Dr. Paul Manuel—2017
It is usually a good idea for two young people about to get married to seek advice from their parents.
Although the bride and groom were deeply in love, each had a very personal problem:
The groom asked his father for advice—"I am concerned about the success of my marriage because...I have very smelly feet all the time, and I'm afraid she will be put off by them." "No problem," his father replies. "Just wash your feet before you go to bed and always wear socks." This seemed a workable solution, and the young man thanked his father for the advice.
The bride asked her mother for advice—"I am concerned about the success of my marriage because...I have very smelly breath when I wake, and I'm afraid he will not want to sleep in the same room with me." "No problem," her mother replies. "Just go immediately into the bathroom when you awaken; brush your teeth and rinse your mouth. The key is not to say a word, not even 'Good morning' until you've done that." This seemed a workable solution, and the young woman thanked her mother for the advice.
The loving couple married, and both remembered the advice they had received, he with his perpetual socks and she with her morning silence. They managed quite well until about six months later. Shortly before dawn one morning, the husband wakes with a start to find that one of his socks has come off. Fearful of the consequences, he frantically searches the bed. This, of course, wakes his wife who, without thinking, asks, "What on earth are you doing?" "Oh, no," he replies..."you've swallowed my sock!"
It is usually a good idea for two young people about to get married to seek advice from their parents. It is also a good idea to follow God's advice in the scriptures, such as "The Model of Marriage" He offers in Heb 13:4.
The biblical writers use marriage as a model of God's relationship with man. Hosea, for example, uses Gomer's unfaithfulness to the prophet as an illustration of Israel's unfaithfulness to the Lord:
The biblical writers use marriage as a model of God's relationship with man. Hosea, for example, uses Gomer's unfaithfulness to the prophet as an illustration of Israel's unfaithfulness to the Lord:
The LORD said to him, "Go, take to yourself an adulterous wife and children of unfaithfulness, because the land is guilty of the vilest adultery in departing from the LORD" (Hos 1:2).
Paul, in contrast, uses the savior' love for his Church as an illustration of a husband's love for his wife:
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy.... In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives. (Eph 5:25-26a, 28a)
While examples like these in the Bible show negative and positive aspects of marriage and of what God intends for this institution, they are contrary to what society today claims:
