Does anger belong in your relationship, or better yet, in your life? Is it Okay to express anger or is it a deadly sin? Depending on culture, religious beliefs and personality, you will find different answers, but make no mistake, anger is a controversial topic.
When I first heard that a professor at Harvard Divinity School found a piece of ancient papyrus indicating that Jesus had a wife, my initial reaction was one of skepticism and eye rolling. But, in the spirit of speculative fun, I thought I might do a little research. What if Jesus had been married? Would people have thought he loved his wife more than anyone else? Would it mean the God of the universe had sex with a mere mortal—much the way Zeus was rumored to do in ancient Greek mythology?
If I could offer any advice to young couples today it would be to find friends like we are blessed to have. Find friends who share or honor your faith. Find friends who are committed to their marriages and families. Find friends who are brave enough to keep you accountable. Find friends who accept you, believe in you, and build you up. Find friends who want to have fun.
Marc Angenent was a minister for 23 years before finding his true calling: sex therapy.
Last month I wrote an article about Christian dating from a man's perspective. I interviewed several single guys in Los Angeles and New York, ranging in age from 28 to 40. I asked how they felt about dating within their church community and their answers were rather surprising. Most had tried it, yet were left feeling disillusioned in the process. As a result, they had chosen to search for love some place else. Over the past month, I've received hundreds of comments from readers who related to the article and had insightful perspectives to add to the conversation. It became clear that there was more to say on this topic. Much more.
Can memes have any power during marriage? In a word, yes. (Stay with me now.) According to Dr. Martin Seligman, who was a past president of the American Psychological Association, positive psychology can use memes to "flourish" relationships. To flourish in the psychological sense is to live life abundantly by actively cultivating positive connections.
Last night, I danced, downed hurricane cocktails and gorged on king cake at a Mardi Gras party. This morning, I grumpily got up at 6:30 to make a 7 a.m. yoga class — something I almost never do, since I am not a morning person.
As an atheist, it's nice to know that I'm less likely to ever become president than a devout Christian who's cheated on his wife with everything that moves. Hypocrites much? Even as an atheist, I know the Ten Commandments better than some conservative folks.
I'd venture a guess that most women like chivalry. We want a man who shows commitment. We like solid, traditional values; a guy we could bring home to mom and dad with the sure-fire belief that they would just adore him. All these things give us a sense of stability, knowing we'd be taken care of and have a shoulder to lean on whenever we're forced to soldier through hard times. These days, being old-fashioned is actually refreshing. Tim embodies these ideas, thus there's a large group of women who are attracted to him.
If you've heard the term Natural Family Planning (NFP), it's probably almost a certainty actually, that you were given some bad information about it. As someone who has practiced NFP with my wife for around six years, I know I've heard more than my fair share of misguidance from family, the media and even priests. Sometimes it's honest confusion or simply a passing along of misinformation, but other times it's a blatant attack on a somewhat mysterious practice that many in our culture chalk up to some form of crazy desire for 20 kids or an exercise in Pope-worshiping. Despite what critics say, Natural Family Planning can be good for your marriage.
I recently read Jenna Birch's article A Christian's Take: God Doesn't Approve Of Gay Marriage and found it entertainingly disturbing. I would like to thank the author for a well-written opinion piece that is more "personal opinion" than "gay-bashing," and using the Bible as a reference and not as a shield.
