Dr John Mining’s Marriage Advice Sparks Debate: ‘Make Your Marriage a Priority’

Relationship commentator Dr John Mining has sparked widespread discussion online after sharing a lengthy list of advice urging married couples to prioritise intimacy, companionship, faith and family time in their relationships.

In his message directed at married men and women, Mining argues that couples should make deliberate efforts to keep their marriages strong instead of allowing work, friends, relatives, social engagements and other responsibilities to create emotional distance.

A major theme in his advice is intimacy between spouses. He encourages married couples to maintain a healthy and mutually enjoyable intimate relationship, while also spending quality time together through conversations, affection, relaxation and shared activities.

Mining also calls on couples to avoid turning the matrimonial bedroom into a place of constant arguments and disagreements. Instead, he says it should be associated with love, peace, rest, companionship and planning for the family.

For women, Mining encourages them to take care of themselves, maintain their health and appearance, support their husbands and create time for their families. He also urges couples to share household responsibilities and ensure that children's needs, including schoolwork and preparations for the following day, are properly handled.

His message to men centres on commitment, affection and active involvement in family life. He encourages husbands to spend more time with their wives and children, participate in household activities, exercise together and show affection through gestures such as massages and personal care.

Mining further advises couples to travel together, attend church, pray for one another and create opportunities to enjoy life away from the pressures of work and business.

He warns married couples against allowing friends, colleagues, former partners, relatives, work commitments or other outside influences to interfere with their relationships. According to him, couples should protect their marriages by maintaining trust, communication and togetherness.

He also cautions against comparing one marriage with another, noting that every relationship faces its own challenges. He references biblical teaching that marriage comes with difficulties and argues that couples need commitment and perseverance to navigate those challenges.

“Marriage is fun,” Mining says in his message, encouraging couples to face challenges together, raise their children together, pray together and grow old together.

The advice has generated debate, with some social media users praising the emphasis on intimacy, companionship, faith and family unity, while others have questioned some of the expectations placed on husbands and wives.

At the heart of Mining’s message, however, is a call for married couples to deliberately invest time and effort in their relationships and resist anything that threatens their unity.

He concludes by urging couples to protect their families, nurture love and build their homes around togetherness, faith and mutual commitment.