Consider the following "marriage rules":
- "No friends of the opposite sex."
- "No ['work spouses'] or being alone with the opposite sex."
- "No texting the opposite sex without the other knowing."
- "No lusting after others."
- "No porn."
- "Always put each other first (even over parents)"
Do those seem at all unreasonable?
You don't necessarily have to do every single one of them in your own marriage, but any husband and wife who do practice them are most assuredly setting themselves up for a successful lifelong union.
These are not at all controversial proposals. In fact, one might even argue that these flow out of biblical principles that have been taught for thousands and thousands of years.
But apparently, guidelines like these are shocking to a WHOLE LOT OF PEOPLE, so now it's somehow [checks notes] global news.
It is worth stressing that none of these media outlets is small or irrelevant; the Daily Mail and the New York Post in particular are among the most popular publications in the world.
So many people got angry at this lady's videos that it warranted that type of international media response.
Why?
Could it be that marriage – even our basic understanding of why it exists, let alone the Christian teaching that God ordained it – is so fundamentally broken around the entire world that, when a couple takes prudent and perfectly fine steps to protect their marriage from chaos and dissolution, people just can't even comprehend the thought of it?
I'm really worried what would happen to people if they learned that Christians believe other things the Bible teaches about marriage:
Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord... Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her...
Yikes! You mean husbands are supposed to love their wives like Christ loved us (dying a slow death in the most excruciating public execution ceremony ever devised after being slandered, falsely sentenced, and tortured... all on our behalf), and wives are to show respect for their husbands by submitting to their authority and valuing them above all others??
It's almost like the Apostle Paul is saying that husbands and wives should work together as equal-but-complementary partners and put each other before themselves to live out God's design for sex and marriage and thus live fulfilled, flourishing lives.
That's some spicy stuff right there!
