Marriage

Verses used: Genesis 2:18, 21-24

The Vatican

In a letter titled, Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan, the Catholic Bishops use these verses to suggest that Adam and Eve were literally made for each other. They say that man and woman have been made to come together in the union of marriage clinging together of husband and wife as one flesh. In the letter, its says that man and woman are both different, male and female, but the same as human persons who are uniquely suited to be partners or helpmates for each other. In addition, they say that marriage is a unique communion of persons. In their intimate union as male and female, the spouses are called to exist for each other. Just as Genesis describes Eve as a helper for Adam, we can see that in marriage, a husband and wife are meant to help each other through self-giving. “In the ‘unity of the two,‘ man and woman are called from the beginning not only to exist ‘side by side‘ or ‘together,‘ but they are also called to exist mutually one for the other.‟

Source: http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/marriage-and-family/marriage/love-and-life/upload/pastoral-letter-marriage-love-and-life-in-the-divine-plan.pdf

Genesis 24:48-51, 58-67

Rev. Darren M. Henson, a priest of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas (Catholic)

Rev. Henson uses Genesis 24:48-51, 58-67 to illustrate that marriage is an act from God. In this section of the bible, Isaac’s mother dies and Abraham looks to give Isaac a wife. Henson says that this section at first appears to be a pre-arranged marriage but actually illustrates that marriage is made by God. In this verses, Abraham’s main intent is not to pick his son’s wife. Instead, he seeks the fulfillment of a promise made by God to give Abraham descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky. Laban prays to be guided to the right young woman, to Henson, this prayer helps to verify that this process is done with God. In addition, Rebekah’s consent also helps verifies that she is participating in God’s will, not some coercive act. We also know that Isaac did not just accept her but he took her into his tent. He loved her, and they married.

Source: http://www.foryourmarriage.org/old-testament-readings/

 Genesis 2:18, 20, 22-25

Andreas J. Kostenberger is the Director of Ph.D. Studies and Professor of New Testament at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

In her brochure, titled The Bible’s Teaching on Marriage and Family, Kostenberger says that marriage is a covenant, “a sacred bond between a man and a woman instituted by and publicly entered into before God and normally consummated by sexual intercourse.” She says that marriage covenant involves at least the following five vital principles: The permanence of marriage, the sacredness of marriage, the intimacy of marriage, the mutuality of marriage, and the exclusiveness of marriage.  These five principles are derived from the biblical verses. Which suggest that marriage is not only permanent, sacred, intimate, and mutual; it is also exclusive. This means that no other human relationship must interfere with the marriage commitment between husband and wife.

http://www.frc.org/brochure/the-bibles-teaching-on-marriage-and-family

Schearing, Linda S., and Valarie H. Ziegler. Enticed by Eden: How American Culture Uses, Confuses, (and Sometimes Abuses) Adam and Eve. Waco, TX: Baylor UP, 2013.

Finding a book can be difficult, but if you use the online catalog you can easily find related books to what you are looking. In my case, I wanted to find a book related to the Bible and interpretation. While doing so, the first book that got my attention was Enticed by Eden: How American Culture Uses, Confuses, (and Sometimes Abuses) Adam and Eve. I decided to search for it and reading the back, I found it very interesting. The back reads: “Sex, seduction, and perfect marriage. Though it may not have been the intent of Genesis 1-3, the biblical first couple has been used for generations to sell consumable goods and strange ideologies –both salacious and holy—to willing western buyers.” This got my attention and I wanted to know what the books purpose was. As I kept reading, the authors mention how both religious and secular groups have recast the archetypal image of Adam, Eve, and the Garden of Eden. To do this, they have consulted cultural artifacts and demonstrate how the ancient family has been born again in the image of man, woman, and marketplace. I think this book is a great example of interpreting the story of Adam and Eve and this book shows us that interpretations can change over time.

While I was checking out Enticed by Eden,I came across multiple books that talked about Evolution and Creation. This didn’t really surprise me as there is a lot of controversy on which one is correct. What really got my attention was the fact that a night before I saw a video that talked about creation and that discredited evolution. The speaker in the video had many interesting point like, how much faith does it take an atheist to believe that creation occurred due to an accident that started with one cell? How can chaos create order? And he said that how can intelligence of human beings be an accident, this required a creator, an intelligent creator. To further this, he says, the word universe means “one single spoken statement”. That is exactly what took God to create, we see this in Genesis where He said “let there be” and it was created.