I got this lecture from the Reasonable Faith web site. (H/T straightright)

Dr. William Lane Craig is the top living Christian apologist and debater in the world today, and has 2 Masters degrees and 2 Ph.Ds. He also has scores of academic publications including books from Oxford University Press, etc.

The MP3 file is here. (14.5 Mb, about 41 minutes)

Topics:

• the stresses of ministry on marriages
• the Christian position on divorce
• balancing marriage with academic pursuits
• the importance of marrying the right person
• Dr. Craig’s politically incorrect advice for choosing a spouse
• Advice for men: Marry someone who believes in you and who supports you in your calling
• Advice for women: Be the kind of person who can commit to being a helper and supporter
• Advice for men: Beware of the career woman who will put their career over supporting you in your calling
• Advice for women: Be careful about marrying if you think that your goals are more important than your husband’s goals
• Advice: Don’t try to find the right person for you but instead focus on learning about marriage and preparing for marriage
• Advice: Flee youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, love and peace
• Advice: God intends for sex to be within the bounds of marriage, so you need to guard yourself against unchastity
• Advice for men: be careful what images and movies you see with the goal of keeping your chastity
• Advice: your highest responsibility after your relationship with God is your spouse, and your studies are third
• Advice: it’s better to drop classes or give up your graduate studies entirely rather than destroy your marriage
• Advice for women: understand that you have to work at the marriage in order to help your man finish his studies
• Advice: set aside a period of the day for communicating and bonding with your spouse
• Advice: cultivate the ability to talk with your spouse on a personal level, and maintain eye contact
• Advice for men: do not break eye contact with your wife, and also hold her hand when communicating
• Advice: do not be embarrassed to seek out a marriage counselor, but make it a good counselor
• Advice:  don’t just be doing stuff for your mate, but also be vulnerable and transparent with your mate
• How your relationship with your wife helps you with your relationship with God
• How do you handle the rebellion of children without being overbearing and authoritarian?

There is a period of Q&A at the end. There is another piece of advice that comes out in the Q&A for women: take an interest in your spouse’s work even if you don’t care about it, and ask him about it every day and try to understand it. Go to the man’s workplace and see what he does. Go to his presentations. Get involved in the man’s ministry and help him in practical ways. Another piece of advice is to not paper over the differences – it’s good to argue, because it means that problems are being confronted and worked through. Husbands should have a good male friend to talk to, and wives should have a good female friend to talk to.

I like how Dr. Craig has thought about how to have a successful marriage, how to choose the right woman, and how to love his wife. I like how he calls out men on the chastity thing. I think that chastity is more important for men than for women, because it’s the men who take the lead in choosing and pursuing the right woman for their plan.

Here is my previous post on Craig’s advice for married couples and my previous post on Dr. Craig’s advice for choosing a good spouse, with illustrations from his own marriage.

If you want to hear another Christian husband talk about how his wife supports him, listen to this lecture called “Giants in the Land” with Dr. Walter Bradley. It’s actually my favorite lecture. I also really like his testimony lecture.