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09: Marriage: A Gift from Eden – Thought Starters — 7 Comments

  1. Joyce, I appreciate your weekly posts. I can see how they can be a real benefit to teachers that may have trouble facilitating a Sabbath School discussion. At least your questions give them a jumping off place to start a meaningful discussion.

    As for this week's discussion questions - wow! The subject of marriage for me is a difficult one since I have been single all my life and section 9 especially gives me something to think about.

    For married people who pity the unmarried and would like to play cupid I think Jesus had an important statement He made:

    For there are eunuchs who were born thus from their mother's womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He who is able to accept it, let him accept it (Matt. 19:12 NKJV).

    In other words there are various reasons why a person chooses to remain single and I believe in most cases it is best to leave it alone and not judge the situation. That being said I do believe that married life has many advantages. As God said, "It is not good that man should be alone" (Gen. 2:18 NKJV) and I believe He said that for many reasons.

    Single people tend to be more self-centered. It doesn't have to be that way but I think it usually is and that is not good. For instance I am very introverted so socializing is difficult for me. Whatever service I render it is usually at a distance. I do enjoy supporting things financially whenever possible but as a sinner I tend to fail even at that.

    What married life does is to force a person to consider someone outside of himself. It has a tendency to set a habit of service in one's life but also has benefits in more ways than just that obvious one. Paul told the Philippians:

    Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross (Phil. 2:5-8 NKJV)

    In doing that with respect to his or her family a "type" of God is established in that the parents can begin to appreciate God's care and love for the church (section 6) which is something that more often than not goes right over the head of single people. It's not that a single person can't understand love but rather that a family teaches things about love relationships, especially God's, that is difficult to teach otherwise. The intimacy between a husband and a wife is not experienced by a single person even when a couple are living together (shacking up). There is a special commitment involved when two people get married while simply living together doesn't have that to the depth marriage does. In the case of shacking up their relationship remains more of a casual friendship that can be broken at any time while marriage involves a deep commitment over time.

    In my opinion the metaphor or type of marriage to Christ probably answers a lot of the questions one could ask concerning what happened on the sixth day of creation and why God set up heterosexual relationships.

    The controversy got started because of a misunderstanding concerning God's character. So God instituted marriage in order to help us to understand Him better providing, of course, that it doesn't become a social disaster. I believe that is one of the big reasons why Satan targets the family to the extent he does because it is one of the ways the controversy is settled.

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    • Interesting. I approached this week's topic with a fair share of trepidation because I, too, have never married. What do I know about marriage? Only that as I have observed many marriages through the years, I find it a beautiful experience to know someone who seems to come from a harmonious and balanced marriage experience. God knew what was for our greatest happiness when He established the family for us.

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    • Tyler, I appreciate your openness and thoughtfulness. Certainly there are challenges in every social situation. God gives opportunities that differ from person to person. Since you are single and so was Jesus, your opportunities are in some ways more like Christ's than they would be for someone married. Christ was totally devoted to the work of God, and so may be today's singles, as we read in 1 Corinthians 7:32, "But I want you to be without care. He who is unmarried cares for the things of the Lord -- how he may please the Lord." May God bless you as you continue to serve Him.

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  2. Hi Joyce!

    Your blog and presentation of our Sabbath School Lesson discussion is superb! Keep up the good work! Your questions ignite the flame of deeper study in the Holy Scriptures.

    More power to your blog and ministry!

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  3. Praise the Lord that the questions have been helpful to you. That's their only purpose, as you put it, to "ignite the flame of deeper study in the Holy Scriptures."

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  4. Marriage is only for couple but not for the youth.
    God made man and he knew that man can not live alone so he made for him his helper.

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