Just what IS "marriage" anyway?

[FreshFish]

Read several extremely fascinating articles recently on this topic. If this thread gains any traction, I'll post some excerpts.

Basically, two different models which are pretty much incompatible.

One model posits that "marriage" is primarily a social institution whose main purpose is to promote inter-generational stability: love, sex, children, lifetime commitment to the other partner, all are interconnected to form a social unit called the "family" and it is a vehicle by which we bring children from infancy to self-sufficiency and adulthood so that they can then repeat the process and perpetuate a healthy society.

A different model posits that "marriage" is primarily devoted to the pleasure and enjoyment that the partners find in being with each other. The purpose of marriage is to have society recognize that these two people share a special bond between them. Thanks to birth control, you can have plenty of sex without getting married; if you can't find a decent man, you can still have children if you want and raise them on your own. The interconnectedness of the traditional model is all severed; each of the elements that had previously been interconnected now all stand separately, each on its own.




For those who like to slog through long thoughtful articles, which recognize the validity of both models for certain people and speculate about long-term consequences of one or the other....

http://douthat.blogs.nytimes.com/201...e-of-marriage/

http://stateofourunions.org/2010/whe...disappears.php

[St. Clown]

Re: Just what IS "marriage" anyway?

Mawwage. Mawwage is what bwings us togevvaw heewr today.

[pirate]

Re: Just what IS "marriage" anyway?

Mawwage. Mawwage is what bwings us togevvaw heewr today.

Man and wife! Say it. Man and wife!!!


Marriage is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me, it has made me a better peson, made me a better listener, made me crazier than a rabid vampire bat trapped in a blood bank, made me a better father, made me a better lover, made me want to rip my heart out and stomp on it with muddy boots...wait, sorry. Marriage is the best thing that ever happened to me.

[jmh]

Re: Just what IS "marriage" anyway?

Mawwage. Mawwage is what bwings us togevvaw heewr today.

Mawwage is a dweam wivvin a dweam. The dweam of wuv wapped wivvin the gweater dweam of everwasting west.

[mookie1995]

Re: Just what IS "marriage" anyway?

In would like scotus to define marriage as between me and Hiromi Oshima.

[MavHockey14]

Re: Just what IS "marriage" anyway?

Man + Woman = Marraige

[Timothy A]

Re: Just what IS "marriage" anyway?

Genesis 2:22-24
Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman, ' for she was taken out of man." For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

Genesis 1:27-28 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Matthew 19:4-6
"Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,' and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh' ? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."

Hebrews 13:4
4 Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.

[FreshFish]

Re: Just what IS "marriage" anyway?

Marriage is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me, it has made me a better peson, made me a better listener, made me crazier than a rabid vampire bat trapped in a blood bank, made me a better father, made me a better lover, made me want to rip my heart out and stomp on it with muddy boots...wait, sorry. Marriage is the best thing that ever happened to me.

Marriage, spouse, fatherhood, for me have all been wrapped together to transform my life as well, shape my daily purpose, discipline my impulses toward long-term self-improvement instead of instant gratification. The ability to ask my wife to help me reflect on decisions, and to be asked by her to help her reflect on hers, have also provided us both with better careers and more satisfaction at work and at home.

Also I get to live in a tastefully decorated house with a wonderful garden!

[Gurtholfin]

Re: Just what IS "marriage" anyway?

If there was a "Shat-Stirrer of the Year" award, FF would win running away.

[DaveStPaul]

Re: Just what IS "marriage" anyway?

Read several extremely fascinating articles recently on this topic. If this thread gains any traction, I'll post some excerpts.

Basically, two different models which are pretty much incompatible.

I couldn't disagree more.

[unofan]

Genesis 2:22-24
Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman, ' for she was taken out of man." For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

Genesis 1:27-28 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Matthew 19:4-6
"Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,' and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh' ? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."

Hebrews 13:4
4 Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.

And yet, the bible has no issues with polygamy. Abraham had 3 wives and a number of concubines. David had 22 wives/concubines. Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines.

[mookie1995]

And yet, the bible has no issues with polygamy. Abraham had 3 wives and a number of concubines. David had 22 wives/concubines. Solomon as well.

Giddy up!

[Gurtholfin]

Re: Just what IS "marriage" anyway?

Giddy up!

No doubt. Why don't I have concubines? Why don't we ALL have concubines?

[FreshFish]

Re: Just what IS "marriage" anyway?

I couldn't disagree more.

Please explicate, I'd like to learn.

Perhaps I misunderstand the models. I thought one was based on subjugating individual autonomy for long-term goals greater than oneself and one's partner, while the other was based primarily on the self and partner being the central focus. If you understand them differently, I'd genuinely like to know how.

Thanks.

[FreshFish]

Re: Just what IS "marriage" anyway?

and yet, the bible Old Testament has no issues with polygamy. Abraham had 3 wives and a number of concubines. David had 22 wives/concubines. Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines.

fyp.