Customer Reviews

The Intimate Marriage: A Practical Guide to Building a Great Marriage (R. C. Sproul Library)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

If I had to pick the best book I'd read on the subject of Christian marriage, this would be it. The chapters contain great wisdom, and the questions at the end of each chapter initiated great, in-depth conversations. This is an essential read for engaged couples and newlyweds!

What most people want in a Christian marriage book is a check list. They want to know the minimum it takes or the exact steps to take in order to get what they want from marriage. That may sound brutal but its the truth. Dr. Sproul sets out an attitude for marriage based on scripture and the work of Jay Adams who is also scriptually minded. Marriage isn't about check-lists and how-to's. In fact, if thats the solution you are looking for you will most likely fail. If you treat you spouse like a list of needs to be met, they will likely feel unloved and unapprechiated. The list becomes the object no the spouse. Srpouls work here, like most of his work, is a good and practical outline to an attitude which will result in the correct thoughts/actions need in a marriage.

I agree with the previous reviewer, this book is not worth your time. Sproul covers a lot of surface symptoms without addressing the heart of the issue. He frequently discusses the problems that many married couples experience, but fails to address the methods that a couple can use to overcome these challenges. Sproul also makes a lot of unsupported empirical statements about the problems you *will* have in your marriage. Additionally, he uses weird and hard-to-follow examples and analogizes.

I would recommending spending your money on a different book.

Maybe I was missing something, but I "had" to read this book in my pre-marital counseling and have benefitted from it for 13+ years now.

Men, when your wife asks you how your day was, "fine" is not an acceptable answer. She is asking you to invite her into your life. (my paraphrase but life changing to a super type A like me).

I was disappointed in this book because it did not really tell much about how to become close and share each others' lives as the title implies; it mainly focused on what the Bible has to say regarding marriage in general, as well as quotations of Jay Adams regarding marriage, and even that was generalized--but not much about intimacy (closeness/sharing). The 'teaspoon' of information I'm referring to was when Dr. Sproul talked about how important it is to be honest when talking to your spouse about what you really mean or think. His example given was being honest about what you really would like to have when receiving or giving Christmas presents to each other. There was nothing about sharing time and activities, talking with each other as bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh, or how to become each others' best friend, etc.