Thread: Christianity Today article about marriage

Has anyone read Christianity Today's newest issue?

It contains an article about marrying young. I was wondering what your opinions were/are of both the article and the subject?

We ought to be more accepting of young marriages though realize that there are good and godly reasons to wait. Most of the greatest theologians, pastors, reformers, missionaries, ect... were single or got married very late in life in comparioson to the average age at their times.

My wife was 19, I was 20 when we wed at the end of our junior year in college. We've been married 35 years, 69 days, 21 hours.

I stopped reading Christianity Today several years ago when I finally got tired of its left-ward drift...

Dennis hat is sooo sweet you know how many years, days and hours you've been married.. awww.

Albert Mohler actually blogged about that article here: The Case for (Early) Marriage

and even did a radio show on it: http://www.albertmohler.com/radio_sh...ate=2009-08-03

Very interesting...

Never read Christianity Today after they did a positive review on Sex and the City and their growing Starbucks version of Christianity.

Originally Posted by jogri17

Most of the greatest theologians, pastors, reformers, missionaries, ect... were single or got married very late in life in comparioson to the average age at their times.

Hmmm ... ... I guess the odds are against me ever being one of the greatest theologians, pastors, reformers, missionaries, etc, because my wife was 18 and I was 19 and just out of Army basic training when we were married 37 years ago.

Originally Posted by Whitefield

Originally Posted by jogri17

Most of the greatest theologians, pastors, reformers, missionaries, ect... were single or got married very late in life in comparioson to the average age at their times.

Hmmm ... ... I guess the odds are against me ever being one of the greatest theologians, pastors, reformers, missionaries, etc, because my wife was 18 and I was 19 and just out of Army basic training when we were married 37 years ago.

Iirc Edwards married pretty young? Sarah Edwards was only 14 at that time. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Originally Posted by Whitefield

Originally Posted by jogri17

Most of the greatest theologians, pastors, reformers, missionaries, ect... were single or got married very late in life in comparioson to the average age at their times.

Hmmm ... ... I guess the odds are against me ever being one of the greatest theologians, pastors, reformers, missionaries, etc, because my wife was 18 and I was 19 and just out of Army basic training when we were married 37 years ago.

37 years ago!!!!!!! I didn't realize you were that young!!!

Originally Posted by TranZ4MR

Originally Posted by Whitefield

Originally Posted by jogri17

Most of the greatest theologians, pastors, reformers, missionaries, ect... were single or got married very late in life in comparioson to the average age at their times.

Hmmm ... ... I guess the odds are against me ever being one of the greatest theologians, pastors, reformers, missionaries, etc, because my wife was 18 and I was 19 and just out of Army basic training when we were married 37 years ago.

37 years ago!!!!!!! I didn't realize you were that young!!!

yeh ... well, I'm not old enough to remember when dirt was invented, but I do remember when mud was invented.

Originally Posted by Whitefield

Originally Posted by TranZ4MR

Originally Posted by Whitefield

Hmmm ... ... I guess the odds are against me ever being one of the greatest theologians, pastors, reformers, missionaries, etc, because my wife was 18 and I was 19 and just out of Army basic training when we were married 37 years ago.

37 years ago!!!!!!! I didn't realize you were that young!!!

yeh ... well, I'm not old enough to remember when dirt was invented, but I do remember when mud was invented.

So around Noah's time?

Originally Posted by TranZ4MR

Originally Posted by Whitefield

Originally Posted by TranZ4MR

37 years ago!!!!!!! I didn't realize you were that young!!!

yeh ... well, I'm not old enough to remember when dirt was invented, but I do remember when mud was invented.

So around Noah's time?

Yeh, he had a nice boat ... great for water skiing.

Oh, so it was you who invented water skiing! I knew it had to be some crazy guy who thought that one up! I guess that's why you aren't mentioned as one of the ppl inside the boat....too busy busting moves on the water!

Originally Posted by TranZ4MR

Oh, so it was you who invented water skiing! I knew it had to be some crazy guy who thought that one up! I guess that's why you aren't mentioned as one of the ppl inside the boat....too busy busting moves on the water!

Yes, I wasn't available for the group picture.

This has got to be one of the fastest off topic strays.

Originally Posted by ewenlin

This has got to be one of the fastest off topic strays.

Sorry, my fault.

Originally Posted by ewenlin

This has got to be one of the fastest off topic strays.

Nope! I've done faster ones

We ought to give this thread the ADD Award.

Squirrel!

Elizabeth was 20 and I was 22. Still in college, my career job being just a potential sometime down the road, two incredibly immature Christians. Talk about grace!

Today, we've been married 115152 hours. Each hour better than the one before, in the grand scheme of things.

I don't care for the tone of the article; it would seem that the magazine has bought into the world's model for people's maturity and relationships and is seeking to justify it to a degree. Yuk.

Originally Posted by jogri17

We ought to be more accepting of young marriages though realize that there are good and godly reasons to wait. Most of the greatest theologians, pastors, reformers, missionaries, ect... were single or got married very late in life in comparioson to the average age at their times.

Where'd you get this data? I'm not sure who you're talking about here.... or what you consider later than average... in Europe from the 16th to 19th centuries the average age of marriage for men was basically always in the mid-20's, and in some areas even upwards of 30.

Now, let's see some of the "greatest theologians, pastors, etc." that you might have been talking about:

e.g. Spurgeon married at 21, Andrew Fuller at 22, Joseph Alleine at 22, Thomas Boston at 24, Jonathan Edwards at 24, Samuel Rutherford at 25,
Heinrich Bullinger at 25, John Owen at 28... this is only a small selection of great names, but nobody's at all late (let alone VERY LATE)
- all very normal.

Now Calvin and Luther married late, as did most of the earlier Reformers - but then you might recognize there were mitigating circumstances for the vast majority of these men if you think about it for a while...

Originally Posted by kvanlaan

I don't care for the tone of the article; it would seem that the magazine has bought into the world's model for people's maturity and relationships and is seeking to justify it to a degree. Yuk.

That's how it seemed to me too (I've never read the magazine before)
I liked Mohler's writing on it more, but still a solid point was being made.
God couldn't have intended for people to spend the best years of their young adulthood unconnected and uncommitted, basically having to look out for themselves. It's terribly sad for those who find themselves in that situation without wanting it or being able to help it.
And it had actually never occurred to me before in quite this way. I knew we had to fight for marriage every way in our power, but this way of doing so was a new take. Thank you for the OP, Grillsy