9. Married Love. The Pope explains the design of marriage and the outcomes that it should yield:
“Married love is also faithful and exclusive of all other, and this until death. This is how husband and wife understood it on the day on which, fully aware of what they were doing, they freely vowed themselves to one another in marriage. Though this fidelity of husband and wife sometimes presents difficulties, no one has the right to assert that it is impossible; it is, on the contrary, always honorable and meritorious. The example of countless married couples proves not only that fidelity is in accord with the nature of marriage, but also that it is the source of profound and enduring happiness.
Finally, this love is fecund. It is not confined wholly to the loving interchange of husband and wife; it also contrives to go beyond this to bring new life into being. "Marriage and conjugal love are by their nature ordained toward the procreation and education of children. Children are really the supreme gift of marriage and contribute in the highest degree to their parents' welfare."
The Issue: Marriages are failing, and in the United States the divorce rate is at 51%. Many people today are incapable of being “faithful and exclusive” to just one person and for that reason, people aren’t even getting married! Physiologically we can’t be satisfied with just one person anymore because most people don’t even understand what marriage is anymore. When a couple is married their goal is obviously to be enduringly happy, but lets be real what marriage is like this all the time? The Pope is stating that procreation is a necessity and that all married couple need to strive to have children. Lets face it, we are in the technology age where our generation is so consumed by their own wants and needs they don’t want to think about having children and concerning themselves with having the responsibility of raising another human being. Children will never lose their charm or cuteness, but the desire for conceiving children is not on the top of everyone’s to-do list.
Taking a Position: Where to begin? Marriage is a beautiful thing but it can be very ugly when done the wrong way. When one is married they are saying they will forever stay faithful to that one person. Referring back to a historical text from the Bible, “Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned? Can a man walk on hot coals without his feet being scorched? So is he who sleeps with another man's wife; no one who touches her will go unpunished.” Proverbs 5:27-29. God also designed men and women so they could be together in marriage, Matthew 19:4-6 States, 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." As far as procreation God wants us to reproduce, “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 1:28.
My historical beliefs have carried on since the life of Christ and I have adopted these beliefs for myself and I believe the Bible and its claims. When most other cultures are telling me not to think this way, I stay firm in God’s word.
Good post. I like your incorporation of scripture - it gives it a deeper position. I agree with you for the most part - marriage is supposed to be between two people, for life. The introduction of divorce into culture diminished the meaning behind marriage, and caused it to become essentially meaningless. When couples get married in today's culture, they don't fully understand what they are supposed to be committing themselves to.
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