Lately I’ve been writing about marriage. It just so happens I read a book on the topic, The Seven Principles That Make Marriage Work, by Gottman and Silver. Great book! We looked at a whole bunch of stuff in those posts about what the intersection between the bible and those principles were. But as IContinue reading “The Mission of Marriage”
Author Archives: Robbie
The Seventh Principle, Shared Meaning – An Addendum?
Is it possible that a good marriage could be defined by a negative, the absence of conflict? The arcane, the esoteric knowledge behind a successful marriage, could it really be as simple as avoiding the higher levels of the decibel range? Not at all. In the book, The Seven Principles That Make Marriage Work, GottmanContinue reading “The Seventh Principle, Shared Meaning – An Addendum?”
Reading the Seven Principles – What you’re prepared for from the Bible
In our last post regarding the seven principles we considered some of the novel concepts that a Christian reader would encounter, that is to say, novel to Scripture. For example we considered the wisdom and recognition that Gottman and Silver had in identifying certain problematic patterns that persistently creep into marriages causing them to nosediveContinue reading “Reading the Seven Principles – What you’re prepared for from the Bible”
Reading the Seven Principles – What you won’t find in the Bible…
Plenty of people get married. And of that group of people a reasonable deal of them slowly trudge their way towards a bitter breakdown in relationship culminating in the tragic event of divorce. Plenty of books have looked at why this happens. But what about the ones who not only survive but thrive within theirContinue reading “Reading the Seven Principles – What you won’t find in the Bible…”
The Servant, Culture.
It seems to me that our time is steeped in a certain kind of self-awareness of culture. At least that is how I feel as I listen to the podcasts, peruse the articles and read the books. That’s beside the fact that there is this “culture war” thing happening at the moment as well. ButContinue reading “The Servant, Culture.”
Stewarding with Faithfulness
The call to steward whatever we have with all faithfulness is a lesson that I learned in the most difficult time of my life, when I lost my daughter Ellie on her eighth day of life. I knew she was going to die. So I had to decide how I was going to live inContinue reading “Stewarding with Faithfulness”
Community, Reality to Live, Not Ideal to Create.
When you think about Christian community do you think about something that the Christian church must primarily foster or create? Is Christian community a culture that each individual must contribute to in order to achieve a certain kind of genuine and interconnected love and service? If that is the case, then certainly the Christian orContinue reading “Community, Reality to Live, Not Ideal to Create.”
No News is Good News
When I was a child growing up in the 90s and continuing to grow up through adolescence in the 2000s, I wanted fun and adventure in my life without bounds or limits. The antonym to fun and adventure, the very representation and embodiment of boredom, that great dragon, was the news. Most nights the 6Continue reading “No News is Good News”
Community S2:Ep11. On Christmas.
It just so happened that today (Christmas 2020!) I watched Community S2:Ep11 “Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas”. I knew I was in for some cringing but Community makes you want to watch through their episodes to get to the next because they are mostly so well made! But it is not without its cringe biscuits. And hereContinue reading “Community S2:Ep11. On Christmas.”
The Ironic Experience of Reading Psalm 119
I am not a naturally skilled reader. I also don’t enjoy reading a whole lot. It’s taken a good deal of intentional habit-building to start developing any semblance of wholesome habitual reading in my life. Perhaps you could call this a character deficiency. At any rate, it has put me in a funny spot asContinue reading “The Ironic Experience of Reading Psalm 119”
Bigvai and Shiphrah 