Clayton King - 12 Questions to Ask Before You Marry

What Others Are Saying About
12 Questions to Ask Before You Marry

Clayton and Charie share truth and wisdom that I believe will help young Christian couples build strong relationships that will last for a lifetime.

J ERRY F ALWELL J R ., chancellor and president,
Liberty University

In a day when the church desperately needs its people to show the reality of the gospel to a lost world by how we love each other in our marriages, I cannot think of a better book for Christians to read and implement than this one.

P ERRY N OBLE, senior pastor, Newspring Church,
Anderson, South Carolina

Clayton and Charie King have done a fantastic job of preparing young men and women for marriage by encouraging them to ask commonsense questions that reveal very important issues of character, conviction, and competence. I urge you to read this book.

D ANIEL A KIN, president,
Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary
and author of God on Sex

I know that God will use this book to impact thousandsmy prayer is that you will allow this book to impact you.

J ONATHAN F ALWELL, pastor,
Thomas Road Baptist Church
Lynchburg, Virginia

This book goes further than quoting divorce statistics and flashing warning signs. It encourages caution, instructs with wisdom, and inspires with biblical truth. I hope you will read this book and apply its principles.

T IM C LINTON, president,
American Association of Christian Counselors

With Gods direction through this powerful book, I pray youll find the answers that lead you to the one-of-a-kind love story God has written for your life.

from the foreword by C RAIG G ROESCHEL, author;
founding and senior pastor of LifeChurch.tv

This helpful book advises young adults to look past sentimental notions of romance to see the challenges and rewards of the reality of lifelong commitment. Clayton and Charie offer strong medicine that will lead to stronger families.

T REVIN W AX, author of
Counterfeit Gospels and Holy Subversion

Clayton and Charie have written a gift to the church, a book on relationships that meets all of us wherever we are and spurs us on towards the gracious Lordship of Jesus Christ.

M ATT O RTH, pastor,
Broad River Community Church,
Boiling Springs, North Carolina

Whether youre single or married, this book is essential reading.

S TEVEN F URTICK, lead pastor,
Elevation Church, Charlotte, North Carolina;
author, Sun Stand Still

Clayton and Charie King

HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS

EUGENE, OREGON

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, New International VersionNIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Verses marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189 USA. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked ( TNIV ) are taken from the Holy Bible, Todays New International Version. TNIV. Copyright 2001, 2005 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture verses marked NRSV are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Verses marked MSG are taken from The Message. Copyright by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

Cover by Dugan Design Group, Bloomington, Minnesota

Cover photo Serena Siqueland / Digital Vision / Getty Images; back-cover author photo Bob Carey

Clayton and Charie Kings agent: David Van Diest from D.C. Jacobson & Associates, 3689 Carman Dr., Ste. 300, Lake Oswego, OR.

Personal stories in this book: Where individuals may be identifiable, they have granted the author and the publisher the right to use their names, stories, and/or facts of their lives in all manners, including composite or altered representations. In all other cases, names, circumstances, descriptions, and details have been changed to render individuals unidentifiable.

12 QUESTIONS TO ASK BEFORE YOU MARRY
Copyright 2011 by Clayton and Charie King
Published by Harvest House Publishers
Eugene, Oregon 97402
www.harvesthousepublishers.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

King, Clayton, 1972-

12 questions to ask before you marry / Clayton and Charie King.

p. cm.

ISBN 978-0-7369-3777-1 (pbk.)

ISBN 978-0-7369-4195-2 (eBook)

1. MarriageReligious aspectsChristianity. I. King, Charie, 1974- II. Title.

BV835.K545 2011

241.6765dc22

2011007471

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Printed in the United States of America

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 / VP-SK / 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

I thank my family (Joe, Jane, and Brad) for adopting me, loving me, teaching me hard work and humility, and raising me to know and love Christ.

I am thankful for good friends like Matt, Seth, Perry, Steven, Jonathan, Brian, J.D., Bruce, Dean, Justin, Micah, Jeremy, Brad, Brent, Jordan, Johnnie, David, Tyler, Paul, Todd, Andy, and Ray for their faithfulness to Jesus and to me.

I am thankful for godly mentors like Wilkes Skinner, Jake Thornhill, Doug Murphy, and Billy Graham who have modeled what it means to follow Christ and be a servant.

I am thankful for the many preachers and authors who have shaped my life and theology.

I am thankful for the staff at Crossroads, the community at Broad River, and everyone at Newspring and Liberty for their prayers and support over the years.

Most of all I am thankful to, and for, my wife, Charie, and our boys, Jacob and Joseph. You are the joy of my life. I love you so very much.

M ost marriages begin with dreams of happily ever after. In reality, more than half of those unions wont see that fairy-tale endingbut they will end. And of the marriages that do last, many struggle on life support for the sake of the kids.

It doesnt have to be that way.

Its not supposed to be that way.

So what do you do when you want a marriage that soars in a world where most crash before takeoff? What do you do when you have a dream for intimacy, but most married couples you know are strangers to each other? What do you do when you desire a marriage that honors God and goes the distance?

You do something different.

Think about it. The normal path toward marriage isnt working very well, is it? Premarital sex is par for the course. Living together before marriage is seen as an acceptable decision. And many individuals plow through person after person, as if buying dozens of lottery tickets hoping for the lucky onethe one that might hold the magic ticket of marriage.