While marriage reform is moving forward in many countries (for example, to extend access to same-sex couples), many prominent legal and political theorists are proposing that the institution of marriage be privatized. More specifically, they propose that we eliminate the term “marriage” from our civil laws and policies, and replace it with a more neutral term, such as “civil union” or “domestic partnership.”

Kimberly Scott, women's care pastor at Grace Church San Diego, told the attendees at the Defined by God pastors' wives conference that personal experience has taught her that God can restore you even when your life takes an unexpected turn. Her life hit a major road bump when her first husband left their family to live a homosexual lifestyle. He was a church planter, and together they had been very involved in Christian Fellowship Ministries in California's bay area.

Four elements essential to create a loving marriage are described. These are loving touch, loving words, future focus and commitment.

In a fallen world, do we need divorce lawyers? I would argue, yes. Our divorce laws, as they currently stand, are often unjust, but think of the lack of justice if we had no divorce laws at all. Men would still leave their wives (and vice-versa), take up with other people, and leave wreckage behind. Just divorce laws seek to minimize harm to the innocent.

A federal appeals court in New York became the nation's second to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act, finding that the Clinton-era law's denial of federal benefits to married same-sex couples is unconstitutional. The divisive act, which was passed in 1996, bars federal recognition of such marriages and says other states cannot be forced to recognize them.

I received a desperate email from a lady who was being told by her elders that she was not allowed to divorce her unfaithful husband. Indeed, God intended marriage to be permanent, but sexual infidelity does break the marriage bonds, and the person sinned against is free to remarry.

True intimacy in marriage requires revealing your inner most selves to one another. Reasons this is difficult, and why this is helpful are given.

If states are able to dismantle traditional or conventional views of marriage by allowing two men or two women to wed, then why should they not go further and sanction, or at least decriminalize, marriages between one man and several women?

If we’ve heard it once, we’ve heard it a thousand times: The divorce rate among Christians is basically the same as it is among non-Christians. As Glenn Stanton pointed out recently at The Gospel Coalition, we usually hear this argument from fellow Christians, who ask, “How can we make a stink about the sanctity of marriage if we’re divorcing at the same rate as the world?” It’s a popular folk statistic on Christian websites, radio programs, in books — even from the pulpit. The problem is, it’s not quite true.

What joy to receive the call: “We are engaged!” from our dating son and his lovely girlfriend, and to see another son’s promising courtship become ‘official’ on Facebook. (Talk about a blending of the old and new…) These happy moments make me reminisce about our dating time and early marriage, especially in light of the book I could not put down, Timothy Keller’s The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complicity of Commitment with the Wisdom of God. Our children seem to be so much better prepared than we were 33 years ago.