Idea for a New Religion - Chapter 30 - Marriage & The Importance of Marriage Vows

MARRIAGE A 1) It is not essential for every woman and man to get married or have children. There are many ways to serve the greater good but those who do decide to get married should try their best to make their marriage happy and long lasting. 2) A long engagement is wise because it gives a person who intends to marry a proper opportunity to discover, and come to terms with, all the faults and flaws of their partner. Marry with caution! A long engagement is better than a short marriage. 3) A marriage is like a wedding dress. If you could lock it away in a cupboard, wrapped in plastic, then it would stay white and never get torn but if you wear it every day, it will get stained and tattered and you have to keep washing it and mending it . Married life, like all life, is endurance made bearable through love and occasional joys. 4) The purpose of marriage and fidelity - Marriage creates a stable framework for the care and protection of children. Faithfulness to a spouse is faithfulness, or loyalty and devotion, to their children. 5) The right of an illegitimate child - In God's eyes, an illegitimate child has the same right to love and care and protection as the child of a faithful marriage. All children are the beloved of God.

MARRIAGE B 6) Regarding the mother of an illegitimate child - If the mother of an illegitimate child is single, then they should get married so that their child has a father to fulfill the role of the childs absentee father. If the mother of an illegimate child is already married, then their husband has a duty to love the illegitimate child as if it were his own. 7) A single parent should have many suitors. It is a good thing, in the eyes of God, to marry a single parent and help in the care, protection and upbringing of their children. 8) Remarriage - The remarriage of a widow or widower is a good thing, It is essential for the continued care and protection of any children they may have and for helping to heal the wound of their grief. 9) Widow marrying widower - Ideally, widows should marry widowers, because they both have the experience of bereavement and are therefore better equipped to help each other. 10) Preparing for the death of a partner - Every married person should consider that they may die suddenly and the effect that this would have upon their partner and their children. Prepare for the worst that may occur.

MARRIAGE C 11) God approves of homosexual marriages that are happy, productive and long lasting. Love, in all its forms, flows from the source of all love which is God. 14) Mixed race couples, disabled couples and all couples who are struggling to overcome obstacles and prejudices are serving God and are a living example of the power of love and unity in overcoming the problems of life. 13) A marriage is whatever you want it to be. Marriage need not be associated with traditional gender roles. Marriage can be an experiment or an adventure. Compromise is essential in any kind of relationship and husband and wife should express their needs and innermost desires to each other and try to find a way of fulfilling each others needs and desires. 14) Couples with children may feel restricted but having children is an opportunity for them to grow and mature as people. Parenthood is a vital occupation and all parents who try to do a good job need to be respected as much as doctors or teachers or workers in a vital industry. Demons torment us with dissatisfaction. They try to make us feel that our life is wasted, God wants us to know how important we, and the part that we play in the continuation of life, are.

THE IMPORTANCE OF MARRIAGE VOWS A 1) Do not make a vow of life long love upon a passing whim. Do not marry for amusement. To swear love falsely before God is to commit a kind of perjury. The vows that we make to each other, we make to God. 2) Do not wed for wealth and profit. Marriage is not a form of employment but devotion to the cause of love. If love can unite two people. then love can unite the whole world. If two people can endure all the hardships of fate in the name of love. then humankind can endure and God's will can be done.3) Children may speak pretend vows and play at pretend weddings but a vow made by man and woman is sacred and binding. Those who are not mature in mind and heart are not ready to marry; not committed or able to face the problems of life and raise children. 4) All vows are sacred which are sworn by mature and responsible adults because truth and honesty and trust are sacred. Think of meaning as the soul of the word, truth as the good soul which enters heaven and lies as the damned. God is the source of all meaning and truth and from these come all love, morality and reason. without which the world would become mad and destroy itself. When meaning and truth are in the world, then God is in the world.

THE IMPORTANCE OF MARRIAGE VOWS B 5) Each family is a microcosm of the family of humanity. When every family follows the virtues of honesty, trust, love and respect, then the whole world will follow these virtues. When every parent is good, then every leader will be good. When every child is good, then the common man will be good. 6) Marriage is to love what religion is to faith. When your faith is waning, then you must keep believing in your religion. When your love is waning, then you must keep believing in your marriage. Because marriage takes endurance and commitment, a high divorce rate indicates that the people lack endurance and commitment and if the people cannot serve their marriages well then how can they serve God. 7) We are all wed to life from birth; wed to God and we can love life; love God and do our best to serve life or we can divorce ourself from our responsibilities and be unfaithful to all. The way we view marriage and parenthood is an indicator of how we view life.