Episode 38: A pastor & divorce lawyer debate marriage

Every month the subject of marriage generates tens of millions of search queries across Google, YouTube, and ChatGPT. For years, the 50% divorce rate has been widely publicized, leaving many terrified of entering a marriage that might fail. As a result, the number of people choosing to stay single has skyrocketed—and for those who do get married, prenups are becoming the norm. So to really do this topic justice, we are exploring it through the ultimate contrast: a pastor and a divorce lawyer. Over the last couple years, James Sexton has become the most famous divorce lawyer in the world. Even though he barely uses social media, his social following has gone up 600% since the beginning of 2024. He’s been featured on nearly every major podcast, and many of those conversations regularly get millions of views. Much of the general population loves him because he tells it as it is, with blunt and no-nonsense insights. On the other side, we have Carl Lentz, who pastored Hillsong NYC for ten years. At its height, nearly 10,000 people attended Hillsong’s Sunday gatherings on a weekly basis, which made it the largest church in New York City. Due to its success, Carl became a fixture in the mainstream media and for a time, generated more publicity than any pastor in the world. After a highly public downfall in 2020 and facing the brink of divorce himself, he rebuilt his marriage from the ground up. Now, alongside his wife Laura, he shares hard-earned insights on relationships through their podcast, which topped the documentary charts on Apple in 2024. In this conversation, we tackle all the burning questions on your mind. CHAPTERS: 0:00 - Trailer + Intro 4:11 - Sponsor: N-2 Water 8:12 - James’s background 19:20 - Carl’s background 22:04 - Spiritual vs. legal marriage 36:37 - What’s the point of marriage? 53:04 - The human condition 59:07 - Why do people cheat? 1:06:58 - Why faith-based marriages fail at same rate 1:09:30 - Getting married too young 1:13:11 - No sex before marriage 1:19:00 - Is polygyny the ideal for men? 1:25:10 - Does James believe in monogamy? 1:35:03 - Gaining control over your sex drive 1:42:56 - The sex recession amongst Gen Z 1:45:21 - Communicating about sex 2:00:49 - Are we just picking the wrong people? 2:10:10 - The primary reasons marriage fails 2:17:31 - Elon Musk & the issue of priorities 2:34:16 - The importance of getting multiple perspectives Get 20% off your first order of N-2 Water with code EARLYSIPS at checkout: https://www.n-2water.com/mightypursuit Carl Lentz Links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carllentz/ Lights On Podcast: https://shorturl.at/jn28W James Sexton Links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nycdivorcelawyer/ X: https://x.com/nycdivorcelaw Mighty Pursuit Links: Website: https://www.mightypursuit.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mightypursuit/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mightypursuit/ X: https://x.com/MightyPursuit For business inquiries: hello@mightypursuit.com