This is what I think:
I'm going to start off by saying marriage is not designed just for people who can't control their sexual desires. God didn't create people then say "ohh whoops, they're horny and want to have sex with eachother... didn't see that one coming! I better invent marriage so it's at least moral." God knew very well what he was doing when he made men and women. Don't you think if God knew that men and women would form their own little exclusive relationships and exclude God from them (marriage- apparently), he would have just stopped at Adam? Left him to hang out with all the zebras and sheep and elephants?
Even when things were still perfect and blissful in the Garden of Eden, God knew this wouldn't do. So he created women. Then he looked at all he created and said it was good. God invented marriage so that man would have a companion, and also said "be fruitful and increase in number" (have lots of babies... which... also... means have lots of sex :S). And why does the time a man devotes to his wife necessarily have to be separated from the time he spends with God? Yes, he needs his own quiet time and devotions, but he can also do that with his wife. I heard a stat. that 99 percent of couples that pray together will never divorce. There is no coincidence there; and that is clearly marriage blessed by God. Also, a man loves God by loving his wife, and a woman loves God by loving her husband. I think that marriage is something God created to show his love to us in a whole new way. I guess I can't offer much wisdom here because I'm not married, but God wants to bless people; he wants to show his love to people in a very real way through the spouse he gives to them.
"But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world—how she can please her husband." - Paul puts a negative spin on this, but there are other parts of the Bible where it tells women just how they are supposed to treat their husbands. Why would their be instruction on this if it was a bad thing? God wouldn't tell people the right way to conduct their marriage if he didn't agree with marriage.
Ok, so I'm pretty sure that you weren't trying to convey that marriage is a bad thing (am I right?) and I may have made it seem that way, but at the same time, you can't assume that people who choose to stay single -or who are called to stay single, because God doesn't plan for everyone to marry (though a heck of a lot of people get married)- are more spiritual than married people. (Holy run-on sentence, Batman!)
I personally hope that God blesses me with a husband one day, and I would like to think that there aren't going to be any smug single people out there thinking that I am a mediocre Christian because I got married. But if they do, then they do. I can't assume what other peoples' relationships with God are like, and I certainly cannot base it on their marital status.
Written by: Jenny Toews
Original Article: "Marriage is for Moderately Serious Christians"
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5 comments:
You make some very good points. My comments about your article are:
At the beginning of your article you said:
"God didn't create people then say "ohh whoops, they're horny and want to have sex with each other... didn't see that one coming! I better invent marriage so it's at least moral."
Someone could argue that and say:
"Well why did God create people to worship him and say "ohh whoops, they're sinners and want to commit horrible crimes...didn’t see that one coming! I better invent a son who will die for peoples sins so that they can at least live moral lives."
You spoke of other places in the Bible that put a positive light on marriage. The Bible does not contradict itself. How do you resolve what Paul says about marriage with what other parts of the Bible say about marriage?
Also, what does the rest of the Bible say about marriage?
And to answer your question, the point of the article was to put a negative spin on marriage and back it up using scripture.
You also said:
"but at the same time, you can't assume that people who choose to stay single -or who are called to stay single"
I did address that point in my article:
"those who remain single have more "potential" time and energy to spend on a relationship with God. However, it is up to the single person to take that potential and work on his relationship with God."
I appreciated what you had to say :)
Keep posting!
~Jordan
PS - You are not married yet, but what about Phil and Becky? What do they have to say about a biblical marriage?
"Well why did God create people to worship him and say "ohh whoops, they're sinners and want to commit horrible crimes...didn’t see that one coming! I better invent a son who will die for peoples sins so that they can at least live moral lives."
...But my whole point is that God knew what he was doing when he made us. Marriage and Jesus dying for us is kind of comparing apples and oranges, no? It's true, God probably didn't make us and want us turn on him so he'd have to send his only son to die... but he knew it would happen and he made us anyway. I personally think it wasn't this plan A/plan B thing. but that's totally not the same as marriage, because when God created us, he did so in a specific way, and made us with natural desires. Marriage wasn't just created after the fact as some cop out.
And as to "what does the Bible say about marriage?"
Well first of all, what about the fact that it talks about Jesus being the bridegroom and the church being the bride?? what a parallel. Why would that be such a big theme if marriage was unbiblical?
RE: Jenny
Very good point about the language that God uses in the Bible to communicate the idea of Christ's relationship to His church.
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