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To: bobjam
According to the criteria above, the Roman Church would not have married Sarah and Abraham because the two could not produce a child.

False. As I have said about ten times now, impotence is an impediment to marriage. Involuntary sterility is not.

57 posted on 06/10/2008 4:48:44 AM PDT by wideawake (Why is it that those who call themselves Constitutionalists know the least about the Constitution?)
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To: verga; cva66snipe; Borges; Sir_Ed
There seems to be a lot of confusion here. Allow me to attempt to clear it up.

Scripture informs us that marriage has two purposes: unitive (that is, a physical and spiritual union - "the two become one flesh") and procreative (that is, having children - "be fruitful and multiply").

Not every marriage can fulfill both purposes, but it must fulfill at least one purpose - and since the unitive purpose undergirds the procreative purpose, the unitive is the minimum standard for contracting a valid marriage. If a relationship is neither unitive nor procreative, then it is not a marriage relationship but something else.

Another issue: impotence and infertility are two different things.

An impotent man may be fertile: i.e. he may be able to produce sperm but unable to have an erection. Only men can be impotent, by the nature of human sexuality.

A potent man can be infertile: i.e. he may be able to have an erection but unable to produce viable sperm.

A potent man is able to pursue the unitive purpose of marriage by having natural intercourse. An impotent man is unable to pursue either purpose of marriage because he is unable to have natural intercourse and unable to engage in natural procreation.

The larger picture: human beings are composite beings - they are composed of body and soul. Therefore marital union is both physical and spiritual and requires both physical union and spiritual union.

If marriage is purely based on personal affection and lacks the necessary physical component then marriage is redefined as an affective relationship between any two persons - not a physical union of a man and a woman.

There is a reason why marriage is falling apart in the West: it is being redefined as purely an emotional bond between any two people.

Hence "open" marriages. Hence "starter" marriages. Hence "gay" marriages.

58 posted on 06/10/2008 5:46:58 AM PDT by wideawake (Why is it that those who call themselves Constitutionalists know the least about the Constitution?)
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