Husbands think they score big points when they bring home flowers and chocolate for their wives, but I’m not sure we wives give our husbands the points they think they deserve. In fact, if husbands looked at our scorecards, I doubt they’d agree they were playing the same game. And oh, the games we play.

I sat at a table the other day with someone who is very outspoken about his homosexuality. However, along with that homosexuality, he is also outspoken about a whole world view that I have often found completely confounding. The concerning thing is that more and more, I’m running into people who think like him in whole or in part. They are not necessarily homosexuals or even sympathetic to the homosexual cause, although in most cases they are.

The idea that homosexuals should be allowed to legally marry has become a contentious issue in this country. Obviously, the Orthodox Church has solid theological ground in opposing it. However, I’ve notice that people who oppose a redefinition of marriage to include homosexuals are often mystified as to how their point of view gets turned on them in a way that makes them appear to be “bigots” and “haters” and the equivalent of “racists.”

As the element of Christianity in popular culture continues to erode, one of the many things which separates that popular and secular culture from the culture of the Church is the understanding of marriage. In North America, about one half of all marriages end in divorce. Many people live together first, marrying only later, and some choose to live together without ever marrying. In most states and provinces, certain legal obligations bind partners who have been living together for a period of time, whether or not they have married, so that "common law marriages" (as they have been called) differ little in terms of legal obligations from actual marriages. All this being so, the question naturally arises, "Why get married at all?" What's the point of marriage? 

Christy Pessemier, OCN blogger and author of 20dollardatenight.net, was recently featured on Seattle's KOMO 4 News. Her date night blog supports healthy marriages by demonstrating that couples can enjoy consistent, quality dates on a twenty dollar budget. Watch below to find out more!