Marriage

Many long decades ago, a Sunday School class I attended, decided to tackle the question as to: What is Marriage?

Yes, those with their Catholic perversions to their faith were well represented in the argument which spanned about a month's worth of classes!  Perversions?  Yes, one of the popes in the middle ages decided that there was good money in selling the rights to marry, to the feudal kings.  Along with the right to the "first night" - with the pope's blessing.  So, now instead of the church having sole right to marry, the State was given the "right" to do so at its discretion and oh by the way blushing bride, the local feudal lord gets you for the first night!  Yeah ..... no corruption there!

Nothing angers me more than the State believing that they have any say in the area of marriage, but if you want to play the State's game (taxes, inheritance, birth certificate names as well as death benefits) - they got you!  All because of one corrupt pope!

So, what is marriage?

The class came to the conclusion that it is the "joining together of the resources of a man and a woman, in support of a common goal".  The church has nothing to say about it, the State has nothing to say about it, and actually families have nothing to say about it either!  Problem is - it is a lifetime commitment and we live in an age where everyone believes they have a "right" to have a say in your marriage.

Unfortunately, we live in a God-less age.  "Christian" teachings from groups such as Bill Gothard's Basic Youth Conflicts, to name names, supposedly teach the youth how to live "Godly" lives but in reality just create an environment where control freaks thrive in!  When I first slammed into his teachings, newly arrived upon America's shores, I was appalled that this was being taught, much less was considered to be God-ly teaching - and I was not even a Christian at the time, but I had already read the Bible cover to cover three times by then!  So, I could at least smell a problem.  (and as time was to show, I was not far off the mark in my opinion!)

Today, in Western Culture, divorce is rampant, I fear because sin is not dealt with as sin, as it once was.  The world would be a far less populated place if sin was dealt with by death - just as in the olden days.  Pornography problem?  Death.  Promiscuous? Death.  Rapist? Death.  Abandon your spouse?  You must divorce them!  Very black and white.

And because of this God-less age, sin never will be dealt with. 

So, you as the victim in a destroyed marriage have no recourse today except divorce!  Because society today will no longer execute the spouse whom has abandoned the marriage (for sin).  Certainly, there are abandonments which are not sin based and for that God allowed divorce "for the hardness of their hearts".

Yeah, when you skinny down what exactly the Bible does say about marriage ... it does not fit with today's model at all.  And people wonder why divorce is rampant ...