SUNDAY: Bible Study - 9:00 AM | Worship - 10:00 AM | PM Worship - 6:00 PM WEDNESDAY: Bible Class - 7:00 PM ~ 8110 Signal Hill Road Manassas, Virginia | Office Phone: 703.368.2622

We all know the troubling statistics - that more than half of all marriages end in divorce, that less that 1/3 of children born this decade will reach maturity with both parents in the home. We all have heard so many explanations why. It took about a decade for the liberal media to come up with an explanation they could splatter all over the television screen from The Learning Channel to the Today Show. But they have one now, and want us to know that divorce, and the disintegration of the family is just the normal way things are for humans.

 

Monogamy is not natural for humans, they say. Our hunter-gatherer forbears on the steppe of Africa had as many mates as possible in order to diversify the gene-pool, they say. They say that the nuclear family is an artificial model contrived by Republicans, robber-barons, and the religious right in order to promote the propriety of the enfranchised elite. Love, they say, is a matter of chemistry-pheromones and hormones, and that the effect of these chemicals is ephemeral.

 

I doubt if any of those bio-chemists or behavioral scientists cited by the liberal media listen to Paul Harvey much. Everyday Paul Harvey congratulates couples on celebrating their 60th, 65th, 70th anniversaries. The bio-chemists and behavioral scientists don't have an explanation for them.

 

But God does.

 

God described what should be that way. "Let a man leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife; and they shah become one flesh. "Genesis 2:24.

 

Television has given us two primary models for marriage - the Cleavers, and the Connors. The Cleavers-Wally, the Beaver, Ward and June were the poster family for the Eisenhower administration. Ward never raised his voice. June cleaned the house in heels and pearls. The Connors - Dan, Roseanne, et al are the spokesfamily for post-modern sensibility. They curse each other, insult each other, lie regularly, and always act in self interest. These are the two categories the culture tries to force us into - one is cold, the other crass, one prudish, the other perverse. The result is that we don't know what true love is supposed to look like. We can't recognize what God is describing above.

 

Thankfully, He has given us an 8 by 10 inch glossy of what marriage is supposed to look like. He gives it to us in the Old Testament book Song of Solomon. Song of Solomon, or more correctly the "Song of Songs" is a series of poems dedicated to Solomon, written between a man and a woman between the time of their courtship and marriage. It's frankness, it's subject matter, have made it a difficult read for commentators. Some deny its place in the canon of scripture. Others have seen it as pure allegory, describing God's love for his people (how does "let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth - 1:2 fit into this scheme"). What it is an unflinching portrait, neither prudish or pornographic.

 

This couple lives Genesis 2:24 and talk about it. They tell us true love includes strong physical attraction (1:2-4, 9-11, 4:9 - in fact most of the book). It includes strong commitment, an overwhelming sense of "us" (2:16, 6:3, 7:10). It includes a hunger for presence (2:14 - the entire seeking/finding motif). It is exclusive (there is one beloved for each of them). All these qualities are repeated in the New Testament as well (Heb. 13:4, Eph. 5:25-33, 1 Peter 3:17, 1 Corinthians 7:3-5). This portrait defies cultural categories. This couple is neither the Connors nor the Cleavers and we are so blessed they show us the better way.

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