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A La Carte (11/29)
- 11/29/10
- 5
I hope and trust that you enjoyed your weekend. I’m glad to report that it was a good one for the Challies family. It was quiet and mostly-unremarkable—just the way we like it.
Cyber Monday - I have put together a roundup of Cyber Monday deals (and it’s being continually updated). Check the link for some good deals.
Who Needs Marriage? - You may have heard the results of the latest study which showed that marriage is increasingly seen as being completely irrelevant. Dr. Mohler looks at the study and asks if you’ve got answers to the marriage questions.
New from Indelible Grace - The new Indelible Grace album releases today. It’s a live album titled The Indelible Grace Hymn SIng: Live In Nashville.
John from R.C. Sproul - R.C. Sproul’s commentary on John is available for free on Kindle, today only.
Wrestling with an Angel - Here’s a nice review of Greg Lucas’ Wrestling with an Angel. It’s a book I’ve enjoyed, one I’ve given to unsaved neighbors, and one I’ve read aloud to my family. This reviewer says pretty much the same: “Wrestling With An Angel is a Christmas gift to the Church. The Body of Christ needs these stories of grace. When you order your copy, go ahead and order multiple copies (there are bulk discounts) because you, like me and my wife, will be giving this book to others.”
The Grace of God - Michael Oh wrote a touching article for Desiring God titled “The Grace of God in Our Circumstances.” “If you have the ability to eat three times per day and have shelter over your head, you are better off than many people in the world. If you earn $25,000 per year, you are the richest 10% of the world. You are rich. In fact if you earn $2,200 per year you are the richest 15% of the world.”
Bowen’s Heart - You may have heard about the medical problems experienced by Bowen Hammitt, son of Matt Hammitt (who leads the band Sanctus Real). He and his family were recently featured on ABC World News. You can read about Bowen and watch the news report here.
Hate, like love, picks up every shred of evidence to justify itself. —Os Guinness
I am a follower of Jesus Christ, a husband to Aileen and a father to three young children. I worship and serve as a pastor at 
Releasing on April 1, The Next
Published in 2008, this book
This is a guide that calls men,
This review of the bestselling
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Comments (5)
Just a note to those who are like me and don’t YET have a Kindle (do you think my wife reads this?) - you can still take advantage of the offer for free kindle books by using Kindle PC. Most of you probably already know this, but I just found out today and thought it might help someone else out, as well.
Follow the link above, and on the right there is a grey box that says “Try it for free.” Underneaths that in blue lettering is “Available on your PC.” Click on that to download the program and you will then have access to Kindle books on your PC.
It strikes me that the group for whom marriage has had the largest decrease in “necessity” is women. In today’s West they have the ability to support themselves without a husband; an ability they have not historically enjoyed. Should they become pregnant out of wedlock, they can have that child without being completely ostracized from society.
Men never really had either of these problems.
Also, one point I’d disagree with Mohler on is the idea that “marriage as a sacred covenant” has only recently fallen by the wayside in the West. Henry VIII? Or consider the extent to which prostitution flourished (and not only among single men) in 19th century America. Heck, marriage as a sacred covenant was already under fire in Jesus’ day. Consider His words on divorce.
For the devoutly religious, marriage has probably always been (and still is) a matter of sacred covenant, since most religions ascribe to it some spiritual significance. For those who are only nominal adherents, though, I think it’s mostly a social convention.
JPH, I’d say life would have been a LOT easier for Henry VIII if marriage as a sacred covenant hadn’t still been strongly in force in his day. And why would so many of the 19th century men have needed to pay prostitutes if marriage as a sacred covenant had the same degree of prominence then as it has today (i.e., very little)? They could have just openly lived the “Sex and the City” lifestyle — but powerful social pressures dictated otherwise, most of the time.
IOW, to say that the concept has recently fallen by the wayside is different from saying there wasn’t a lot of violating of it going on in the past. But it’s only recently in the history of the (historically) Christian west that it’s a widespread phenomenon to disregard the sacred/covenantal aspects of marriage and to view them as a total non-necessity for conjugal relationships across a wide swath of the population. Examples of pockets of violation in the Wild West, the West Indies, or among megalomaniacal 16th century monarchs, or even among large groups of persons violating it on the sly while giving it lip service don’t really undermine the reality that marriage as sacred and binding was an accepted social more throughout the generality of society in prior eras.
“life would have been a LOT easier for Henry VIII if marriage as a sacred covenant hadn’t still been strongly in force in his day.”
The idea that marriage is a sacred covenant was ostensibly the societal norm, but clearly Henry didn’t buy into it. I hardly think he was alone in that.
“And why would so many of the 19th century men have needed to pay prostitutes if marriage as a sacred covenant had the same degree of prominence then as it has today….”
My point was that if 19th century men truly bought into the idea of marriage as a sacred covenant then they wouldn’t have patronized prostitutes at such a high rate. Women may well have overwhelmingly viewed marriage as a sacred covenant. Men, as evidenced by their actions, frequently did not. Clearly they recognized that “society is going to rake me over the coals if I get a woman pregnant (who isn’t a prostitute) outside of wedlock” and that “no woman who isn’t a prostitute is likely to sleep with me unless I’m willing to marry her”. But to my mind these aren’t the same as truly viewing marriage as a sacred covenant. They just represent an awareness of social mores.
But the fact that person X or a lot of persons X didn’t buy into the concept doesn’t mean that it wasn’t in force. Why would the social pressure exist if the view of marriage as sacred actually didn’t exist or wasn’t widespread?