Conclusion of Practical Guidance For Marriage

Is such advice practical in this modern world? It is interesting that those who make a career of studying families today have come to similar conclusions. An administration of a family counseling program noted: "The healthiest families I know are the ones in which the mother and father have a strong relationship between themselves. . . This strong primary relationship seems to breed security in the children.

Over the years, the Bible's counsel on marriage has proved far more reliable than the advice of countless well-intentioned family counselors. After all, it was not too long ago that many experts were advocating divorce as a quick and easy solution to an unpleasant marriage. Today, many of them urge people to make their marriage last if at all possible. But this change has come only after much damage was done.

In contrast, the Bible gives reliable balanced counsel on the subject of marriage. It acknowledges that some extreme circumstances make divorce permissible. (Matthew 19:9) At the same time, it condemns frivolous divorce. (Malachi 2:14-16) It also condemns marital infidelity. (Hebrews 16:4) Marriage, it says, involves commitment: "That is why a man will leave his father and his mother and he must stick to his wife and they must become one flesh." -Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19:5, 6.

The Bible's advice on marriage is as relevant as it was when the Bible was written. When husband and wife treat each other with love and respect, and view marriage as an exclusive relationship, the marriage is more likely to survive-and with it the family.

Next time: Practical Guidance For Parents

A Book For All People, 1997