What is marriage ?

USA & Canada

January 16, 2015

July 1, 2015

February 27, 2015

February 19, 2008

December 17, 2009

January 29, 2015

If marriage can mean ANYTHING,

then marriage means NOTHING.

What is Marriage according to Jesus?

image: mafleen~ The Gospel of Matthew 19:3-6 ~

Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:1 freedom of conscience and religion; 2 freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression,

including freedom of the press and other media of communication;

3 freedom of peaceful assembly; and 4 freedom of association.

3 And the Pharisees came up to him to

Matthew 19:3-6

test him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorceone’s wife for any cause?”

3 And the Pharisees came up to him to

Matthew 19:3-6

test him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorceone’s wife for any cause?”

4 He answered, “Have you not read thathe who created them from the beginningmade them male and female, 5 and said,

Matthew 19:3-6

“‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife,and they shall become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two but one flesh.What therefore God has joined together,let no man separate.”

“…from the beginning….”

“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over

the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over

every other creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him;

male and female he created them. ~ Genesis 1:26-28

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.”

~ Genesis 1:26-28

Make love. Make babies.

Raise children.

The Mandate

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone;

I will make him a helper fit for him.…”

~ Genesis 2:18-25

Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man

to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every

beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him….

~ Genesis 2:18-25

So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of

his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought

her to the man.

~ Genesis 2:18-25

Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones

    and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman,

    because she was taken out of Man.”

~ Genesis 2:18-25

Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they

shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

~ Genesis 2:18-25

“What therefore God has joined together,

let no man separate.”

~ Jesus of Nazareth in The Gospel of Matthew, 19:6

“…the Lord was witness between you and the wife of your youth…she is your

companion and your wife by covenant. Did not he make

them one…? ~ Malachi 2:14-15

Marriage is a covenantal relationship established by God in which

he joins together a man and a woman into a one flesh union where the

husband and wife can also be father and mother to any children their one

flesh union produces.

What is marriage acc. to Jesus?

Out of one, God made two so that

the two could become one.

Adopt Jesus’ view of God’s design

Be prepared to speak the truth in love.

“You know, this is actually a very personal question you are

asking, and I’d be glad to answer. But before I do, I want

to know if you consider yourself a tolerant or an

intolerant person. Is it safe to give my opinion, or are you

going to judge me for my point of view? Do you respect diverse

points of view, or do you condemn others for convictions

that differ from you?”

Be prepared to speak the truth in love.

Sherif GirgisOxford, Yale, &

Princeton

Ryan T. Anderson

Princeton, Notre Dame

Robert George

Harvard, Princeton

“Two men or two women together is, in truth, nothing like a man and a woman creating a life and a family

together…. Marriage is not an elastic term. It is immutable. It offers the very best for children and society. We should not adulterate nor mutilate its

definition, thereby denying its riches to current and future generations.”

“I’m Gay and I Oppose Same-Sex Marriage” by Doug Mainwaring / March 8, 2013

image credit: mafleen https://www.flickr.com/photos/mafleen/8472558582/https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/

flickr images courtesy of:

image credit: MorrowLesshttps://www.flickr.com/photos/morrowless/3003380784/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/

image credit: Erinhttps://www.flickr.com/photos/ephotography29/1413268213/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/