Spirituality and infidelity : a study of the correlation of spiritual maturity level and the tendency toward marital infidelity among Indonesian Evangelical Church in Jakarta

2017·0.92 MB·English

by  Santosa, Budiyanto

SPIRITUALITY AND INFIDELITY:
A STUDY ON THE CORRELATION OF SPIRITUAL MATURITY LEVEL
AND THE TENDENCY TOWARDS MARITAL INFIDELITY AMONG
INDONESIAN EVANGELICAL CHURCH IN JAKARTA

A THESIS-PROJECT
SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF
GORDON-CONWELL THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE
DOCTOR OF MINISTRY

BY
BUDIYANTO SANTOSA
MAY 2017
Copyright © 2017 by Budiyanto Santosa. All Rights Reserved.
CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS viii
ABSTRACT x
Chapter
1. THE PROBLEM AND ITS SETTING 1
Background 1
Research objective 15
The Relevance of the Study 17
Limitations 17
2. BIBLICAL AND THEOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS 18
Infidelity 18
What Does the Bible Say about Christian Marriage? 19
What Does the Bible Say about Infidelity? 33
Spiritual Maturity 40
The New Testament Terminology for “Spiritual” 40
The New Testament Terminology for “Mature” 43
Definition of Spiritual Maturity 46
The Levels of Spiritual Maturity 47
3. LITERATURE REVIEW 56
Research on Marital Infidelity 56
Definition of Infidelity 57
iii
Types of Infidelity 59
Predictors of Infidelity 62
Theoretical Models 69
Research on Spiritual Maturity 76
Definition of Spiritual Maturity 77
Measuring Spiritual Maturity Level 83
Research on the Relationship between Marital Infidelity and Religion 92
4. PROJECT DESIGN 99
Research Methodology 99
Quantitative Methodology 99
The Correlational Method 101
Population and Sample 105
Assessment Instruments 106
Data Collection 111
Data Analysis 113
5. OUTCOMES 116
Results 116
Characteristics of the Sample and Response 116
Test of Hypotheses 117
Demographic Information 121
Discussion of Findings 122
Implications of the Study 130
Recommendations 134
iv
Conclusion 142
Appendix 145
A. QUESTIONNAIRE 145
B. TABLES OF DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION 156
BIBLIOGRAPHY 166

VITA 177

v
TABLES

Table 1: Three Groups of Spiritual Maturity
Table 2: Parallelism of Psychological and Biblical Views of Maturity
Table 3: Participants
Table 4: Test of The Normal Distribution
Table 5: Test of The Correlation Between Awareness of God and Infidelity Tendency
Table 6: Test of The Correlation Between Realistic Acceptance and Infidelity Tendency
Table 7: Test of The Correlation Between Disappointment and Infidelity Tendency
Table 8: Test of The Correlation Between Instability and Infidelity Tendency
Table 9: Test of The Correlation Between Grandiosity and Infidelity Tendency
Table 10: Test of The Correlation Between Impression Management and Infidelity
Tendency
Table 11: Gender
Table 12: Age
Table 13: Marital Status
Table 14: Monthly Income
Table 15: Monthly Outcome
Table 16: Education
Table 17: Marital Length
Table 18: Children Who Live With Them
Table 19: Different Ethnicity From Spouse
Table 20: Different Religion With Spouse
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Table 21: Spouse From A-Non Christian Family
Table 22: Do You Work?
Table 23: Profession
Table 24: Both Spouses Work
Table 25: Church Membership
Table 26: Routinely Attend Sunday Service in Semanggi
Table 27: Routinely Attend Sunday Service in Puri
Table 28: Length of Time Attending Semanggi
Table 29: Length of Time Attending Puri

vii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I thank God for His Grace and loving kindness that endures forever. He has given
me strength and wisdom to finish writing this thesis. I would like to acknowledge the
cooperation and support I have received through many individuals right from the
beginning of my doctoral program.
First and foremost, I wish to place on record my sincere thanks to Dr. Kenneth
Swetland for his patience, persistent guidance and ceaseless encouragement. I could not
have imagined having a better mentor and advisor for my D. Min study. I also thank Dr.
David Currie who has guided me throughout my doctoral studies. In addition, I thank Dr.
Jeffrey Arthurs as the second reader who gave advice on my thesis.
Secondly, special appreciation goes to my church, the Indonesian Evangelical
Church, who faithfully supported me with prayers and finances. I likewise express
gratitude to my best friends and colleagues, especially Rev. Jahja Santoso and Ev. Tan
Giok Lie, who provided enormous emotional support through their encouragement and
prayers. I also thank Wiwie Kurnia and Swati Lee for their love, encouragement and
support in my study. Both of you are instruments whom God used to shower His
blessings on me. In addition, I would like to thank Rianti Setiadi and Karmelia Nurdjalim
who helped me to calculate the statistics of the results of the test. Moreover, I am grateful
to Christopher Flint for proof reading. You are very supportive in helping me with my
English.
viii
Last but not least, I thank my beloved wife Priska Pratiwi, and my wonderful
daughter Grace Santosa, who have loved me abundantly and have given me support and
encouragement in my study. To God be the glory.

ix
ABSTRACT

Infidelity is commonly understood as a betrayal of one’s partner’s trust, a
violation of the marital agreement, and a threat to the marital bond. Christians are not
immune to infidelity. The question that arises is: is there a correlation between a person’s
spiritual maturity level and their tendency towards infidelity? This correlational study
examined the relationship between spiritual maturity levels and the tendency towards
infidelity. The research demonstrated a significant correlation between spiritual maturity
level and infidelity tendency. Suggestions were then raised as to the significance and
relevance of this study for Indonesian Evangelical Churches.
x