THERE are many
courses offered to young people to prepare them for marriage. These might be
termed schools for marriage. But every mature married person who is able
to view matters objectively will agree that from married life itself there is
also much to be learned. So it might be termed the school of marriage.
Marriage affords
numerous opportunities for one to apply the laws and principles taught in God’s
Inspired Word-The Bible. This helps one to see their value, their
reasonableness, their justice and their wisdom.
Yes, when two
persons truly love each other and want to make a success of their marriage they
can learn a great deal from the experiences they share. Not without good reason
has it been noted that “honeymoons are short periods of adjustment, marriages
are long ones.” Learning to adjust might be said to be one of the major lessons
to be learned in marriage. But as men of science have observed, the human
capacity to adjust is almost infinite.
Youth in love
imagines that marriage is a bed of roses. And so it may well prove to be. But
even when it is, remember that roses have thorns. When marriage seems to have
more thorns than roses, some may wish to end it. But, according to Jesus
Christ, only adultery gives the innocent one a valid basis to sue for divorce
with the right to marry again.—Matt. 19:8, 9.
Although in
marriage two persons become one flesh, as it were, they not only are of
opposite sexes but may also be of opposite temperaments. They may have
differing ways of looking at things: the one intellectually, the other
emotionally. Then again, weaknesses or limitations may cause a certain amount
of irritation and frustration at times. And there is the simple matter of
timing. Two persons just do not always want the same thing at the same time. In
most cases the inability to manage the differences has lead to divorce.
Research shows
that the main causes of divorce are adultery, domestic violence, midlife crises
etc. For instance an annual study in the UK by management consultants Grant
Thornton, estimates the main proximal causes of divorce based on surveys of
matrimonial lawyers in 2004 shows that,
husbands engaged in extramarital affairs in 75% of cases; wives in 25%. In
cases of family strain, wives' families were the primary source of strain in
78%, compared to 22% of husbands' families. Emotional and physical abuse were
more evenly split, with wives affected in 60% and husbands in 40% of cases. In
70% of workaholism-related divorces it was husbands who were the cause, and in
30%, wives. The 2004 survey found that 93% of divorce cases were petitioned by
wives, very few of which were contested. 53% of divorces were of marriages that
had lasted 10 to 15 years, with 40% ending after 5 to 10 years. The first 5
years are relatively divorce-free, and if a marriage survives more than 20
years it is unlikely to end in divorce.
The
age at which a person gets married is also believed to influence the likelihood
of divorce; delaying marriage may provide more opportunity or experience in
choosing a compatible partner.
A number of sources have tried to save marriages at the verge of
collapse, be they Pschologists, Self styled Marriage councilors etc. One however stands out, that is the Bible,
consider the following the following before you criticize it:
The Bible,
the Textbook on Marriage
Jehovah God, the
Originator of marriage, provided a textbook on marriage, his Word the Bible. It
tells that God made husband and wife to complement each other, not to compete
with each other: “It is not good for the man to continue by himself. I am going
to make a helper for him, as a complement of him.”—Gen. 2:18.
So in marriage
the male has the opportunity to learn to be a real man, to be strong, to be
dependable, to be protective, to take the lead, to be the provider and to love
and cherish his wife. The wife, on the other hand, has the opportunity to learn
to play the feminine role, to be the complement. This involves submissiveness,
for, as God’s Word says, “man was not created for the sake of the woman, but
woman for the sake of the man.” Still he is commanded to love her as he does
his own body.—1 Cor. 11:9; Eph. 5:33.
That Bible
principles really work can be seen from the fact that, time and again,
marriages ready to break up have been saved by applying these principles. For
example, there was the housewife in Bermuda whose marriage was on the verge of
collapsing. After a Bible study on the Scriptural roles of husband and wife she
now has a happy relationship with her husband. Similarly, in Denmark, a woman
who was ready to separate from her husband even though they had three young
children. Both were encouraged to apply Bible principles to their marriage,
with the result that their marriage also was saved. They too are now happy
together. Likewise, in France, there was a wife and mother who was ready to
leave her husband because of his heavy drinking and violent fits of temper.
Again Bible principles saved this marriage and brought about a happy family.
The Bible even
spells out details in its counsel to the married. It urges wives to be modest,
not to put too much emphasis on outward appearance and not to gossip. It
counsels husbands to deal with their wives according to knowledge, “assigning
them honor” as the weaker vessel. It also commands both husbands and wives to
render to each other their conjugal dues , which is sexual intercourse.—1 Pet.
3:1-7; 1 Cor. 7:3-7; 1 Tim. 2:9, 10; 5:13.
Learning to
Endure
By feeling the
obligation to make a success of marriage and that one marries ‘for better or
for worse,’ one may well learn the virtue of endurance, a quality needed to
please mans creator.
Learning to
Be Reasonable
Another quality
that being married may well teach one—if one wants to be taught—is
reasonableness. Often that means being willing to yield. Interestingly, the
Greek word rendered “reasonable” at James 3:17, which says, “The wisdom from
above is . . . reasonable,” is epiekes, which literally means “yielding.”
Husband and wife
may have differing tastes or preferences in music. One may prefer classical
music, the other popular; the one may prefer it soft, the other loud. Surely
there are overlapping areas that will please both. Or it may be vacations. He
may want to go sight-seeing; she may want to spend the time with her folks.
Being reasonable would indicate alternating the vacations, or making some other
arrangement, each one yielding.
Reasonableness
would also seem to indicate that generally mere preferences should yield to
more practical considerations. She may prefer eating in restaurants, but he may
prefer to eat at home because of the expense. Perhaps they cannot afford eating
out often, but perhaps they could afford it occasionally. Being reasonable
means neither yielding all the time nor having one’s own will all the time. It
would seem best not to insist on a pleasure if it really means suffering on the
part of the other. Such would be neither reasonable nor loving.
Humility—Another Lesson
Another quality
that can be learned in marriage is humility. If the wife was formerly a single
woman living away from her father’s house, she was largely independent, free to
make her own decisions. But as a married woman she needs to submit to the
headship of her husband. If she learns to do this, not begrudgingly but with a
willing heart, she truly is learning humility. She may well have been humble
before, but more humility is needed to keep submitting to a husband.
The husband also
can learn humility in marriage. He may pride himself on certain skills or
knowledge, only to find that his wife excels in these respects. Or she may
embarrass him by committing some social blunder. Humility will help him not to
take such little things too seriously. Yes, for the sake of your marriage, “gird
yourselves with lowliness of mind toward one another.”—1 Pet. 5:5.
Growing in
Unselfishness
There is every
reason why married people should grow in unselfishness. Marriage furnishes many
opportunities for unselfishness and gives ever so many rewards to those
manifesting it. Because of inherited imperfection the tendency is to be
selfish, to think of oneself first. But a proof of love is thinking of another
first. The Bible points husbands to the example of Jesus Christ, who even gave
his life for his bride, the Christian congregation. That was loving her more
than himself. He said that there is more happiness in giving than there is in
receiving; and how true that is any happily married couple can vouch for. As
has well been noted, marriage is not just an arrangement to delight and satisfy
one’s own taste buds, but it also affords opportunity to delight and satisfy
the taste buds of another.—Eph. 5:25; Acts 20:35.
The apostle Paul
underscored this principle in his counsel to husbands, saying: “He who loves
his wife loves himself, for no man ever hated his own flesh; but he feeds and
cherishes it.” (Eph. 5:28, 29) There is just no escaping it. Husband and wife
are so closely united, living together, eating together, relaxing together, and
so forth, that the mental, emotional and physical condition of the one is bound
to affect the other. So to the extent that the husband wisely and lovingly
endeavors to make his wife happy and succeeds, to that extent her happiness is
bound to rub off on him.
And, of course,
the converse is also true. To the extent that the wife wisely and lovingly
tries and succeeds in making her husband contented and happy, to that extent
his happiness will tend to rub off on her.
God’s’ Word
admonishes: “Do not be misled: God is not one to be mocked. For whatever a man
is sowing, this he will also reap.” (Gal. 6:7) Is either mate indifferent or
insensitive, blind, to the other’s needs, problems, feelings, wishes or
well-being? If so, while the one sinned against will suffer, sooner or later
the guilty or offending one will also have to pay. It may be in strained
relations, in the indifference and insensibility being reciprocated, or there
may be even serious psychosomatic effects.
Jesus told Peter
that he should forgive, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. In the
marital relationship one may be required to forgive even more often. Doing so
will result in happiness to both the forgiver and the one being forgiven.—Matt.
18:21, 22.
Truly, marriage
is a school from which much can be learned. Many are its opportunities for
applying Bible principles, thus enabling one to acquire ever more wisdom with
the passing years. Those doing so will be richly rewarded with peace of mind,
contentment and happiness and, above all, the approval of the Originator of
marriage, Jehovah God.
References
2.
“Learning from the School of Marriage”. The awake magazine, 8 December
1970, p. 9
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