The cross is the place where the Judge takes the Judgment.

Jesus does not just bring good news; he is the good news.

Suffering can refine us rather than destroy us because God himself walks with us in the fire.

To truly become Christians we must also repent of the reasons we ever did anything right.

Jesus warns people far more often about greed than about sex, yet almost no one thinks they are guilty of it.

In short, the enlightenment privatized marriage, taking it out of the public sphere, and redefined its purpose as individual gratification, not any 'broader good' such as reflecting God's nature, producing character, or raising children. Slowly but surely, this newer understanding of the meaning of marriage has displaced the older ones in Western culture.

If God does not have our highest allegiance, we will use prayer to try to get things that have that designation.