What is marriage?

[arunangelo]

Marriage is a covenant of love between a man and a woman which is expressed by each one surrendering their own life, and offering it to the other to form a common life (Matthew 19:5-6). Since life is physiological, the only way they can unite their lives is by uniting their physiologies. Among all the physiologies we have, the only physiology in which two human beings can unite is in reproductive physiology. Since union of reproductive physiology is only possible between a man and a woman, marriage is only possible between a man and a woman. Furthermore, since conjugal union is reproductive in nature, willingness to freely accept children is the hallmark of marriage and marital love. Furthermore, to put barriers to reproduction by contraception is to go against the very nature of the act and their marriage covenant. Furthermore, since conception is the fruit of marital love expressed through unitive love, artificial insemination, in-vitro fertilization and cloning procedures dehumanize human reproduction by taking the act of unitive love out of it and converting it into a purely cellular process. This devalues the understanding of unitive love in marriage, thereby devaluing the meaning of marriage itself. This causes grave hurt to the institution of marriage which is the very foundation of society.

 

[Eltanin]

I don't quite agree... My marriage with my husband is a union of understanding, and a covenant between ourselves that no one else can define for us... Our most united moments do not happen when we are united in physiology, but when we unite our purposes to do something meaningful... We were married before we ever had sex, and before we ever had children...

We have united to bring about many goals, and although our children are the greatest blessings we have ever had from our union, our children were not the reason we married, they are a blessing we received because of our marriage... At the same time, children can be a major strain on a marriage, especially if a couple are not able to financially support them... If a husband and wife cannot support an unlimited brood, then how is it right for them to keep reproducing, when they don't have the means to reasonably and responsibly support the continuance of having more children?

What of the men and women who marry and never have children... what if they unable to have children... is their marriage void because they have not reproduced? Is their union unfulfilled? I would have to say they are as married as anyone, as long as they have a union of purpose...

At one time, having more children was the way to support a family, but now, it is almost impossible to support too many children... If people believed reproductive sex was the indicator of marriage, and that contraceptives were completely bad, it would lead to misery, neglect, and abuse in a world where people find it hard to support themselves.

 

[aspen]

marriage is change. If you do not change together, you get left behind.

 

[Foreigner]

Furthermore, to put barriers to reproduction by contraception is to go against the very nature of the act and their marriage covenant.

-- Opinions like this are always so simplistic to those who have never had to deal with difficulties associated with this in their own lives.
There are women who, due to physical issues or other medical problems, would be risking their very lives by carrying a child, let alone go through the process of childbirth.

There are also women and men who are on medications - either for physical or mental issues - that greatly increase the chance of serious birth defects or death for any conceived child.

To chose to go without those medications when they are pregnant can cause some terrible, even life-threatening issues for women. Forget the fact that having the medications/chemicals in their body at the time of conception can be enough to guarantee some birth defects.

Apparently, your feelings are that the only way to address these issues is to obstain completely from sex or "take their chances." This even though God gave sex to married couples as a gift.

Hopefully for you, you will never have to live up to your own standards.