A marriage cannot survive without God

[Dee_wwjd]

i think the heading says it all. Infact the majority of marriages fall because they refuse to submit to God or do not even know God!

I think your relationship is guaranteed to suceed if God stays in the centre of your relationship and you put God first!

I also believe that when you don't let God be in control of your marriage, you are guaranteed a divorce!

Following the bible on how you treat your husband or wife is so vital, i have really learnt alot and am still learning to submit, but i tell you, Jesus has blessed me with my husband and my son! and i pray to continue to submit to God and put him first in all i do, as i am eternally gratfull for what God has done for me already!

 

[Quath]

That is kind of funny. The following was posted in another topic: http://www.jcnot4me.com/Items/Misc Topics/atheists_in_america.htm.

It says

Born-again Christians have a higher rate of divorce than non-believers; fundamentalists top them all. And 87% divorced after accepting Christ, presumably aware of the biblical teaching on divorce

...

two Christian surveys reported that less than five percent of all Christian marriages were experiencing joy and happiness in their relationships

Quath

 

[Blue-Lightning]

I am highly doubtful of your statistics, Quath. Every credible study I have seen shows no significant difference.

BL

 

[Judy]

That is kind of funny. The following was posted in another topic: http://www.jcnot4me.com/Items/Misc Topics/atheists_in_america.htm.

It says

Born-again Christians have a higher rate of divorce than non-believers; fundamentalists top them all. And 87% divorced after accepting Christ, presumably aware of the biblical teaching on divorce

...

two Christian surveys reported that less than five percent of all Christian marriages were experiencing joy and happiness in their relationships

Quath

All this information form a site called Atheists In America and the home page says..Set Free from Jesus. Than it has to be true.... :smt078 :smt078
Oh, the love that is on that site is so touching.. :o

 

[Spike~]

BL, Judy, if you don't believe his statistics ar correct, then please, provide us with your statistics from an unbiased site. I suggest religioustolerence.org They're a very credible site in dealing with religious matters. I'm sure they have an essay or 2 on divorce.

i think the heading says it all. Infact the majority of marriages fall because they refuse to submit to God or do not even know God!

Where's your evidence of this? I have been in a commited, monogamous relationship for over 3 years. She's a Wiccan and I'm a Unitarian Universalist. We don't have God as the center of our relationship, and we're better than ever.

I think your relationship is guaranteed to suceed if God stays in the centre of your relationship and you put God first!

Actually, IMO, putting anything before your SO is grounds for divorce. That's why many marriages fall apart because the man put porn before his wife. Same thing.

I would never marry a woman, or even date a woman that put her invisible buddy before me.

 

[destiny]

Who are they calling born again christians? Can they crawl into the heart and really know if these people have a relationship with Jesus? Most people call themselves a christian when they really aren't.
I know that playing church and calling yourself a christian won't cut it when it comes to relationships. You have to have a deep personal committment through relationship with God in order to make a marriage work. I can testify to that!

 

[cubedbee]

I agree that relationships are much stronger with God involved. I also agree with Destiny that a lot of people in this country call themselves Christians, but it is much more cultural than religious. I believe that if you looked at those who really had a strong relationship with Christ (something hard to quantify and do a study on), you will find much longer lasting and healthier relationships than in the general population.

That being said, I hate broad generalizations. Marriage can, and often do, succeed without God. I had two professors at college, one Math, one chem, both atheists. They celebrated their 45th while I was there. I know two gay couples that have each been together for over 10 years. People find happiness in this life without God. Unfortunately for them, it is a fleeting happiness that doesn't compare to the joy of knowing Christ.

 

[Blue-Lightning]

"Some have suggested that the Barna group surveyed a small group of strange people. Not so, the researchers reply. Barna surveys went to a randomly picked group of 3,854 people, enough for conclusions to be valid. Surveyors used regional quotas and did multiple callbacks. Their statistics have an error rate of plus or minus 2 percent with a confidence level of 95 percent. But sociological studies have one more hurdle to jump before serious researchers quote them. They must be backed by other studies. And this study isn't bolstered by others conducted in the 1980s, said Dr. Popenoe, a sociologist. "In general, studies show people who are religious tend to have lower divorce rates, especially if both husband and wife are religious," he said.

Dr. Larry C. Ingram also questioned the Barna numbers and had a caution. "I think we ought to replicate this finding before we panic," said Dr. Ingram, who wrote the entry on Baptists for the Encyclopedia of Religion and Society.

There might be one more reason to question Mr. Barna's survey and many other studies of religious people the hazards of self-identification.

Bill Johnson certainly doesn't deny that Christians are getting divorced. He's divorced himself. He and his second wife, Donna, co-teach Rebuilders, Prestonwood Baptist's ministry to remarried couples. Some people in the class have been married two and three times.

But Mr. Johnson is also a therapist and federal probation officer. His work experience has caused him to note that it's awfully popular to be Baptist. "When I interview criminals going into prison or coming out of prison, most of them are Baptists," he said, laughing. "Everybody seems to be a Baptist, even if they're not religious or Christian." Dr. Nancy T. Ammerman thinks Mr. Johnson has a point.

What does it mean when someone claims to be a Christian, she asks? "In this country, the vast majority of people define themselves as Christians," said Dr. Ammerman, professor of the sociology of religion at Hartford Seminary in Connecticut. "People have a particular denomination with which they identify. That does not mean that they go to church or that they even know anything about that denomination." Southern Baptists are the largest Protestant denomination in the country, and nondenominational churches cover a wide spectrum of beliefs.

Other breakdowns in the Barna study also raise questions of semantics, say scholars."



Therein lies the problem.

BL

 

[Everyday Person]

For a marriage to survive it requires love, commitment and honesty. A pair of christians could possibly have better chance at being married due to them spending time with one another due to a large common interest, but that wouldnt mean they have a better chance of actually staying together.

 

[Nocturnal_Principal_X]

For a marriage to survive it requires love, commitment and honesty. A pair of christians could possibly have better chance at being married due to them spending time with one another due to a large common interest, but that wouldnt mean they have a better chance of actually staying together.

That is true. Christians can drift away from God and not have Him as the center of the relationship and more then likely the marriage will suffer and perhaps fail.

 

[Everyday Person]

What about those marriages that do work out and survive? As that is the topic name. Plenty have worked out just fine.

 

[Dee_wwjd]

Shew, i had no idea this would be such a huge discussion. I wasn't saying anything direct to the non believers, it is just my opinion. I am so much happier with Jesus in my life and it has done wonders for my marriage. My marriage before i had Christ in my life was heading for disaster, but Jesus mended it together stronger than ever before. I speak from personal experience, not from percentages or anything like that.

I depend on God in everything I do and i know from experience that life would lose its meaning without Jesus.

I know of a lot of unbelievers who are happily married, have kids, have great jobs, but how long does it last for them. What happens when the money flies out the window, or their child dies or they lose their job, who's going to be their strengh, who is going to keep their marriage strong.

I know for a fact that if something tragic were to happen and i didn't have God in my life that my marriage would be at risk, where as i believe if you have God carrying you through and you depend on him he can build your marriage up.

Again i speak from experience, as money was unknown in our marriage, my husband didn't bring a salary in for months, my child needed food and nappies(diapers) But God brought us through. NOthing but God helped us, i know this from personal experience.

for eg.if an athiest came to my doorstep with a bag full of groceries, i know it from God and not the athiest. NOn believers wont necessarily understand or comprehend this, but i know it! I speak from experience!

 

[Nocturnal_Principal_X]

What about those marriages that do work out and survive? As that is the topic name. Plenty have worked out just fine.

Well Everyday Person perhaps you did not see the phrase "more then likely." That particular phrase actually implies that there is room for exceptions. I am fully aware that many have "worked out" without God but putting ones trust in the Lord when building a marriage relationship dramatically increase the potential of that marriage being successful.

 

[bibleberean]

Christian marriages can only fail when either one or both partners fail to put Christ first.

Love is commitment.

The husband being the head of the woman has the main responsibility to protect and through example and selflessness keep his wife and family safe.

Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;

Ephesians 5:28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.

Ephesians 5:29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:

Christ washed the feet of His disciples to show His love and humility.

Christ died for us.

What Christian woman could not respect and love a man who followed the Lord's example?

I have been married for over 35 years my wife and I are still very much in love.

I have been selfish many times in my marriage. I have also been blessed with a very patient wife.

Her example at times has shamed me into repentance more times than I can count.

Neither of us were born again Christians through most of our marriage.

In fact we did not know Jesus Christ until 1993.

It wasn't that we were not in love all that time but our marriage is different now.

The word of God having a central place in our home has caused our marriage to take on a deeper love and commitment than we had before.

I cannot put this into words but I am sure spiritual Christians know what I am talking about.

God will not force our spouse to love us. So divorce can happen in a Chrisitian home.

I do believe divorce would be rare if men and women placed Christ as their measuring stick for what love really is instead of the worlds standards.

Most of the time I believe a marriage would stay together if the husband would be the example of Christs love in the marriage.

There are Chrisitians who stay married even when Christ is not first and foremost in their lives.

These couples simply do not have the spiritual joy that comes from true Christ centered love.

The following principles apply to marriage too.

2 Peter 1:4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

2 Peter 1:5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;

2 Peter 1:6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;

2 Peter 1:7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.

2 Peter 1:8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Peter 1:9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.

2 Peter 1:10 Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:

The fact that divorce is rampant in the church is a disgrace and has brought shame to the name of Christ.

God's word has been replaced with worldly philosophy.

License has replaced grace.

No wonder the world holds the church in contempt.

We as individual members of the church need to speak out in love against the worldly practices which are in the church and be a separate people.

We must lead by example.

Matthew 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

That's my two cents.

 

[Quath]

for eg.if an athiest came to my doorstep with a bag full of groceries, i know it from God and not the athiest. NOn believers wont necessarily understand or comprehend this, but i know it! I speak from experience!

Reminds me of a joke:

There was an atheist living next door to an old woman who was a Christian. Everyday he could hear her praying and praising God for all of the things He had done for her.

One day, the old woman fell on hard times and had no food in her house. The atheist overheard her praying to God to 'please send her some food.' So off the atheist goes to the grocery store, thinking he was going to fix the old gal once and for all. He bought two bags of groceries. After placing them on her porch, he rang her bell and then hid in some nearby bushes.

When the old woman came out of her house she saw the bags of groceries and started giving thanks to the Lord for sending her the food. At that point, the happy atheist jumped from the bushes and shouted, "AH HA! The Lord didn't send you those groceries! It was I who put them there!"

Without even a pause, the old woman shot back, "Praise you dear Lord. Not only did you send the groceries, but you made the devil pay for them!"

Quath

 

[spiritfilled7]

Thats great quath

 

[Everyday Person]

but putting ones trust in the Lord when building a marriage relationship dramatically increase the potential of that marriage being successful.

Or instead one could put that energy into their relationship. And if one of the couple drifts away from Christianity and that causes the break up of the marriage, then the marriage wasnt meant to be in the first place. If I had a wife and she started practicing a relgion I would love her all the same.

 

[Blazin Bones]

EDP, this is what the Bible teaches Christians. This is why a Christian marraige can not work with out God.

2CO 6:14 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?[KJV]

God must be in a Christian marraige for it to truly be at it's best.

 

[Everyday Person]

No offence to you or your belief, but I dont really care what god has to say when it comes to the woman I love. If the woman I happen to end up loving is a Christian, while Im an atheist, then so be it. If I was the christian and she was the Atheist, and I loved her, I wouldnt allow a book to come between us.

And by that statement, believers are the light and unbelievers are evil. Do you honestly believe that I am evil? If two people are going to base their relationship upon belief in something they blindly believe exists, then that is their decision. Have to remember however, that not all marriages are "christian marriages".

 

[Blue-Lightning]

The problem, Everyday, is that you don't understand God, you don't understand Christianity, and as such, it would be very difficult for you to say what you would or wouldn't do. The very fact that you think we believe you are 'evil' displays your ignorance to me.

All have sinned and fallen short...

BL