Best Books on Marriage (other than the Bible)

Marriage comes with one instruction manual - the Bible. You've already set the conditions: for better or worse; richer or poorer; in sickness and health til death do us part. Now go live it.

Take the time you'd spend reading a book and just listen to what your wife has to say. It will pay greater dividends in the long run.

 

God has also given pastors, teachers, evangelists to equip the saints, and some of them write books as well.

I'd be happy and encouraged to see a newly married couple reading some good books on marriage, including the Word.

 

I'd be happy and encouraged to see a newly married couple spending time with seasoned couples from their church. There are folks in every congregation who have forged deep, loving relationships in the crucible of adversity. You just can't get that out of a book.

Titus 2:3-5 NAS77
3 Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips, nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good,
4 that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children,
5 to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be dishonored.

There are hundreds of thousands of books on a multitude of subjects. It is easy to get consumed by the instructions. At some point you've got to put down the book and do it.

My maternal grandfather died when I was four months old. I never knew him in an earthly sense but know him as well as if we had. Grandma told countless stories of Grandpa scraping out a living in the coal mines of Pennsylvania. They raised my mother, aunts and uncles with everything they needed except money. She spoke of the joy of watching Grandpa get saved in a Primitive Methodist church in Jermyn, PA and of her children doing the same in turn.

When times were tough they did not have the luxury of reading multiple books on the subject. They knew the promises they made before God - to love, honor and cherish - and the responsibility to train up their children in the way they should go. And then went and did it. They prayed together and trusted God to supply their needs.

Grandma and Grandpa were ignorant of the nuances of the human psyche. I'm sure they would be shocked at the sheer volumes of works on marriage and in particular Christian marriage. For the same $24.95 you'd pay for the latest and greatest book on the subject of marriage you could buy the fixings for a nice meal and invite an older couple to your home.

 

That's a great story! However it doesn't do away with learning from things written by pastors and other ministers.

Let's not talk past each other here. What we are saying in essence is that there are many sources of instruction. Books are an invaluable resource as well as older couples sharing with others.

The brother says he reads the books and the Word with his wife, but you're still finding something to be negative about? I think that is very encouraging, and let's not diminish that. Sir, as much as you want him to be wrong he's not wrong. He seems balanced at least in this issue, and I don't believe the OP was given as an exhaustive account on where he garners advice.

 

My concern does not lie with the poster. It lies with the premise.
Christian Book Distributors list 8,388 books on marriage. Where do you start? At some point you have to stop reading and get to doing. No author walks in your footsteps except for God. God joins two together to walk as one and serve Him. His Word is more than sufficient.

I liken it to a person's house cluttered from end to end with every new housecleaning gadget and piles of books on how to keep your house clean. Eventually you need to take that cordless, steam-powered mop out of the box and get scrubbing.

 

Amen & Amen.....:applause:

 

Dunno, perhaps with the book Ann suggested? Sounds like a good one to me. There are literally thousands of books on many topics, thousands of commentaries as well. Where to start? Well, I have hundreds. Why? Because it is wise to seek all the counsel I can on any subject and I am not a 'Bible only' person.

Ya think? Who says he's not 'doing'?

Except for the fact that God uses men and women to write books. No different than the advice given in real time. Use all three sources and more.

Oh I love the mental image that your hypothesis gave me when I read it but you're assuming again. You're also on the extreme side of the issue and won't even think of looking at it objectively and still talking past me.

 

I am being objective. madre and I are in the process of moving to a new home. I've been packing books for a week now and I've had my fill, if you know what I mean. I have spent most of my adult life and a small fortune on books about the Bible. If I could redeem the time I would've rather spent it reading the Bible.

You might think that is extreme. I don't. Consider this verse:

Ephesians 5:33 NAS77
33 Nevertheless let each individual among you also love his own wife even as himself; and let the wife see to it that she respect her husband.

Do you really need to read 8,388 books to figure out what it is saying?

What does the Bible say about itself?

2 Timothy 3:16-17 KJV
16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

Perfect and throughly furnished.... Not the Word and the latest trendy topical book by a handful of pseudo psycho-babble writers. Just the Word.