Originally Posted by kboleski  PianoManGidley, you are partly correct. You stated, "Marriage and hand-fastings--both monogamous and polygamous--were around in various cultures, including Pagan and Hebrew cultures, long before Christianity ever arose." After sin entered the world, the original design for marriage suffered some setbacks, and God began a process of re-educating and reforming his people. For a time there was polygamy. Moses conceded to divorce among his followers because of their "hardness of heart," but Jesus clearly declares that "from the beginning it was not so" (Matt. 19:8). He refers to Genesis 2 as he restores marriage to its original dignity: one man, one woman, becoming "one". Marriage comes from God, and it is meant to lead us closer to him. Shortly after God created humanity, he instituted marriage. This is evidenced in the second chapter of the Bible. "Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh." (Gen. 2:24) Christian marriage, like the other sacraments . . . is in itself a liturgical action glorifying God in Jesus Christ and in the Church. By celebrating it, Christian spouses profess their gratitude to God for the gift bestowed on them of being able to live in their married and family lives the very love of God for people and that of the Lord Jesus for the Church, his bride. Of course, anyone with a smattering of historical knowledge knows that the idea that marriage began somewhere in the Middle Ages, is a rediculous assertation. You are mistaken in your statement regarding when the Catholic Church's involement with the sacrament of marriage began. The Catholic Church - along with other faiths that profess belief in the one God - assert that marriage is God's idea. It originated with him. "God himself is the author of marriage." (Gaudium et Spes 48). It is for him, then, to teach us what it is. And He BEGINS our lesson from the ONSET of CREATION. "The vocation to marriage is written in the very nature of man and woman as they came from the hand of the Creator" (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1603). Man and woman are literally made for each other. "Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh" (Gen. 2:24). This was the beginning of marriage. AgesThis was the .belief long before the Middle Marriage is a call from God to seek holiness in a particular way, in a particular state of life, and with a particular person. This was the belief long before the 9th century, long before the Middle Ages, and long before Jesus. Of course, Christianity came about after the death of Jesus. With the death of Jesus came the New Covenant. The concept of not killing and every other edict we believe in came from God. You should brush up on your history. |