What Memes Mean: Ian and Larissa

Last updated on: May 16, 2012 at 9:10 am by Kirk Bozeman

What Memes Mean: Ian and Larissa 2012-05-16T09:10:58-06:00 Kirk Bozeman

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Each Wednesday in What Memes Mean, Kirk Bozeman questions the significance, humor, and subtexts of viral videos, memes, and other Internet fads.

Ian and Larissa were very much in love, and from all outward signs their relationship was moving toward marriage. But in 2006, Ian received a traumatic brain injury in a terrible car accident, leaving him in ICU. He eventually made it to rehab and was able to return home, though the effects of the injury were severe and left him in need of constant care. In a moving string of events that followed, Larissa and Ian decided they should get married anyway, and Larissa has been blogging about God’s work in their marriage for quite some time.

The Desiring God blog (one of our Christian subculture-makers) recently featured the online mini-doc above on the site in three parts here, here, and here, using it as a sort of testimonial/advertisement for Piper’s book This Momentary Marriage. (The entire book is available online for free as a PDF, so accusations of tactless plugging for book sales may be somewhat overstated . . . somewhat.) The popularity of Piper’s Desiring God ministry plus readers’ obvious love of the story have pushed the mini-doc viral in the past week, and it was shared and forwarded by countless people all over the Net.

But why did readers love this story so much? Although many have found the modern experience of marriage very frustrating, I think most still harbor a secret hope that marriage can work. Many believe that the idea of the marital institution is dead while sighing loudly and wanting it not to be. Many try to explain divorce rates as simply the result of the inadequacy of an outdated institution, and then belie their true feelings by trying to finagle it into similar options. We want marriage to work, we want to see it succeed. The vast majority of people want to experience the traditional form of marriage and family we so loudly announce as no longer viable.

We share this video because we still want marriage to work. And if a desperate situation like this one can become a place where Christ’s sacrificial love is displayed — where a marriage “working” takes on a new definition entirely — there is hope that perhaps, by God’s grace, the rest of us can pull it off as well.

As a note (one which I add hesitantly), I would also advise the reader to be careful with a beautiful story like this one. Not every pastor would counsel a couple into a union like this – in fact, many would advise against it. Larissa writes that many voices were heavily involved in the decision, and that a judge was required to rule on the issue in court before the marriage could proceed. We should be careful not to make a beautiful story like this prescriptive, which is something evangelicals are especially prone to do.

But it is still a beautiful story, and it communicates something that resonates deeply inside of us. Throughout Scripture, the viability, legitimacy, and necessity of marriage is assumed, with the crowning final thought coming from Paul’s likening of the institution to Christ’s relationship to His church. For the Christian, marriage is more than viable, it is a sacred covenant ordained by God Himself and characteristic of his relationship to His redeemed people. Ian and Larissa’s story is one that intentionally reflects this reality, and for that I am thankful.

Previous Post

May 16, 2012

Music at Mars Hill: Beach House and the Myth of Memory

Next Post

May 16, 2012 The Holy Huddle: Sports Figures, The Hunger Games, and Sociological Terminology

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Asides Elsewhere Featured Film Games General Culture Headline Literature Music Of the Moment Podcast Politics RetroPost Sports Technology Television Uncategorized Viral

Select a Month February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz