Marriage, singleness and old folks
For argument’s sake: where we take a debate, cut out the party politics and try to talk it out
Are family values biblical?
What’s more important, our nuclear family or our church family? Do we idolise marriage in the church and in society at the expense of other relationships?
Megan and Michael decode the cosy phrase “family values” and look at what the Bible actually says on the topic.
Mentioned in this segment:
- Book by Eli J. Finkel that outlines the history of marriage – The All-or-Nothing Marriage
Glossary:
Megan and Michael sometimes like to use big words, so here’s a glossary of particularly lofty terms in this segment.
- deleterious: causing harm or damage
- raison d’etre: A French phrase meaning reason for being
- sesquipedalian: used to describe a word that’s very long (OK this wasn’t really mentioned in the segment but you see why it’s applicable)
Be our guest
Dani Treweek and a theology of singleness
Our guest this episode, Dani Treweek, has spent a lot of time thinking about singleness and the church – as a single Christian woman, a minister and in writing her PhD on a theological and pastoral ethic of singleness.
“Part of the problem with singleness is that we see it as a problem because it’s not marriage,” she explains.
Michael and Megan chat with Dani about the biblical view of singleness and marriage, and how the church can better relate to singles.
Mentioned in this segment:
- Dani Treweek’s blog on Sydney Anglicans website (addressing John MacArthur’s views on singleness) –
The “problem” with singleness - Beth Felker Jones’s book – Faithful: A Theology of Sex
- Singled Minded Conference
Further reading/ listening:
- Read the edited version of With All Due Respect’s interview with Dani at Eternity – Single, not married, is the new church norm
- Other Eternity articles on singleness: Four myths about singleness and 10 dumb things Christians have said about being single
- Dani Treweek speaks about pastoring singles on The Pastor’s Heart podcast
- Dani on being single and a Christian on the Centre for Christian Living podcast
Marg and Dave: reviews from two people obsessed by stories, but not always the same ones
ABC TV’s Old People’s Home For 4 Year Olds
This heartwarming ABC documentary raises a key social issue: our treatment of older people. “This is a bit of a weeping sore for us in the West,” says Michael.
Megan points out that it also highlights the social isolation and lack of intergenerational contact in our society – experienced by both young and old.
Cue the church: “one of the only institutions left where we do have people of all ages coming together.”
While the final live episode of Old People’s Home For 4 Year Olds recently aired, you can watch all episodes in the series on ABC iview. Warning: box of tissues needed. (And stay tuned for Michael’s suggested new series: Old People’s Home For Teenagers. ABC, are you reading this?)
Further reading/ viewing:
- ABC TV’s Old People’s Home For 4 Year Olds on iview
- Eternity article on Old People’s Home For 4 Year Olds
Fact check:
Michael mentions a few statistics in this segment. Here’s the research:
- 1 in 4 Australians live alone
- 10-40 per cent of community-dwelling older adults in developed countries experience depression, while up to half of people living in residential aged care facilities have significant depression symptoms
- “Older people who attend churches are happier and healthier“
Join in the discussion online
WHAT IS WITH ALL DUE RESPECT?
Less aggro, more conversation.
Is it even possible to have a deep discussion without it descending into chaos? Michael Jensen and Megan Powell du Toit think yes, and want to show the rest of us how to do it.
There’s plenty of things they disagree on: free will, feminism, where you should send your kids to school and what type of church you should go to. But there are also plenty of other things that they have in common. They want to talk about all these things with conviction. But they also want the conversation to be constructive. Tune in to find out if that’s possible.
