As of late, marriage seems rather the trendy thing to do around here. I am pro-marriage, I think it's a wonderful idea. Obviously, it was created by God and He makes all things good right? I think the institution of marriage portrays God's love for us, the fact that we can learn to love another human being, the shared intimacy, how artistically a God we serve! And how benevolent of him to allow us to partake in something so wonderful and beautiful. We could never come up with this on our own. They mystery of two becoming one, the analogy of us Christians as the bride of Christ is so rich. It bewilders and perplexes me to think of a gift so grand being so theological. Marriage was created for a man and woman, to be fruitful and multiply, to love and serve one another and so much more. Marriage is a good thing, something I hope for someday.
But,should we jump on the bandwagon because its the popular christian school thing to do? I will evade the fallacy of over-generalizing by commenting that I think Christian schools are great places to find spouses, and I have seen many a wonderful marriages stem from these couples. Again, I insert another "but". I have seen the raving passions and over-romanticized relationships take their seat at Moody. Was not marriage a community effort as recorded in ancient Jewish culture? The family was heavily involved as well as the rest of the community. This was a process and quite a big deal. Marriage was not a follow up to a month of dating. A couple did not decide courtship on their own. I feel sad and heavy for those I hear of entering a marriage due to passion and dreams. Yes, dream. Dream friends, and love, but use discernment and think. Let me refute a few common presuppositions I hear:
"Well, I knew (insert name of he/she), was the one."
-Where in the Bible is "the one"? If you find it, don't hesitate to inform me.
"I Corth. 7 says if we can't wait then we should get married"
-Do you understand the context of this passage? Paul is addressing the ravaging sex the Corinthians were having because they would not commit! This is not a command to "go for it" because you can't control your hormones. The language here is descriptive, not prescriptive. Hermeneutics my friends, hermeneutics. It does matter. It doesn't take a Greek scholar to figure this out. Laziness and isegisis result from the blindness of us our deceitful hearts, wanting to take a scripture from its original context and use it to defend ourselves. We shake our heads at the liberals yet we commit the same fallacy for different reasons.
"Proverbs says he who finds a wife.."
-Again, hermeneutics. Doesn't proverbs also warn us against hasty decisions without wise counsel?
Ok, I realize my language is strong, but this is a blog-post therefore I do not apologize. I am opinionated and passionate. This post is to cause one to think, not to quickly change the mind. The idolatry of relationships is a prevalent sin among Christian colleges. Marriage is a good thing, to be taken seriously. Take your relationship under an older-wiser couple. Invite the church in, invite your family in before you tell them your getting married. What do your friends say? The church has lost the biblical view of marriage. Oh, I have so much more to say based on my observations and my own personal study as well as interviewing others on this subject. Marriage is not the goal. glorifying God is. Marriage will not make you happier or satisfy you, only Christ can.
As one who will be entering the counseling field as well as continue to study theology, this is important to me. We wonder why the divorce rates are rising among Christians, do we really take marriage seriously as should be?
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