A Big Day: Busting Discouraging Myths About Marriage — PLEASE HELP!
A BIG BIG BIG DAY! And a personal favor to ask you!
Today is the culmination of eight years of intense effort, late nights, shocking discoveries, God-holding-my-feet-to-the-fire drive, and immense hope for change –and I am going to ask all of you, my friends, for your help. I have never asked this before, but please, everyone go buy a copy of The Good News About Marriage, my new book for everyone who cares about marriage, that is releasing today! Give this book to anyone who is a marriage champion – your pastor, a counselor, anyone who works with marriages. Tell them this book reveals truths they absolutely need to know, that bust years of discouraging myths! (For example, the divorce rate is not 50%! The rate is not the same in the church!) If we all take that action today, it will send a huge message to the media, that this is a story worth looking at.
Eight years ago, writing one of my newspaper columns, I learned that the divorce rate wasn’t what all of thought it was. But what was it? A research question I thought would take me and my researcher Tally Whitehead two minutes to answer, took eight YEARS to unravel. And in the process, we learned that many of the most discouraging things we think we know about marriage and divorce are simply not true. These myths kill marriages because it makes it so easy for people to give up. The reality is: most marriages are happy for a lifetime! Sure, there are still plenty of concerns out there. And many marriages go through difficult patches. But the vast majority work through it and get back to happiness! Imagine the difference it would make for a struggling couple to know, “We can make it, because most people do!” Imagine the difference it would make for your pastor to know that he can tell his congregation – with confidence – that church attendance does matter! Imagine remarried couples knowing the truth that – contrary to popular opinion – their marriages aren’t doomed!
That message of real, data-driven hope is what millions of marriages and our entire culture needs – and it is very different than what we have heard up till now. I am incredibly passionate about getting this message out and changing how we think and talk about marriage. Will you join me in spreading the news? Get the book for someone who needs to know it! And email this one-page PDF around to let people know this new research exists!
Thank you, thank you dear friends! It is time to restore hope for marriage!
