Here is what I wrote to the Minneapolis StarTribune:

One of the secondary outcomes of marriage legislation like that recently passed in Minnesota is that lexicographers will search for new vocabulary to distinguish between different kinds of marriages.

And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.—2 Corinthians 1:21–22

Introduction

Thorough-Going Trinitarians

According to Amber & David Lapp,* 43% of high-school educated adults say that marriage has not worked out for most people they know.

Though I can imagine what they mean by “not worked out,” I wonder how many high school graduates know what marriage is for. Understanding the purpose of marriage profoundly affects one’s assessment of whether a marriage has “worked out.”

“Which parent do I not need, my mother or my father?” one of my 11-year-old heroes, Grace Evans, asked legislators on the House Civil Law committee during a hearing on HR1054, a bill to legalize so-called “gay marriage.” She respectfully waited for a response, and not getting any, she repeated her question. Again, no answer.

Her question made the front page of the St. Paul Pioneer Press and other news outlets.

Some observations:

A pro-gay placard was recently held outside the Supreme Court building that said, “Jesus had two dads.” It was meant as a justification for homosexual relations, so-called gay marriage, and gay adoption.

Would you ready to respond to that taunt from a pro-gay activist?

Julie was 19, I was 22, when "Dr. Piper" thrilled our hearts and agreed to preach at our wedding on June 15, 1977. His text was John 16:33. He focused his words and our thoughts on what he called "a tremendous trilogy of propositions."

Bethlehem’s pastors and wives will be away for a couple days at an annual retreat at Ironwood Springs where this year they will dive into the subject of marriage and break into discussion groups with pertinent questions prepared on the subject.

It won’t be all work and no play. There will be times for personal reflection, some combined recreation, some Brad Nelson crowd-breaking mixers, and informal meals in the dining hall.

Ask God to increase, deepen, and sweeten our marital love, and our love for each other as staff couples.

Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.

Stuart Scott recently spoke at the Bethlehem Marriage Retreat, and here are 10 excerpts captured by Scott Jamison.