Why the Breakdown?

 "Pharisees came up to [Jesus], intent on tempting him and saying:  "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife on every sort of ground?" -Matthew 19;3.


SOME who lived in Jesus' day questioned whether marriages could or should last.  To them, Jesus said:  "Did you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and his mother and will sick to his wife,  (female)  and the two will be one flesh'?  So that they are no longer two, but one flesh.  Therefore, what God has yoked together let no man put apart."  (Matthew 19:4-6)  Obviously, God intended for marriages to last.

In many lands today, some 40 percent or more of all marriages are "put apart,"  ending in divorce.  Is the Bible's advice regrading marriage hopelessly out-of-date?  Could it be that marriages fall apart because the arrangement itself is faulty? (No one knows what it takes to make a marriage work anymore; and the few that do, are not willing  to make it work.  Some that are abusive to their spouses are the worse, God did not want the spouses, be it male or female to be abused physically or mentally)

Consider this illustration:  Two couples buy the same model car.  On couple maintain their vehicle well and drive it carefully.  Their car does not bread down. The other couple invest no time or energy in maintaining their vehicle, and they drive recklessly.  That car breaks down and is abandoned.  Where does the fault lie for second outcome-with the car or with the owners? Obviously, the owners bear much of the responsibility.  (No, all of it! )

Similarly, the fact that many marriages fail does not mean that the  institution of marriage is somehow flawed.  The millions of marriages that succeed prove otherwise.  Those marriages bring happiness and stability to individuals, to families, and to communities.  But marriage like a car, needs good care and regular maintenance if it is to last.

Whether your marriage is days or decades old, the Bible's advice on how to maintain and strengthen it really does work. On the following pages, n0te some examples.  (I know of  some couples from my high school days that have lasted more than 30 years and still going)

Next time: Solutions to Common Complaints

The Watchtower, 2011