As same-sex marriage debates mount in six states, voters will likely decide whether or not to redefine marriage in their states through November referendums – and pro-family groups couldn't be happier about it.

Christians should not marry nonbelievers. It just won't work, says Kathy Keller, wife of well-known pastor Tim Keller of Redeemer Presbyterian Church. The Kellers have dealt often with relationships between Christians and non-Christians. But rather than lecture couples on all the biblical reasons why marriage would be unwise, Mrs. Keller said it would be easier to let those already married to unbelievers do the talking.

Men are the head of their wives despite what some in the church and those outside of it argue, Mark Driscoll recently affirmed during his latest "Real Marriage" sermon series based on his controversial book. Speaking to the men in his congregation, the Mars Hill Church pastor declared, "You are the head of your wife as Christ is the head of the Church. It's not a not. It's an is."

The model of the companionate marriage is rooted in permanence, not performance and so sees a potential mate as a partner instead of prey. For the Christian, it’s not about catching a man, but of being yoked together for life and the consequences of that yoking for eternity.

There are only three ways an unequal marriage can turn out, (and by unequal I am willing to stretch a point and include genuine, warm Christians who want to marry an in-name-only Christian, or someone very, very far behind them in Christian experience and growth).

This is an important point in this story: the Pharisees came to undo Jesus, to ruin him as a teacher and a leader, and in some sense as the very Messiah, with the Law. They came to him with a point of law, with which they were experts, and they believed they asked him a question that could not be answered wisely – from the Law. But Jesus gives them an answer that exceeds the requirements of the law.

Yesterday I began a short series called A Picture-Perfect Marriage. This is my attempt to study what Paul says about the marriage relationship being a picture, a portrait of Christ and the church. Having laid that foundation, I now want to look at how the wife fulfills her part of that portrait.

A recent Centers for Disease Control (CDC) report on unintended pregnancies and contraceptive use serves as a good reminder to teens, parents and educators that sex outside of marriage is never safe, even when contraceptives are used.

This morning I am going to begin just a short series of articles on marriage. Having read several books on marriage in the past few months, I found myself really intrigued by what Paul says about the topic in his letter to the Ephesians. I’ve since had the opportunity to study it and wanted to share what I’ve learned along the way.

Yes, the church needs to talk more about sex. But pastors may need to talk about it less.