My Christian Marriage Focus

Friday, January 1, 2010

My Christian Marriage Focus

12:01 AM | Posted by Scott | Edit Post

Like it says in the header, this blog is aimed at Christian marriages. Specifically my goal is to strengthen and enrich the marriages of those who call themselves followers of Jesus. This begs the question, "Why do I choose to focus primarily on Christian marriages?"

It's not because I wish to discriminate against or separate myself from those who do not share my faith. It's not that I'm unwilling to engage those who disagree with me or my principles. It's not that I think Christian marriage are somehow better than those of non-believers. It's not that I'm against attempts to harmonize on a common societal definition of marriage. It's just that in the context of what I believe, I just don’t think it’s possible.

If you read very far here, you’ll see that most of what I believe about marriage is based on spiritual principles that hold no relevancy to a non-believer. It would be like me, a meat lover, trying to write a cookbook that would also be useful for vegetarians. Such a tiny fraction of it would cross over that it makes little sense to even try.

That’s not to say that some of the marriage principles I espouse wouldn’t be useful to those without a common spiritual grid. Surely a few of my recipes in the cookbook scenario would be compatible with a vegetarian’s diet. But consider that the core of my understanding of marriage is this:

God is the designer of marriage.
He designed it with a certain idea in mind of how it should work.
He showed us that idea in the marriage of his Son, Jesus, to his bride, the church.

How to you translate that core understanding into secular terms? This concept, this bridal paradigm makes no sense to someone who sees Jesus as nothing more than an interesting historical figure.

So I will continue to risk being exclusive, because if I take the spiritual core out of what I believe about marriage, it completely loses its power and meaning. Will I limit, as a result, the number of people who read and follow this blog? Yes. Will I occasionally offend non-Christians by appearing to exclude them or by stating beliefs that they see as narrow-minded? Yes. Is it possible that by exploring here the love relationship between Jesus and his bride that some may be drawn to know this love in a personal way? Maybe so. That would be great.

But my genuine hope is that in the process I will somehow be more effective in bringing across what I see as an urgent and important message for the bride of Christ in this hour.

Labels: About, The Bridal Paradigm

2 comments:

Anonymous said...: Praises to the Most High God who is unsearchable in His wisdom yet He reveals to humanity what is needed to guide us to Him. No kidding, this is the best and most clarified interpretation on authorithy and submission that I've read...and believe me, I've read alot. The Holy Spirit confirmed the truth of His word in my heart concerning this topic. May God continue to bless you as you share more insights on marriage and how it works. Thank you. Pastor C from Trinidad West Indies; June 8, 2010 at 10:05 PM
Scott said...: Thank you Pastor C and welcome to my blog. I hope you'll come back often. Please feel free to share your thoughts, insights and questions here. Blessings to you!; June 8, 2010 at 10:34 PM