Lifehack - Why you should get Pre-Marital (Marriage) Counseling

Pre-marital Counseling Why is it so important? If 50-75% of the cars manufactured by Toyota blew up in the early part of their expected life, everyone would be shocked! Problem is, marriages are not given the same level of attention as manufacture of cars – even though marriage break downs can have an equally devastating effect. If you are going to get married, you should go for the most extensive counseling you can get.

Why else:

1. It’s the second most important decision in a person’s life (other than receiving God’s forgiveness and ensuring that we are going to heaven)
2. God treats marriage very seriously, we should too
3. The Church is made up of families
4. The more time the Church spends on pre-marital counseling, the less it spends on divorce, family problems, marriage counseling and other related problems
5. You spend much of your formative years in a family and it dictates what person you become
6. It’s easier to change a relationship at the beginning than in the middle of a relationship
7. It’s easier to do marriage when the guidelines are set at the beginning

Where to get Pre-Marriage Counseling? From the Church. Marriage came from the Bible. God instituted Adam and Eve to be married so if you ARE going to get married, do it God’s way. Some Churches have a very slack marriage counseling program. If yours does, find another one. It’s worth it.

What kind of Pre-Marriage Counseling? Since every individual is created differently, it is better to learn from the author of mankind (God) than to learn from someone else’s experience. Some people will only teach you based on their experiences, don’t learn from them if that is all they offer! God has a vested interest in making marriages work (because he uses marriage as an example of his relationship to the Church) so he also has very clear and defined instructions on marriage.

Bob Jones University has a Pre-Marital counselling series on video which Churches or individuals can purchase or borrow for a semester. This series is excellent as it is based on Biblical principles not people’s experiences.

Unit Five: Premarital Counseling

Overview of the premarital counseling process
God's goals for marriage
Essential habits of Christian character
Biblical roles in marriage
Biblical communication and problem solving
Finances, sex, & in-laws

Follow this link for more details http://www.bjupress.com/services/ibe/courses/special_topics/biblical_counseling_series.htm

Recommended Reading

Ministry of Marriage - Jim Binney
Preparing for Marriage God's Way - Wayne Mack