A secular idea of: The Key to a Happy Marriage? A Younger, Smarter Wife (and Sex)
AOL News today: Tuesday, October 27, 2009
The practice of "marrying up" might be looked down upon by some, but when you're talking age, it might be the key to a happy marriage. A recent study showed that the couples who were happiest and had the lowest divorce rate were those where the woman was at least five years younger than her husband -- and when she's better educated.
But it doesn't work both ways. The same study claims that when the wife is older by five or more years, the couple is three times more likely to break up than if they're the same age. (We're looking at you, Demi.)
Does this mean that men with younger wives are destined to be happy? Perhaps. Another factor might be that we're getting better at staying together; at least that's what a different poll conducted by The Times of London stated: 54 percent of those polled hadn't even considered having an affair.
What's the key to remaining faithful? Pretty obvious: a decent amount of sex. Of the respondents, 44 percent said they had sex at least once a week and 32 percent are having it two to four times a month. Two percent of the couples, who are obviously a little more limber, are having sex every day.
But that doesn't mean everyone is remaining faithful. Compare the
What makes a person cheat on their partner? It's a deeply personal issue, but according to Dr. Lauren Rosewarne, quoted in The Times, "People cheat to feel younger, different or challenged."
Maybe, for those couples facing an age gap -- and possibly an intelligence one, too -- those extra years are enough to make the difference.
Geoff's Comment:
Does the fact that the wife is a handful of years younger than the husband prove show that a happy marriage will follow? Is that the new survey facts available to us today? What about those who have “married up?” I have. My wife is four years older than I and we have a much deeper love now in our marriage than we did on our wedding day.
What about the key to remaining faithful, is it really just more sex? Is that the answer to everything? If you want to have a happy and faithful spouse all you must do is have sex—is that what we’re reading?
Why do people cheat on their spouses? Is it because of Rosewarne’s words: People cheat to feel younger, different or challenged? I think she is greatly mistaken. Though this may be an effect of the deeper heart issue, the reason people cheat on their spouses is SIN and the lack of ridding sin from its inception in the heart and mind of oneself. In other words, cheating on a spouse just doesn’t happen one day. It all begins with a lustful thought, then another, then a dwelling on those thoughts, then a preoccupation with them and a refusal to repent, confess, or acknowledge to the spouse the sins and seek genuine forgiveness.
The cultural breakdown of “the family” in our day-and-age is the plot of Satan to overthrow and destroy our world (and it’s working too!). Obviously, God is sovereign and in total and complete control in everything that happens. We must, however, not minimize the destruction of the contemporary family regardless of what shape or form that may take—homosexual marriages, marital infidelity, unconfessed lust, the rampant addiction of pornography and masturbation of our culture, and an all too flirtatious attitude toward others at work, school, or wherever.
So what must the Christian’s response be to this AOL article? We must be those who uphold the biblical priority and view of marriage. That means, first, get your own marriage straight and make certain that the marriage relationship is the primary relationship in the home—yes, even before the kids! And it is “healthy” for the children to see that mom and dad are priority in each other’s life—not the kids. Second, it means that we must be involved in the local church submitting to the preaching and application of God’s Word on a regular basis. We ought to be building, forming, and cultivating relationships with people—both inside and outside of the church—so as to be competent to counsel them from the Scriptures regarding marriage, purity, sex, and biblical principles. This sad reality also means that we, third, live gospel-centered marriages. That means that in the marriage relationship, everything—yes, everything!—we do must reflect the cross of Jesus Christ, the greatness and sufficiency of our Savior, and the holy, righteous, and pure life that He demands His followers (i.e., true believers) to walk. Let us be those who do not add to the cultural “statistics” of marital unfaithfulness, pornography addicts, or happy-marriage fix-it-ideas but, rather, let us be those living lives so consumed with God and so loving our spouses by serving, caring, nurturing, speaking well of, pursuing, and encouraging so that even the non-believers will “see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven.”
