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Photo courtesy Gryphon713

Whether you believe the Bible is the inherent Word of God or not, there are still many truths to gain from this resource. While I personally believe the Bible is truth, your experience may be different than mine.

Many times the Bible has been used to limit or harm people, rather than seen as the story of God and His love for people. One of the ways the Bible seems to have limited believers is in the marriage relationship. Specifically, marital sex.

Too often, the focus in this area has been solely on the pitfalls and prohibition of premarital and extramarital sex.

Growing up in a Christian household, the only time the topic of sex was ever mentioned was to stay away from it. To save it for marriage. The main idea of this message is good and true. Teenagers aren’t ready for all the complexities of sex. Sure they can physically engage in the act, but they’re not ready for the emotional, mental, or spiritual components.

The problem with the sole focus of sex til later is that it doesn’t cover the beauty and passion sex can contribute to a marriage.

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Around the time this little project started, I came across Hayden’s blog, Persistent Illusion. At the time, this was the only other marriage-type blog I had found (no offense to the others out there). Now after following her for the past several months, it’s safe to say that I am a fan.

Today I am pleased to add Hayden and her husband Chris to our interview series. Hope you enjoy and then go check out her work. She publishes a lot of good material.

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It’s time once again for all things manly!

It appears as though this time our manly contributions have been impacted by the Labor Day holiday. While the number of contributions are down this week, the testosterone level is still high.

After you’ve perused all the contributors, I’ve included for your enjoyment many of the Man Up and Woman Up posts we’ve been running here at Simple Marriages this summer. While it may be a slight breech of hosting etiquette to include one’s own posts in this week’s offerings, I hope it adds to your manly endeavors as you go forth this week.

Now off to all that is hairy!

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This “Best Of” is a few days late, now that we are already a couple of days into September, but August was an amazing month. Our subscriber count doubled, thanks in large part to a guest post on Zen Habits. Follow the link to check it out.

Once again, I have you my loyal readers to thank for all that has happened thus far. You guys are awesome!

In case you missed anything in August, here are a few of the more popular posts.

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The tag line for Simple Marriages is “simple relationship design.” It’s an important aspect for my wife and I. So much so that a couple of times a month we have a conversation about our marriage goals.

This discussion is beyond the obvious answer of “we want to be happily married 50 years from now” and includes more about what we want to experience together.

So I’d love to hear from you- what are your marriage goals, what are your marriage dreams, what is your marital mission?

If you haven’t given this much thought or had this conversation with your spouse, there’s no better time than a 3 day Labor Day weekend! Here’s a brief guide that may assist in the process, The Simple Marriage Guide.

So here’s this week’s question:

What are your top 3 marriage goals?

Let us know in the comments below.

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Photo courtesy Grenadad

The Manival is on its way back to the Simple Marriage Project next week, Tuesday to be precise. Once again, a weekly round up of all that is manly will be presented.

In case you’ve been too wrapped up in the Olympics or living amongst the fake, “undiscovered” tribe in Brazil, the Manival is a collection of blog posts written for men, by men or about men. Simple Marriages hosted the 7th Manival back in June and this time around it looks to be just a testosterone filled.

If you’d like to submit a post to be included, use this handy form. Submissions are due by Monday night, Sept. 1 at 7PM.

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Photo courtesy Debi123

Unless you have tendencies similar to isolationists or would enjoy being a real life cast away, you live in and amongst people. Whether this community of people is in a city, suburb, or a rural town, there are other people around.

With the advent of the Internet, cell phones, video conferencing, and email, we have the capability of being more in touch with others than ever before. Yet, it seems as if people are more lonely and disconnected. One aspect vital to a simple marriage is living in community with others.

We are relational beings. We seek out connection with other people all the time. And this connection can add a tremendous value to life. Many things in life are simply better when shared with others. Trips, games, conversations, sex. Being in contact with other people adds to the experience.

While there are times when you do need to seek solitude or time alone, it usually isn’t long before connection with another human is sought out.

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Photo courtesy slambo_42

If you are a regular reader of the Simple Marriage Project, you already know I’ve been in the midst of a month long adventure. Saturday, my wife, kids and I returned from a week’s vacation in the mountains. And for 9 days before that I was in Scotland with my father, seeing my family’s homeland.

Throughout this journey, I lugged around my MacBook in hopes of staying in touch with the blogging world and you my awesome readers.

But as this adventure has progressed, I discovered something about myself… I have a problem.

I think I may be a blogaholic.

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