Christianity- Marriage & The Family

• Purpose of Marriage:

  • Procreation
  • To make Promises
  • Follow biblical teachings
  • To get God's blessing
• Vows are important because they are a promise to God and reflect what Jesus said in the gospel of Mathews
• Civil Partnership: legal binding between two people
• Catholics - Civil Partnership:

  • Condemn non-religious marriage
  • Marriage is making promises to God and is only valid if done in the Christian faith
• Protestant - Civil Partnership:

  • Accepts non-religious marriage
  • 'Love your neighbour'
• Mathew's 10:6-9 :

  'A man leaves his father and becomes one flesh with his wife'
• Cohabitation: living together and being in a sexual relationship without being married or in a civil partnership.
• Fornication: Having sex before marriage
• Hebrews 13:4 :

  'Marriage is to be held in honour, and the marriage bed pure free of adulaters and fornicators.'
• 'God will judge fornicators harshly'
• Catholic - Cohabitation:

  • Condemn cohabitation
  • Christians should refrain from sex until they are married
• Protestant - Cohabitation:

  • Couples can live together but should marry before stating a family
  • Sex is permitted if the couple are committed to a long term relationship
• Divorce: The legal process of ending a marriage and the termination of the marital union
• Catholic - Divorce:

  • They are still married in the eyes of God even if they get a divorce
  • Divorcées are not allowed communion as it is seen as sin
  • An Annulment from the pope says that the original marriage was flawed and did not take place
• An Annulment will be granted if:

  • Both parties haven't consummated the marriage (had sex)
  • Either or both people were already married
  • Forced marriage
  • Mentally incapable of knowing what you were doing
• Protestant - Divorce:

  • Allow divorce and remarriage as they believe that a marriage ends as soon as the love between the couple ends
• Annulments aren't granted often
• Moral Absolutism: The belief that there are absolute moral truths that are not relative to any culture or circumstance.
• Natural Law:

  • Catholic ethical theory
  • 'All things have a purpose determined by God. For something to be good it has to fulfil is purpose.' - Thomas Aquinas

  
• Promiscuity: Having sex with many partners at the same time.
• Celibacy: The state of being unmarried and childless.
• Chastity: The practice of abstaining from sexual intercourse until marriage.
• Adultery: The act of having sexual relations with someone other than one's spouse.
• Catholic - Homosexuality:

  • Being homosexual is not a sin but having homosexual sexual relationships is
  • The church dose not allow same-sex marriage but is less opposed to civil partnerships
  • The bible dose not allow homosexuality
  • Catechism teaches that marriage is between a man and woman
• Protestant - Homosexuality:

  • lifelong homosexual relationships are acceptable
  • They provide blessings for civil partnerships
  • Quacker Christians celebrate same-sex weddings in churches
  • They believe the bible needs to be reinterpreted
  • Jesus taught to love all
  • Homosexuality is natural and cant be changed
• Corinthians 6:18-20 :

  'Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. Do you know that your bodies ae the temples of the holy spirit, who is in you, whom you received from God? You are not your own; you were brought with a price. Therefore honour God with your bodies.
• 'Do not have sex with a man as you would a woman; that is detestable' - the old testament
• Contraception: A method of preventing pregnancy.
• Conception: Becoming pregnant
• Why use contraception?

  • Increase age gap between children
  • Limit family size
  • Prevent STDs
  • Not ready to have children / don't want them
• The Rhythm Method:

  • Natural Contraception
  • Have sex at the infertile times
  • 76% effective

  
• The Implant:

  • Artificial Contraception
  • A small tube placed in the arm that releases progesterone to prevent the release of an egg by making the body think it is pregnant
  • Works for 3 continuous years

  
• The Pill:

  • Artificial Contraception
  • Releases hormones to stop the release of an egg
  • 99% effective

  
• Barrier Method:

  • Artificial Contraception
  • Creates a physical barrier to stop the sperm meeting the egg, the only form of contraception to stop STDs

  
• Coil / IUD:

  • Artificial Contraception
  • Small plastic device put into the womb
  • Some release hormones and others stop the egg settling in the womb
  • Lasts 5-12 years

  
• Abstention:

  • Natural Contraception
  • Choosing not have a sexual relationship
  • 100% effective

  
• 'Be fruitful and multiply' - Genesis 1:28
• Catholics - Contraception:

  • Artificial contraception is wrong because it affects God's plan
  • You should allow the possibility of pregnancy when having sex
• Protestant - Contraception:

  • Allowed because sex isn't just for procreation
  • Sex is a gift from God
  • Abortive contraception is not allowed
• Non-Religious - Contraception

  For:

  • genetic disorders they don't want to pass on
  • Don't want to raise kids

  Against:

  • Darwinism - our goal is to pass on our genes
  • Devalues the purpose of sex