A Christian's View of Marriage
Some Christians believe that marriage should be the ultimate
relationship. When two people get married they make a vow to stay in a
life long committed relationship. . It is a Christian promise made
before God and is significant and of great importance amongst all
Christian denominations despite certain differences in opinions.
However, sometimes a variety of different circumstances can affect the
longevity of a marriage. For example adultery is considered as a valid
reason for a divorce as it is the breaking of one of the Ten
Commandments, as Jesus taught “if a man divorces a woman for any other
cause than her unfaithfulness, then he is guilty of making her commit
adultery if she marries again” (Matthew 5:32). Another reason people
may use to claim life long marriage is too difficult is domestic
abuse. If a man were to be abusing his wife, then she should not be
expected to stay with him in fear of being harmed.
Roman Catholic teachings state that once two people are married they
have become “one flesh” (Genesis 2:24) and no one can separate them.
If they are then divorced by the state, in God’s eyes they are still
married so any other relationships they have are considered to be
adulterous. The only accepted reason for remarriage in the Catholic
Church is if either husband or wife has died. Despite these strict
beliefs, the Church does leave the possibility of the marriage never
actually taking place. This is when for specific reasons, the couple’s
union was never genuine, for example one of the partners may have
still been married or one may have lied when making the marriage vows
or may not h...
... middle of paper ...
...ign the marriage register,
to make the union legal. A marriage certificate is also given to the
couple.
All Christians believe marriage is a very important ceremony; however
Catholics also believe it to be a sacrament. That it is a unique and
special relationship with God and it cannot be ended. However if the
marriage does come into difficulties the Catholic Church recommends
organisations that are there to help work out the problems within a
marriage. Care is a Catholic organisation which assists couples with
their problems in a marriage. Relate is an organisation that helps
marriages, families and personal relationships. It offers a
confidential counselling service that gives help and guidance as they
believe the well being of marriages, and other personal relationships
are fundamental in the way society work.
Sherif Girgis wrote his article, “Marriage: Whose Justice? Which Diversity?” in response to John Corvino’s, “What Marriage Can Be” article. Corvino’s article introduced the inclusivist view of marriage and then attacked Girgis’ conjugal view of marriage, which was introduced in Girgis’ book, “What is Marriage? Man and Woman: A Defense.” Corvino’s inclusivist view was meant to expand the definition of marriage, not re-define it (Corvino, p.6) and although Corvino’s defense of the inclusivist view was, “sophisticated, civil and well-informed” according to Girgis, it was also, “Contradicting virtually every philosophical and legal tradition until yesterday, it nonetheless offers no positive case for its thesis” (Girgis, p.1). Girgis obviously does not agree with Corvino’s inclusivist/revisionist view, but he does so on the basis that it has too many weaknesses. The conjugal view is superior as it most properly defines what true marriage is and should be. In the ensuing sections, I shall describe what the conjugal view of marriage is and why Girgis believes it to be superior to both the
Control and emotional manipulation are more commonly used in the beginning of a relationship as the “captain” of the house. The abuser starts to control who their spouse can be friends with, when and how they can spend money, and when they can go to town. If the victim of the relationships does anything without their permissions, he or she is emotionally punished by the abuser by threatening to leave the victim, uses guilt, rage, or criticizes. An abuser feeds off of these two types of abuse. A relationship that starts out like this can grow into something potentially more dangerous for the victim. The last three types of abuse are the more dangerous kinds of abuse. Verbal abuse is harmful to the victim’s confidence and self-esteem. Name calling, cruel jokes, and humiliation in public places are all types of verbal abuse that will bring someone into deep depression. Sexual and physical abuse is harmful to the victim’s health. In a healthy relationship, sex is wanted and meaningful; however, if the spouse is being forced to have sex, use unprotected sex, or not allowed to decide about keeping the baby, than this is a health hazard. It is an unhealthy relationship that is untrustworthy and disconnected; therefore, transmitted diseases can spread to the victim. Physical abuse is the more commonly known type of abuse. It is intentional pain from
Ritual and Vows of Christian Marrage and Their Influence on the Differing Ways that Couples Approach Marraige and Marital Breakdown
As the world grows, society is constantly changing people and their beliefs become more accustomed to what was unfamiliar in the past. There were times when old opinions and views clashed with the new, even amongst loved ones. In “Say Yes” by Tobias Wolff, two different views on marriage come to light between husband and wife during a usually insignificant evening at home. Aside from the subject of the argument, the husband’s perspective on his treatment towards his wife portray what their society’s expectations of a man and woman roles were. The contrast between this married couple depicts a few of many controversial issues society has had to approach and eventually “Say Yes” to. Once the wife realized how little her husband knew about her, she slowly creates a distance between them and she doesn 't cooperate with him like he wants and expects her to do.
Within the first chapter of the book Kostenberger’s God, Marriage and Family identifies the cultural problems of our nation. In this chapter the author discusses how sexual immorality, homosexuality and sexual confusion are among the major threats of how our culture is now defining relationships. The author says that this is more than a problem of culture, he says that this is rooted in something more than that. I think he might be dramatic about the who issue. I do not necessarily think that the way we live our lives in threatened by sexual sin. I think our God is bigger than that. Kostenberger thinks that we must go back to the old roots of marriage in the bible to start healing from the pain that sexual sin has caused against our nation. He says that when a couple is struggling that they should do more than just work on their communication skills, they should work on the idea of becoming “one flesh”. I agree with this, I think that if two people are completely following Christ and they give their whole lives to God than they can not have an unhappy marriage.
Abuse takes on various forms ranging from physical, mental, emotional, and neglect. Abuse is not limited to one particular group culture, but happens to people from all walks of life. Women are often the victims of abuse especially when dealing with spousal or intimate partner valance. Each year, increasingly more women have been reported to be victims of some form of spousal or intimate partner violence. Generally in a relationships abuse being to happen, the abuse begins to forms or a combination of the two. Physical violence or abuse is the first form in which actual violence takes place in the mental abuse. In this form of abuse actual violence does not occur, but the abuser is the demander or belittles the victim, causing the victim to feel worthless; other abusers combine the two forms. The emotional or mental abuse is by far the worst. According to Reed and Enright (2006) “Spousal psychological abuse represents a painful betrayal of trust leading to serious negative psychological outcomes for the abused partner,” (R. The main purpose of spousal or intimate partner abuse, contrary to popular belief, is to inflict emotional pain, not physical pain. There are several categories of spousal psychological abuse; criticizing ridiculing, jealous control, purposeful ignoring, threats of abandonment, threats of harm, and damage to personal property spousal abuse produces a more negative emotional affect when compare to physical abuse. The negative physiological affects produce depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, and post traumatic stress disorder.
Mental or psychological abuse has the most expansive list of methods. Mental abuse is harming a woman emotionally or psychologically and has an endless list of effects. This type of abuse may take form verbally by being humiliated, destructively criticized, removing self-confidence, yelling, threatening, accusing, or even remaining silent, overly authoritative, or disrespectful. A man may emotionally abuse his partner by destroying something important or sentimental to her or threaten to take away th...
to do and a guarantee to each partner. If we ask an engaged couple why
There are many forms of domestic violence but the more prevalent types that I will discuss are physical abuse, verbal abused, psychological abuse, sexual abuse, social abuse and economical abuse. Every nine seconds, a husband physically abuses his wife in the U.S. (Schwartz & Scott, 2003). Physical abuse is any action that is taken against another person that inflicts pain and harm in order to control or intimidate whether in public or private. Pushing, slapping, punching, biting, kicking are just so...
Marriage is a “socially recognized and approved union between individuals, who commit to one another with the expectations of a stable and lasting intimate relationship. It begins with a ceremony known as a wedding which formally unites marriage partners. A marital relationship usually involves some kind of contract, either written or specified by tradition, which defines the partners’ rights and obligations to each other, to any children they may have, and to their relatives. In most contemporary industrialized societies, marriage is certified by the government,” (Skolnick, 2005). Marriage is also an important institution because of the impact it has on society. Marriage is the main way that reproduction of human life occurs. In some societies it is tradition for family heirlooms or things of value be passed on through marriage. Marriage also serves as a healthy way to have intimate relationships with an individual. In most places a marriage exists between two people of the opposite sex. However, the legal definition of marriage is currently being challenged by many. According to Skolnick’s article a marriage can be defined by responsibilities that a couple would share, some examples are: living together, having sexual relations, sharing money and financial responsibilities, and having a child together. The issue is that homosexual couples can do these things like heterosexual couples.
When we think of marriage, the first thing that comes to mind is having a lasting relationship. Marriage is a commitment of two people to one another and to each other?s family, bonded by holy matrimony. When a couple plans to marry, they think of raising a family together, dedicating their life to each other. That?s the circle of life--our natural instinct to live and produce children and have those children demonstrate your own good morals. I have never been married; but I don?t understand why when two people get married and vow to be together for richer and poorer, better or worse, decide to just forget about that commitment. A marriage should be the most important decision a person makes in his or her life.
Love conquers everything. Or at least, that’s what Romeo and Juliet thought. But marriage and love can be complicated, and some argue that marrying someone who shares your religious beliefs can make things much easier. Is having the same religious and spiritual beliefs part of criteria many people use when seeking a marriage partner? It is strongly felt that the person they are going to marry should have the same traditions and customs, and intensity of belief as they themselves do. For them, it is an imperative part of marriage. A correlation exists between religious shared beliefs in marriage and marital satisfaction, although the nature of the relationship is not certain. History says that religion starts wars. If that is true, what will it do to a dual-religion marriage? This paper will discuss people’s views on why it is actually a major criterion to have a partner that has the same religious beliefs.
Teaching on Marriage in Corinthians and Ephesians. The purpose of this paper is to compare the teaching on marriage from the book of I Corinthians and Ephesians. The Bible tells us, "It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him an helper for him" (Gen. 2:18). In the beginning, God saw that it was not good for His creation to be alone; therefore He created a helper suitable for Adam, a wife to be his companion and counterpart.
Marriage has gone through many changes throughout its history. It's earliest forms date back to the story of creation. It has developed a great deal since then. It is a simple fact that men and women can not survive without each other. Marriage is part of the created natural order, we were meant to be together.
is the most usual in which a man and a woman unite themselves in the