Former Bachelor star Sean Lowe made a bold statement about marriage on his Patheos blog this week, stating that he agrees with his pastor who told him, “marriage isn’t about happiness, it’s about holiness.” Lowe got married on national television 15 months ago, after proposing to his now-wife, Catherine Giudici, on the popular ABC reality show The Bachelor.

Does Lowe mean that God should come before romance and happiness for a married couple? According to the 31-year-old former reality star and author of the book For the Right Reasons, making your partner happy is a “deadly sentiment.” He feels that a couple should show their love to God instead of trying to make their partner happy. Confused yet?

His “holiness not happiness” blog post may seem unreasonable to those whose lives do not revolve around faith. According to WetPaint, Sean seems to be saying that his own marriage to Catherine is more about God than the couple’s romantic relationship. None of this should come as a surprise to anyone who knows how faith-centered the former Bachelor is.

“Marriage should draw both the man and woman closer to God through their actions towards one another. Also, when you love your wife during the toughest of times, you are showing your love to God. Far too often people rest on the emotion of happiness and love, and when that begins to waver over time, so does their marriage.”

Lowe’s preaching about God and marriage isn’t new. Known to reality show fans as the “Virgin Bachelor,” Sean is a devout Christian who is part of the I Am Second movement that was created to “inspire people of all kinds to live for God and for others.”

Time reports that Lowe’s religious convictions prompted his decision to stay celibate after the age of 24 — making him a born again virgin of sorts.

“I didn’t have sex in college… after graduating college, I moved back to Dallas. I was dating other girls and I started having sex, and I would feel extremely guilty afterwards… At the age of 24 I finally became a man. I said, ‘Okay, Jesus, let’s do it again.'”

His January, 2013 marriage to Catherine Giudici was televised on ABC, with cameras focusing not only on the bride and groom, but on the honeymoon suite — the place Lowe lost his virginity (again). Since then, Lowe has written about his faith on the Patheos blog, and in the For the Right Reasons book he published in January 2015.

Do you agree with Sean Lowe that marriage isn’t about making your partner happy, or do you think that’s a far-fetched idea?

[Image: ABC]