May 31, 2012 -- 9:06AM, matica wrote:

Sorry guys, I couldn't get around to posting on the marriage equality debate. And that one person who didn't like my question because it's already on another board, this is america, if you don't like to read something, you have the freedom to not read it and this is a christian debate board, so I will reframe my debate topic.


Christians and christian leaders, are up in arms about the defamation of the traditional constitution of marriage. But what they don't talk about is in bible times, marriages were not what they are today. Marriages were arranged business deals. Daughters were sold, wives were sold for land, cattle, peace, etc.


So if christian who follow the bible want traditional marriage, shouldn't they do it the bible way?      

Much better, and entirely appropriate for this board.

Thank you.

May 31, 2012 -- 9:06AM, matica wrote:

Christians and christian leaders, are up in arms about the defamation of the traditional constitution of marriage. But what they don't talk about is in bible times, marriages were not what they are today. Marriages were arranged business deals. Daughters were sold, wives were sold for land, cattle, peace, etc.

The NT, which is the foundation for Christian marriage, doesn’t mention that marriages were arranged business deals.  Neither does the NT say that daughters were sold for land, for cattle, or for peace.

Furthermore, not all Christians rely solely upon the Bible for information on marriage.

Since you don’t rely upon the Bible to inform your knowledge of Christians, their leaders, and their combined views on marriage, I’d say you need to educate yourself before advising Christians that they should “do marriage” the “bible way”.

Because I'm a baptised Catholic, if you ask my church they would say that only if I marry a man in a Roman Catholic church do I have a valid marriage (although I do think a RC can get a dispensation from a Bishop to marry a non-Catholic in a ceremony conducted in the spouse's church). 

My husband and I (both baptised Catholics) got married by a justice of the peace. Our marriage was considered invalid so we weren't eligible to receive Holy Communion (unless my husband and I "lived as brother in sister" in the words of my priest) because in the eyes of the church we were not married at all. We had to have our marriage "convalidated" by a priest in a church ceremony in order for me to be eligible to receive Holy Communion.

This is to give an example of the different rules about marriage different Christian denominations have.

Edit to add: Of course the RC doesn't expect non-Catholics to hold to their view of what a valid marriage is; unless of course non-Catholics want to marry someone of the same gender. They consider anybody's same-sex marriage to be immoral, as they view polygamy.

I hope that my addition doesn't get your thread moved, matica. I thought I should state the RC's beliefs more completely.

Does the Bible specifically say that marriage is between one man and one woman?

• Polygynous Marriage

Probably the most common form of marriage in the bible, it is where a man has more than one wife.

• Levirate Marriage

When a woman was widowed without a son, it became the responsibility of the brother-in-law or a close male relative to take her in and impregnate her.  If the resulting child was a son, he would be considered the heir of her late husband.  See Ruth, and the story of Onan (Gen. 38:6-10).

• A man, a woman and her property — a female slave

The famous “handmaiden” sketch, as preformed by Abraham (Gen. 16:1-6) and Jacob (Gen. 30:4-5).

• A man, one or more wives, and some concubines

The definition of a concubine varies from culture to culture, but they tended to be live-in mistresses.  Concubines were tied to their “husband,” but had a lower status than a wife.  Their children were not usually  heirs, so they were safe outlets for sex without risking the line of succession.  To see how badly a concubine could be treated, see the famous story of the Levite and his concubine (Judges 19:1-30).

• A male soldier and a female prisoner of war

Women could be taken as booty from a successful campaign and forced to become wives or concubines.  Deuteronomy 21:11-14 describes the process.

• A male rapist and his victim

Deuteronomy 22:28-29 describes how an unmarried woman who had been raped must marry her attacker.

• A male and female slave

A female slave could be married to a male slave without consent, presumably to produce more slaves.

and of course …

• Monogamous, heterosexual marriage

What you might think of as the standard form of marriage, provided you think of arranged marriages as the standard.  Also remember that inter-faith or cross-ethnic marriage were forbidden for large chunks of biblical history