One way that Christianity frames the idea of marriage is that it is for life. Take note that there is a difference between how Churches view divorce: some don't admit it at all; others allow it in the case of adultery, while others will grant divorce for less serious issues, but we can agree that all Christian Churches allow divorce rather reluctantly.
Christianity views divorce more like a surgical operation, a separating or dissecting of the body, Jesus has this to say about the dissolution of a marriage: "what therefore God has joined together, let not man separate (Mark 10:9).
Love for each other is certainly one of the reasons that two people get married, but it is not to be the only reason for remaining married. People "fall out of love," but if love was the only reason for staying married it would leave no room for "the contract" or promises made before others and God.
Do these words sound familiar?
In the presence of God, our family and friends, I offer you my solemn vow to be your faithful partner in sickness and in health, in good times and in bad, and in joy as well as in sorrow. I promise to love you unconditionally, to support you in your goals, to honor and respect you, to laugh with you and cry with you, and to cherish you for as long as we both shall live.
To those who have taken the marriage vow, recommit your energy to those vows; both before your spouse and before your God.
Why should any marriage end when "both shall live" goes away?
ReplyDeleteI believe that God has provided a way through His Priesthood that we may be bound together Eternally.
Elder Barnes,
http://foundationsofpeace.blogspot.com
Elder Barnes, to answer your question, "why does marriage end at the death of the man and woman?" Historical Christianity has always viewed the Synoptic Gospels account (that there will be no marriages in heaven or married people in heaven as our basis for holding our position (no marring in haven). (Matthew 22:23-33; Mark 12:18-27; Luke 20:27-38.
Delete1 Corinthians 7:39 indicates that a husband/wife are bound to each other by the law as long as the other spouse is alive, but if that spouse dies, the other spouse if FREE to marry whoever they want "in the Lord."
Elder Barnes I find no evidence in the Scriptures that a man and women are eternally bound together---through the priesthood of God.Now you may find that teaching in the Book of Mormon, but it is not supported by the Scriptures.
here is a quick exegesis of the above passages in the Synoptic Gospels by (Eric Johnson):
In an account given in the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew 22:23-33; Mark 12:18-27; Luke 20:27-38), Jesus was approached by members of the Sadducees, the Jewish religious party that did not believe in a bodily resurrection from the dead. In an attempt to trick Him, these leaders presented what appears to be a hypothetical situation involving seven brothers. When the oldest brother died, he left a wife and no children. As was the custom in those days, the next oldest unmarried brother took the woman for his wife. However, the second brother died, as did the third through seventh brothers. Before they died, each of them had married the oldest brother's wife, making her a widow seven times over.
The question they asked Jesus was: "In the resurrection therefore, when they shall rise, whose wife shall she be of them? For the seven had her to wife" (Mark 12:23). Jesus chastised his inquisitors, saying in verse 25 that those who die would "neither marry nor are given in marriage."
At face value and as it has been historically interpreted, Jesus appears to be saying that heaven will be much different than life as we know it on earth. We may wonder why Jesus and the biblical writers didn't give more specific details about heaven, but to the question that asked about the afterlife, Jesus told them that they erred "because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God." He repeated his condemnation in verse 27.(http://www.mrm.org/mark-12-25)