Talk about cherry picking, remember that accusation?? This is the pinacle of cherry picking.
Hear yourself. The 2 greatest commandments are love God and love your neighbor. No mention of marriage there. Really. Can you list the 50 other important concepts in the gospel that are not mentioned there? Go ahead and think about it for just 10 seconds and you should go, wow that was silly of me to say that.
Paul was an outstanding critic of marriage, that is for sure. If you have to because you cannot control yourself, then marry. But it is better not to be married. We all know that. God himself contradicts Paul. Who are you going to side with, God or Paul????
God says it is not good that man be alone.
Paul says it is better that a man be alone.
God says there is not the man without the woman, or the woman without the man.
Paul says it is better that a man is without the woman, and the woman without the man.
Who are you going to follow?? Actually Paul says these things of his own mind, not Gods word to him. So it is easy which one I would follow.
Perfect love is 1 attribute that God has in his perfection. He expects us to be as perfect as Him in the attribute of love, and all of His attributes. I could go through chapter 5 and give all the attributes that God expects us to be perfect in, but just read it again. I agree though that love is the most powerful and applicable attribute we can have.
God instituted marriage---He created Eve because He said it is not good for man to be alone----there was not one single other human there. Only animals. Of course it was obvious that every animal had a mate and Adam did not---Had Adam and Eve not fallen, they would still be in that same relationship and they had been given instructions to be fruitful and multiply. It is a lie that only after the fall were they able to procreate---God told them to be fruitful and multiply --what do you think that means and this false teaching that only Satan made it possible for them to have children is prove enough that JS was a false prophet. That is totally against scripture. Had they not fallen, they'd still be multiplying!!
Now---you'd think he would have been smart enough to leave that alone as he could have used that to substantiate a forever, eternal marriage---but he was not speaking for God and couldn't see the obvious.
There is no contradiction between Paul and God. It is still not good for man to be alone. But we are now in a fallen world with other sinners. The need for companionship is there, but there are millions of other humans now, and we have opportunity for friends which, before Eve, Adam did not. The whole thing was blown by Adam and Eve when they fell. The whole relationship changed, for it was only after the fall that God said
Gen 3:16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
Paul is talking about marriage with mans' fallen nature, not as God had made him. Jesus plainly stated the changed relationship now, after the fall, and that there is no marriage in heaven anymore. There will no longer be any need of it. No one will ever be alone again. He never said we would not be in relationships, that we would not have companionship---that we would not be with close friends forever. We will be. But there is no longer any need for sex--that is exactly what it boils down to for the children have been born. God will resurrect the innocent that have died. And those babies will be cared for and we will watch them grow. We will never have a need for a sexual partnership is what JS could not accept because of his own lust for women and wanting multiple wives on this earth and the next.
God gave Adam one woman-----period. If He felt he should have more, He would have created more than one for Him, but He did not.
Jesus stepped down from His being solely divine in order to save us---and He retains His humanity for ever. That is the price He paid. Things changed after the fall. Sex will not be a part of eternal life. That is the price we pay. But love and companionship and friendships will be, and each and everyone one will be eternal. God does not take away from us anything that we need. I will take His judgment over the fantasies of JS any day. If Jesus says there is no marriage in heaven, then there is none--He should know, He instituted it. JS was either deceived or he lied through his teeth, either way---what he says is not of God.