Marrige Essay, Research Paper

Theology Course WorkQUESTION ONE:EXPLAIN HOW THE RITUALS AND VOWS CONNECTED WITHCHRISTIAN MARRIAGE CEREMONIES MIGHT INFLUENCE THEDIFFERING WAYS THAT COUPLES APPROACH MARRIAGE ANDMARITAL BREAKDOWN.The Christian marriage ceremony consists of many parts and are held in manydifferent places. the most popular place for marriage to be held in a church becausepeople want to be presence of God.The marriage vows are the most important part of the marriage ceremony. themarriage service may vary in the different branches of Christianity, but the vowsare present in al marriage services. the vows are spoken aloud and state that theywish to be joined by marriage to their partner for the rest of their lives, to showtheir commitment the couple exchange rings. in orthodox churches a crown is usedinstead of a ring, the crown is called a stefana and is placed on the couple’s headsby the vicar or minister.The marriage vows are shown below:I, –, take you,–,to be my (husband/wife)to have and to holdfrom this day forward;for better, for worse,for richer. for poorer,in sickness and in health,to love and to cherish,till death us do part,according to God’s holy law;and this is my solemn vow.Marriage is a major lifelong commitment to somebody it should not be takenlightly, because of this the church prepares the couple as well as they can, usually apriest talks to the couple about the Christian teaching of marriage, and usually preywith them as well.The marriage ceremony itself starts with the vicar or minister asking if there’s anyknown reason why marriage shouldn’t take place. After this the vicar/minister asksthe couple “will thou have?” (will you marry each other?). The Vicar/Minister thenstarts to read out the vows, after the couple recite the vows, and the rings are placeon their hands they are pronounced husband and wife. The marriage register isthen sighned by the couple two witnesses must be present it is usually the best manand the chief bridesmaid.The Bible teaches that a man should leave his mother and father and be made onewith his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. The Bible also teaches thatmarriage is a sacrament in which a baptised man and woman vow to be together ina loving caring responsible partnership “until death do us part”Most people want to get married to show the love and care they have for eachother. Of course there are some people just get married to make their partner feelgood or even for money but these marriages don t often last very long. In a recentpoll it was found that 82 percent of children in the UK aimed to get married whenthey grew up, this shows that marriage is the most popular option in a relationship.Of course not everybody wants to get married this is probably because they don tmeet the right person or perhaps do not wish to get married.Humanists views are that in the UK marriage has always basically been a civilcontract. Until the 16th century a couple who were getting married only had tomake a declaration outside the church door in front of a witness to be married. Butnow a couple are not legally married until they have sighned the marriage registryin front of a witness. Usually humanists marry in a registry office and celebrate asthey choose afterwards. Humanists also think that a marriage is in fact thebeginning of a relationship between a couple, and that the two partners should carea great deal about one another be tolerant respectful and talk about personalproblems together. They also feel that sex is most defiantly not the most importantpart of a relationship.Roman Catholics consider marriage to be a man and woman completely devotingthemselves to one another in a total union of love. this love must be true and not

just a passing emotion or a temporary infatuation. You should stick together duringthe good times and bad, and only death can part youA marriage can have many problems such as a baby being born, this causesproblems because the couple’s time would be taken up by the baby, this wouldcause the couple to have less time to themselves. Or perhaps if one of the couplelose their job, this could cause the other partner to become annoyed because theirhusband/wife is hanging around the house all day doing nothing. Money shortageis another common problem among couples, it can cause a lot of arguments andsometimes it can cause a break-up. Marrying young and then becoming board withtheir partner because they had “changed” is yet another problem among couples,this usually leads to an affair or perhaps a divorce. sometimes working all the timeor being away from home a lot of can lead to problems within a marriage, becausethe other partner is left at home alone a lot of the time.When people get serious problems in a marriage it is a good idea to visit ofmarriage guidance council. At this marriage guidance session a councillor talks tothe couple about their problems and tries to solve them by talking to the couple.In extreme cases a couple might get a divorce. In some Christian traditionsdivorces are forbidden, one example is the Catholic church, it teaches thatmarriage is a sacrament and no “human agent” has the power, or right to breaksomething that was made by God. Because of this a the divorce in the Catholicchurch is meaningless it is like saying that you were never born. if your reasons aregood enough you can get an annulment which is where it is said that the marriagenever took place. Some Christian churches do allow divorce because they seemarriage as a contract which shouldn’t be broken but can be. In fact Jesus did saythat divorce is allowed, but only because “the hardness of people’s hearts made itinevitable that some marriages wouldn’t work.”When there is a divorce concerning children there can be very big problems. Thereare often custody battles and children can be affected psychologically, it can alsodisrupt their progress in school. It has been shown by long-term studies thatchildren that spend more time with their parents and brothers or sisters are muchmore likely not to get involved in drugs, teenage pregnancies, and unemployment.By using the information above I conclude that different people approach marriagein different ways, most people approach it with a very serious attitude and areready the future, others don’t approach it with the right attitude at all and often arenot certain about weather they want to go through with it or not.Some people get married very quickly after meeting each other, sometimes thesepeople are just getting married to satisfy last or maybe just a please their partner,these marriages rarely last very long. This could be because the couple find thingsout about each other which make them regret getting married. or perhaps thecouple grow apart and stop caring for each other this is sometimes caused by lustbeing confused with love.Most people prepare fully for the their marriage, and do relay care for and loveeach other. These people usually stay together happily for a very long time.Although some of these couples may get divorced but most stay together untildeath parts them.There’s also a small majority of people who get married to someone the only to findthat him/her has been keeping secrets from them. Usually when this is discoveredthe marriage suffers from major problems and in the end of divorce could takeplace.In today’s world divorce is quite common among partners. Unfortunately manypeople see divorce as an easy way out of a marriage with problems, many of thesepeople don’t even attend counselling to sort out their problems. Of course there aresome people will try their hardest to deal with their problems by talking tocouncillors to see if the matter can be solved, and only if there’s no other choicewill get a divorce.