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06A - Damage to Relationships and Marriages
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Intermediate
Video
Damaged Relationships
10 Lessons
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About 06A - Damage to Relationships and Marriages
The PROBLEM and judgments have created severe and often irreparable damage to relationships, marriages, and families. The bad news is it can get even worse. There are clear signs that our civilization is in decline when you look at the same symptoms that all previous declining civilizations have provided. As you look at the current generation, you can see the damage being passed to the children and future generations. It doesn't have to be that way, though.
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06A - Damage to Relationships and Marriages
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You can look at two critical scriptures to see the beauty of how good relationships can be. Then compare those scriptures to what marriage was like at the time those scriptures were written. The two scriptures are Ephesians 5:22 and 5:25.
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Jewish men had a low view of women. They were treated much like servants. Jewish men typically would pray, “God, I thank you that I am not a Gentile, a slave, or a woman. Amen.”
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While the Jews’ viewpoint of women was low, it was even worse with the Greeks. The Greeks did not even need a legal procedure for divorce. At least the Jews had a legal process created by God and relayed to them in Deuteronomy 24.
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Okay, what about the Romans? The Romans’ view of marriage was even worse than the Greek's because divorce was the norm. It was so easy to divorce that Jerome, an ancient Roman writer, specifically talked about a woman marrying her twenty-third husband and, the husband, his twenty-first wife!
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When you read Ephesians 5, the Apostle Paul reminds you of something you should know. But when you think about what you just read, Paul is not reminding his original readers of something they knew. He is telling them something completely new, something they have not heard.
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Dr. Zimmerman’s research shows that every civilization starts in a good place. Then it declines and breaks apart. Remember the impact of entropy – the second law of thermodynamics – all things tear down, disorganize, scatter and decay over time unless energy is applied.
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In addition to the family styles, Dr. Zimmerman gave eight symptoms you can see in any civilization demonstrating the Atomistic family style. In other words, if these eight symptoms are present, civilization is in the final stage of decline.
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Add to Zimmerman the research documented by Westley and Epstein in their book The Silent Majority. This was quite interesting because of their initial theory. They theorized that there were five family styles.
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So, with the four remaining family styles, which did they find best for the children? Only one is good. And the others, not so good. Without a doubt, the styles can create significant problems for children. The worst style for children is the mother-dominant home. Their research provided this list about the children in that style.
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Most of these quotes are from books or articles from 1970 to 1995. Even though they are 30+ years old does not negate the content. Also, things are most likely worse now than these quotes reveal. It may not be true but read and you decide.