Journal: Journal of Discipleship and Family Ministry
Volume: JDFM 05:1 (Fall 2015)
Article: Equipping The Generations: How I Know Marriage Will Stand
Author: Erin Davis

JDFM 5:1 (Fall 2015) p. 109

Equipping The Generations:
How I Know Marriage Will Stand1

Erin Davis

Erin Davis (M.Ed., William Woods University) is passionate about pointing young women toward God’s Truth. She is the author of several books and a frequent speaker and blogger to women of all ages. Erin lives on a with her husband and children. When she’s not writing, you can find her herding goats, chickens, and children.

“Marriage under fire”

“Government to hear testimony on the re-definition of marriage”

“Biblical definition of marriage questioned”

I didn’t rip these headlines from today’s blog roll. Not yesterday’s either. Yes, I know they are an accurate description of the state of the marriage debate our country is currently facing, but we’re not the first society to wrestle over the subject of marriage.

These headlines describe what was happening in sixteenth century England during the English Reformation. In case it’s been awhile since you sat in a world history class, here is a crash course. Pay attention to the parallels between what was happening then and what is happening now.

• King Henry VIII wanted his marriage to Catherine of Aragon annulled.

JDFM 5:1 (Fall 2015) p. 110

• Catherine had not yet given Henry a male heir, and he had a sudden and passionate interest in a new lady, Anne Boleyn.
• This ignited a frenzy of public debate about marriage, government’s involvement in marriage, and the limit (if any) of the Bible’s authority in our private lives.
• It became a political affair centered around a theological dispute.
• Because of the invention of the printing press, more words were written and circulated than ever before. If you had an opinion, you had the option to share it beyond your immediate circle.

Ultimately, Henry split from the authority of the Pope and the Catholic Church and created the Church of England to get his annulment. Why am I taking us so far down this ancient path?

The Battle For Biblical Marriage Is Not New

Let’s take a slightly shorter trip into the history books and hop back a few decades. In the 1970s and 1980s cultural forces converged to create skyrocketing divorce rates. The “no fault divorce” was introduced, and the effect worked like tidal wave in American homes. Almost half of couples who got married in the 70s and 80s divorced. That number stuck in the American psyche and caused much hand wringing, especially in the church.

I was a preschooler in the 80s, too young ...