One day while watching television sitcoms, Robert and Gloria Stella came to a stark realization. The version of marriage portrayed by the secular media might be the only one many millions of people are influenced by—and it’s not pretty.
Dysfunctional interaction, divorce and apathy toward God’s design for marriage grieved the Stellas’ spirits. Involved in marriage ministry at Jentezen Franklin’s Free Chapel church in Gainesville, Georgia, the couple felt compelled to present marriage in a much more godly light, which led to the writing of their book, CounterCulture Marriage.
The Stellas’ book covers a wide variety of topics, including respect and security, submission, honesty, arguing, priorities, expectation and appreciation, sex and romance, finances and commitment—all from biblical guidelines.
“All of our concepts are based on the Bible, and they’re Spirit-filled,” Gloria Stella told Dr. Steve greene on a recent episode of “Greenelines” on the Charisma Podcast Network. “When we first game up with this idea, we would pull clips from popular TV shows or magazines or the celebrity gossip that was around. We would say, “This is how culture does it. Now, let’s see what God says about it.
“There’s so much conflict between a cultural marriage and a Christ-centered marriage. You need to bring some clarity and some understanding to the scriptural roles that God has given us in marriage. It puts us in perfect unity with the way that God designed us in order to have a healthy marriage.”
To find out more how to have a countercultural marriage, listen to the podcast below.
