Yes, I share what I have learned so far.
My main source is GW, but I am grateful to all people—famous philosophers and anonymous acquaintances—who have helped shape my beliefs, including y'all on CC. I c&p from my website, but I am not permitted to give it. (Hint: It has to do with truthseekers.)
Glad you enjoy my posts and threads. I felt my original calling was to improve the quality of Bible teaching in SBC churches,
but my opportunities to do so have been limited by my poor memory that caused me to fail the seminary oral doctoral exam,
which is a reason I write my knowledge on a website so I won't forget it, although I am not dead yet, so I hope y'all younger folks will be boosted by what I share on CC and pass it on.
Marriage
Jesus taught about marriage in
Matthew 19:4-6, saying “…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.” We see from this statement that marriage is a spiritual union of a man and woman until death.
The marital commitment is—or should be—signified by sexual union or becoming “one flesh” (Gen. 2:24). There is no mention of legal matters such as licenses and traditional customs such as ceremonies, although these may be good to satisfy for the purpose of avoiding being “a stumbling block to the weak” (1Cor. 8:9), who do not understand the essence of marriage.
The phrase about leaving one’s father and mother indicates that a man (and presumably also a woman) should be ready for marriage by attaining a sufficient degree of independence from their parents, both financial and psychological. And since most methods of birth control are not completely effective, we can assume that they also should be prepared to become parents themselves, even if they hope not to have a child for awhile. Since parenting involves a lot more than procreation, readiness for parenthood implies a sufficient degree of spiritual maturity. Sex/marriage is not a natural right but rather a God-given responsibility.
Of course, readiness for marriage should be combined with willingness or the desire to get married. Although not many people desire life-long celibacy, we must assume that God enables people to remain celibate until they are married, because we know that fornication or extra-marital sexual activity is wrong. In Matt. 5:27 Jesus said “You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery’. But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” As Paul says in 1Cor. 7:9, “If they cannot control themselves [do not have the gift of life-long celibacy], they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion [lust].”
God intends for sexual union to express marital love and commitment. Pornography is that which encourages, recommends or promotes fornication, lust or extra-marital sexual activity. It is immoral because it subverts happy marriages and family values. Jesus sought to convey the severity of the sin of lust by saying it would be better to lose the offending part of the body (Matt. 5:29-30). However, some people including many Muslims seem to view masturbation as worse than fornication or even rape. The misery resulting from sexual immorality includes horrible illnesses, but ungodly people prefer to cure the physical disease rather than their spiritual sickness.
Jesus concluded his teaching on marriage in Matt. 19:6 by saying, “What God has joined together [made one], let man not separate.” Obviously, people are not permanently joined physically, so
that which must not be separated refers to their spiritual unity. A man and woman are free to work out their marital relationship in the way that best fits their personalities, but let me point out that Eve was created from Adam’s side to be his partner rather than from his foot to be his slave (Gen. 2:20-24). Both male and female are created in God’s image (Gen. 1:27). In Christ, there is no male and female, but both are one (Gal. 3:28) or equal. And both husband and wife are commanded to submit to one another by Paul (in Eph. 5:21). God desires consensus/consensual relationships.
In the same way that the essence of marriage is spiritual union, so the reality of
divorce occurs when the man and wife become spiritually separated. This realization should motivate spouses to work on the quality of their communication before serious problems develop in their relationship, because spiritual divorce is the sin (of divorce). Not only that, but allowing unrighteous anger that leads to spiritual divorce is sinful. Paul admonishes us (in Eph. 4:26-27) to “not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil [demon divorce] a foothold.” [and do not get angry again the next morning!]
IOW, a miserable marriage is akin to the sin of divorce, which refers to spiritual reality as much as to legality. Jesus taught (in Matt. 5:31-32a and 19:6-9) that the only permissible reason for legal divorce is marital unfaithfulness or when the sin of spiritual divorce signified by adultery (a form of fornication) has already occurred. This leaves only celibacy or a happy marriage as permissible alternatives.
