Most "younger" married people have watched fairy tales where it is ALWAYS happily ever after..then they got older and they see projected in movies and TV (and the culture in general) "If it feels good do it"..If you are not "happy" then you need to go find "happiness" So you have Liz Taylor with a string of spouses
If you ask almost any long married couple you will find out there were many times they were NOT happy in that marriage ..or that they no longer "loved" their spouse.
But here is the truth love is an evolving emotion..there is the crazy hormonal sexual love , thus the desire to be with and touch ALL the time..It is the "burning breast " that the Mormons speak of..then there is the phase where it quiets and starts to become a more steady dependent emotion...needing the other for support and help and assurance along with the sexual componant...the craziness goes and the major marker is an enduring friendship..and mutual admiration.
Moving through the various stages ..and sometimes swinging between them can cause alot of emotional times..
I have been married 41 years..there were at least three times I wanted to 'pack it in"..I stayed and worked them through because we had kids AND I have a COVENANT with God and my Husband..I did not stay for ME
I am being very blunt here, because I think it is important for people raised in broken homes and people with only one parent , that have never seen adults WORKING out their marriage , to understand marriage is not a fairytale..it is a living contract that needs constant updating and flexibility. Love changes ..we change , what we want changes it is work
Today's marriages are discarded at an alarming rate. If one is not "happy", then they'll just get a divorce.
I also agree with xzins's "higher view" in #48: "they are intertwined in spirit via the union of the flesh to such an extent that they can grow to an incredible unity of heart, mind, and purpose."
Are there biblical allowances for divorce? Yes, and those have been (and are being) discussed on this thread. But "I'm not happy" and "I don't love you anymore" and "I just don't want to be married anymore" are NOT biblically justified reasons to walk away from a marriage.
Marriage is a God-ordained, God-given lifelong commitment to love, honor and cherish the one whom God has given you. Is it always easy? No. Is it always happy? No. But it is a commitment and today's "easy come, easy go" society today doesn't seem to understand that concept.