Wallerstein was asking the question, “what about the children?”…

MARRIAGE According to an Australian Lawmaker one of the best ways to save the planet may be to stay married. Senator Steve Fielding, who heads the independent Family First political party down under, told a senate hearing that staying married is better for the planet because divorce often leads newly…

A study of 3000 marriages, conducted by two Emory University researchers, indicates that if you want your marriage to last, date for 3 years before you tie the knot, spend the money on the honeymoon not the wedding, and stay active in your local church. The researchers found that couples who • date for…

According to Ramesh Ponnuru, senior editor for National Review, families provide the foundation people need to be successful in a challenging and chaotic world. Ponnuru says that abundant evidence shows that children generally do better academically, economically, and behaviorally “when they are raised…

In Saratoga Springs, New York, a European company has established the first divorce hotel in the United States. Using a pattern first established in Amsterdam in 2012 a couple can check into the Gideon Putnam Resort on Friday as a married couple, and check out on Sunday, Single. What God intended as…

In “A Life of Purity,” Dallas Bivins writes, “Jesus attacked the lustful thoughts of the head and heart, not the actions of the hand. The head and heart is where we begin to dehumanize another person into an object of sin. Whereas love accepts, heals, and respects, lust demands and controls. Lust is…

As the divorce rate for young people is dropping, the rate for people 50 and over doubled from 1990 to 2014. Late-life divorce (also called “silver” or “gray” divorce) is becoming more common, and more acceptable. In 2014, people age 50 and above were twice as likely to go through a divorce as in 1990,…

The marriage of a German couple came to an end when the wife left him for another lover. The man, identified only as Martin, posted a video online of the way they, or at least he, handled the disbursement of their possessions. He split them evenly, literally in half. “The video shows him sawing all their…

You may have more in common with Priscilla Presley, who married Elvis in 1967 than you think. As she reflected on her marriage to the King, she said “I was hated for marrying him, hated for getting a divorce,” she said. “Having people being critical but not knowing what your life was and not knowing…

How much is too much? People will have different answers to that question. For some, one TV is plenty, for others they need one in every room. For some, beans and rice will do, for others oversized portions of meat is necessary for every meal For some, a couple of cats are plenty, but not for a woman…

Marriage is the foundation of a stable society. It provides a secure place to rear the next generation of citizens. For years, we believed that families were best for the children. In 1962, half of all adult women believed that parents in bad marriages should stay together for the children’s sake. Then…

Christian marriage is from God. God joins two people together, for life. Jesus is specific; humans are not to separate what God had joined. That makes the statement of Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin a sad one. In announcing their divorce they stated, “It is with hearts full of sadness that we have…

During the 1970s and '80s, Chattanooga, Tennessee, was a decaying city. Divorce was rampant. Half of all births were to unwed mothers. Single women were the sole providers in 30 percent of homes, with many living in poverty. In August of 1997, a group of businessmen, civic leaders, and church leaders…

The actual cost of a wedding hasn’t risen all that much, still a few dollars for a wedding license but the amount couples are paying for a wedding has skyrocketed. An average American couple paid $28,427 in 2012 for their wedding, including the reception. Depending on where you live the price goes even…

Teen brides more likely to. end up divorced ATLANTA (AP) – Teenage brides are far more likely than older women to see their marriages break up within 10 years, a government study shows. Nearly half of marriages in which the bride is 18 years old or younger end in separation or divorce within 10 years,…

Lena Henderson and Roland Davis got married in Tennessee when they were teenagers. After four children and twenty years, they divorced in 1964. Davis remarried and moved away, but the coupled stayed friendly and kept in touch. When Davis’s second wife passed away, his daughter suggested he moved back…

“One British department store chain, Debenhams, has launched a gift registry for couples that are calling it quits so that family and friends can help them ‘begin their new life.’” At one time, our society discouraged divorce and championed marriage. One of the benefits of the stigma of divorce was that…