All the "gay marriage" threads here and in E&M lead me to notice that people are bringing different assumptions to the table about what constitutes a marriage. So I'm starting this thread to explore those assumptions. I want it to address four questions:
1. Biblically, what was considered a marriage? Are there clear pointers in Scripture to what pleases God about marriages?
2. What constitutes a Christian marriage? Do the specifics differ from what God approved of or allowed in Scripture?
3. What constitutes a civil marriage, in countries such as I believe we all live in where the Church does not dictate what the state may recognize as a valid marriage (and by extension how one is ended)?
4. What does "recognizing" the marriage of another mean? What is our Christian duty as regards civil actions regarding marriage that we may not approve of?
While I'm absolutely certain that somebody is going to bring up gay marriages in this thread, let me be clear that that is not the topic here. We're addressing what of the overwhelming majority of man-woman relationships of quasi-marital characteristics meet the above questions. If someone wants to make clear that man-man or woman-woman reklationships do or do not fit any of the above definitions, that's their privilege. But I'd request that the thread not be hijacked into that already-discussed-at-length topic, and that we focus on discussing what marriage has meant and today means Biblically, in Christian understanding, and in civil society -- that members report, and staff moderate, posts that go off on that or another hijack from the stated topic.
And, because I know it's going to be a very early post element anyway, to get us started, here's Jesus on marriage and divorce, fro Matthew 19:
1 Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these sayings, that He departed from Galilee and came to the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. 2 And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them there.
3 The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?
4 And He answered and said to them, Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning made them male and female, 5 and said, For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh? 6 So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.
7 They said to Him, Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?
8 He said to them, Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. 9 And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.
10 His disciples said to Him, If such is the case of the man with his wife, it is better not to marry.
1. Biblically, what was considered a marriage? Are there clear pointers in Scripture to what pleases God about marriages?
2. What constitutes a Christian marriage? Do the specifics differ from what God approved of or allowed in Scripture?
3. What constitutes a civil marriage, in countries such as I believe we all live in where the Church does not dictate what the state may recognize as a valid marriage (and by extension how one is ended)?
4. What does "recognizing" the marriage of another mean? What is our Christian duty as regards civil actions regarding marriage that we may not approve of?
While I'm absolutely certain that somebody is going to bring up gay marriages in this thread, let me be clear that that is not the topic here. We're addressing what of the overwhelming majority of man-woman relationships of quasi-marital characteristics meet the above questions. If someone wants to make clear that man-man or woman-woman reklationships do or do not fit any of the above definitions, that's their privilege. But I'd request that the thread not be hijacked into that already-discussed-at-length topic, and that we focus on discussing what marriage has meant and today means Biblically, in Christian understanding, and in civil society -- that members report, and staff moderate, posts that go off on that or another hijack from the stated topic.
And, because I know it's going to be a very early post element anyway, to get us started, here's Jesus on marriage and divorce, fro Matthew 19:
1 Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these sayings, that He departed from Galilee and came to the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. 2 And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them there.
3 The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?
4 And He answered and said to them, Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning made them male and female, 5 and said, For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh? 6 So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.
7 They said to Him, Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?
8 He said to them, Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. 9 And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.
10 His disciples said to Him, If such is the case of the man with his wife, it is better not to marry.