by Dave Miller, Ph.D.According to a study of census statistics by The New York Times, more women are living without a husband than ever before. As of 2005, 51 percent of women said they were living without a spouse, compared to 35 percent in 1950 and 49 percent in 2000 (Roberts, 2007). Though the interpretation of the stats is subject to question, the anti-Christian forces were quick to offer their smug denigrations of “traditional” marriage. One observer insisted: “This is yet another of the inexorable signs that there is no going back to a world where we can assume that marriage is the main institution that organizes people’s lives” (Roberts). Another noted that the stat reflects “the culmination of post-1960 trends associated with greater independence and more flexible lifestyles for women” (Roberts, 2007). Still another affirmed that “it is simply delusional to construct social policy or make personal life decisions on the basis that you can count on people spending most of their adult lives in marriage” (Roberts).
Those who scoff at God’s plan for marriage and desire its demise in society are spiritually delusional and morally bankrupt. With the breakdown of the home, the very foundations of civilization are shaken. The only sane and proper course is to return to the prescriptions given by the Creator: “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it” (Psalm 127:1); “Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of your youth” (Proverbs 5:18); “He who troubles his own house will inherit the wind” (Proverbs 11:29); “An excellent wife is the crown of her husband, but she who causes shame is like rottenness in his bones” (Proverbs 12:4); “The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish pulls it down with her hands” (Proverbs 14:1). The sage counsel of an inspired apostle is the standard:
Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church (Ephesians 5:22-30).
Roberts, Sam (2007), “51% of Women Are Now Living Without Spouse,” The New York Times, January 17, [On-line], URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/16/us/16census.html?pagewanted=1&ei =5087%0A&em&en=b7ae06a6d6c46fb5&ex=1169182800.
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