Posted on 11/23/2002 5:07:20 PM PST by Ex-Wretch
For one thing, we made civil divorce too easy! In 50 years we have gone from small percentage to crisis. At this stage, people are acting like pagans out of control. Society removed all the penalties and it is reaping the rewards. The unfortunate thing is that when sin is out of control it sometimes takes drastic measures to correct. At one time, there were laws that made it difficult to get a divorce. I'm not advocating legislating morality. However, it did curb the sinful appetite. I'm not sure what it will take, but I do know that I pull no punches when I preach about it. In other words, I ain't warm and fuzzy!
WOW man thanks, that was a close one.
BigMack
I think if you look up your own Reformed traditionalists you'll hear them speak of taking "marriage vows". Without this 'intent', it's fornication.
I would say even from that point of view, mom. When does God consider union between husband and wife? When the two vow to be one under Him!
Praise God, Rn.
Unto the 3rd and 4th generation of those who love me.
Your marriage will influence your great-great grandchildren. Is that a neat thought or what?
I have struggled in the past with your logic here, Rn. It has a lot of merit. And I will not say it is wrong.
There is, however, a case to be made in the bible for a "marriage" event/ceremony. The traditional wedding service speaks of Jesus affirming marriage by being at attendance at one in Cana of Galilee. Not just in attendance, but he also assisted the effort by changing water to wine.
Another event that confirms the significance of the "marriage event/ceremony" for me is the story of Jacob and Leah....not Rebekah. The ceremony was performed and Jacob discovered the trickery. He honored the commitment.
Paul, of course, affirms marriage repeatedly all the way to calling it a mystery.
We don't know that. It isn't addressed. That doesn't mean it didn't happen.
However, I find your and OP's discussion of homosexual marriage instructive here. You both (and I pretty much agree) say that civil marriage is their baliwick...let them have it and call it what they want.
Marriage within the church, however, is a serious thing and should be approached seriously. They are the true marriages.
So your generation observation (as scripture and practical is true)
Before the covenant? In salvation history, God has revealed Himself a little at a time. Certainly in big way at the institution of the covenants both Old and New. Under the New, for instance, Jesus responded to the question about divorce as follows:
He said to them, "For your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for unchastity, and marries another, commits adultery."
And so, just as Jesus had said, He came to fulfill the Law. Now, I know Mom that you don't accept the sacramental system. But I do and so do all believing Catholics. And its because of this that I see marriage as a covenant. The Catechism expresses it better than I can so here's some excerpts.
1625 The parties to a marriage covenant are a baptized man and woman, free to contract marriage, who freely express their consent; "to be free" means:
- not being under constraint;
- not impeded by any natural or ecclesiastical law.
1626 The Church holds the exchange of consent between the spouses to be the indispensable element that "makes the marriage."[125] If consent is lacking there is no marriage.
1627 The consent consists in a "human act by which the partners mutually give themselves to each other": "I take you to be my wife" - "I take you to be my husband."[126] This consent that binds the spouses to each other finds its fulfillment in the two "becoming one flesh."[127]
1628 The consent must be an act of the will of each of the contracting parties, free of coercion or grave external fear.[128] No human power can substitute for this consent.[129] If this freedom is lacking the marriage is invalid.
1629 For this reason (or for other reasons that render the marriage null and void) the Church, after an examination of the situation by the competent ecclesiastical tribunal, can declare the nullity of a marriage, i.e., that the marriage never existed.[130] In this case the contracting parties are free to marry, provided the natural obligations of a previous union are discharged.[131]
Mack and I found out this week that we will be grandparents for the first time in July.
Becky
Of course the OBVIOUS way of being assurred Do not have sex before marriage...and stayed married:>)
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