Welcome to this replay of Ask NT Write Anything, where we go back into the archives to bring you the best of the thought and theology of Tom Wright.

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And now for today's replay of Ask NT Write Anything.

We're going to be looking at things of a more pastoral nature and I'm surprised in a way, Tom, how many questions that come in that are pastoral essentially.

And it's probably important, as we have said before, to say anything that you deal with that's pastoral, obviously you would rather people primarily seek a pastoral,

they can speak to, pray with, go on that journey with.

Yes, that is really important. I get emails from people saying, help help I'm in this situation, et cetera.

And my first thing is always, I cannot be your pastor online, it's just not how pastoral work works.

You need to be able to sit down in a courtroom with somebody who can pray with you, who can weep with you, if you're weeping,

and who can engage in a longer journey, because though I like to solve things when they come through my door,

almost all pastoral problems, if they're serious enough to come through the door of the study, are not going to be solved in one visit.

This is going to be a journey, we're going to have to go together and obviously I can't do that.

So with that caveat, we will try to give some general principles.

Next week will be a whole variety of pastoral questions, but today it's marriage.

But before we get to the nuts and bolts of how we make marriage work as Christians,

a couple of people ask similar questions about marriage in the age to come.

So Clayton in Melbourne, Australia and Jenny in Virginia, they ask these questions.

With what I can only understand the Bible implies that as a married couple, we are to become as one.

Yet there seems to be verses that imply this is only for this earth, and what's your opinion.

And Jenny says, I know we won't be married in heaven, but will I still remember my husband, and will we still be good friends, like we are?

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