I won't go further in that direction since it's impossible to understand the inner dynamics of a marriage from afar. There does seem to be something presumptuous about giving marriage advice as newlyweds, as this couple did. Marriage is hard, and particularly the years of multiple wee ones clinging to your legs are hard. It's probably wiser to get through them successfully before doling out the advice.
Nevertheless, the transgressive outlook of the Grey Lady is disgusting. How about this:
In August 1999, Bethany Patchin, an 18-year-old college sophomore from Wisconsin, wrote in an article for Boundless, an evangelical Web magazine, that Christians should not kiss before marriage. Sam Torode, a 23-year-old Chicagoan, replied in a letter to the editor that Ms. Patchin’s piece could not help but “drive young Christian men mad with desire.” The two began corresponding by e-mail, met in January 2000 and were married that November. Nine months later, Ms. Torode (she took her husband’s name) gave birth to a son, Gideon.Don't you love that parenthetical? "She took her husband's name!" Because the hip, transgressive, feminist, post-marriage readers of the New York Times wouldn't recognize that custom, having never encountered it.
Then there's the celebratory tone. They used to be NFP-practicing, Conservative, married breeders and now they're divorced liberals who've lost their faith and she's on the pill! Chalk one up for our side! Small children have had their lives ripped apart and now have a series of men who aren't their father shagging their mom. Yay!
“I feel like I’m a secular Christian the way you can be a secular Jew,” she continued. “I appreciate my Christian roots, but I think all the ways humanity has developed are good things. Freedom is a good thing.”Ah, yes, the Dirty Parts. That's all the Grey Lady can celebrate. There are two kinds of prostitutes in literature. There's the prostitute with the heart of gold who is weak herself, but wouldn't wish her life on anyone and intervenes to preserve the innocence of nice girls. Then there's the sort so debauched she lives to see others debauched as well. One is still capable of love and good will; the other is consumed with hate. When you're gloating over people losing their faith and their families, which are you?
Mr. Torode, who lives minutes away, is a book designer and now writes only fiction.
“I was always primarily more of a comedy writer,” Mr. Torode said when reached by telephone. “It’s unfortunate that I went through this serious period of trying to write theological works. I wrote a comedy novel called ‘The Dirty Parts of the Bible.’ ”
