Church attendence & marriage
[H/T to Greg for this one] Local TV channel WATE had a story yesterday reporting the details of a study done for a upcoming PBS television show - story here. The conclusion of the story follows -
University of Virginia sociologist W. Bradford Wilcox found that couples who go to church at least once a week are happier about their marriages, their families and their lives in general.
Good to know that churches are having some successes. We comment on church, churches, church people and such a lot but the reality is that we just want to see the body strengthened, and stories like the one above encourage us.
I do hope that the above stats are sound and solid as it seems we hear about divorces in Christian couples more then we hear about successful Christian marriages. I have always felt that the stats that “Christian marriages” - defined as those performed in a church - are statistically no less prone to divorce then those done outside the church are flawed as they are simply based on where the service is performed, not the actual values / views of the participants. I personally know, and I am sure you do as well, people that simply joined a church to get married there, or only came to church to get married and then disappeared soon after. You also have the ones that have been on the rolls since they were kids that decide to get married. Many times they just swing in for a few visits to marry and then disappear again.
I personally do not think couples that follow the examples that I just spelled out should really be counted as having a “Christian marriage” as they are not committed to making the Lord the center and highest priority in their marriages. Now I am not saying church attendance makes you a Christian, but it does help you better understand what the guidelines for and the lifestyle of a Christian marriage look like. I also know that there is no really good way to consistently track / evaluate couples getting married in church and catagorize them. I am simply saying that I believe that the divorce stats are off because they do not evaluate the couple and their relationship with Christ past - where did you get married?
Personally, I am just excited to see that someone is reporting the fact that God is still blessing and working in the lives of His people. Hopefully this will help a few people stay encouraged to continue working to strengthen the marriage bonds found within the body.
