There is an interesting passage in John’s gospel where a woman who was caught in the act of adultery was brought before Jesus. The disciples reminded him that Moses commanded them to throw stones at such women. When Jesus was asked what he thought he answered “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her”…
When they heard this they all went away. I think that this passage is very important because it shows Jesus’ understanding just like it should be between two people in a marriage. It says in the bible that forgiveness is divine. We are all human and we all make mistakes. It is important especially in marriage that we keep problems within the circle of the two people and God to work through them.
The fourth and final belief to help to guide us through and enhance marriage is life – giving. The church believes that the main purpose of marriage is to reproduce and experience the joy of having a family. We see evidence of this in the bible. For example, in Genesis 1:28 “God blessed them and said to them “Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it” This shows that it is God’s intention for us to procreate and look after his earth.
Catholic teaching tells us that children are a gift from God and should be accepted lovingly and brought up in the Catholic Faith. Marriage is only complete when it has been consummated. During the marriage service the priest asks “Will you accept children lovingly from God?”
“Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.”
A02
Explain how, in the course of their marriage, A Christian couple would apply the beliefs that you have mentioned. In your answer consider one or more situations In which Christian beliefs would make a difference. Consider whether all Christians would respond in the same way.
Christians apply their beliefs to marriage by following the four principles. Application of the belief that marriage is life- giving will make a big difference on Christian views about contraception, fertility treatment and abortion. Although, some churches have slightly different views and therefore not all Christians would respond in the same way.
The Christian belief about children is that they are a special gift from God. The marriage service often stresses that one of the main points of getting married is to have children and bring them up in the Christian faith. Catholics acknowledge during the ceremony that they will lovingly accept children from God and that their marriage should be “fruitful.” However, in the modern world that we live in the issue of having children is not always that simple and a Christian’s belief can affect the moral choices they mind find themselves having to make on the subject.
Having as many children as God wants you to, is not always practical or feasible for a lot of Christian married couples. To ensure that they can properly support and care for the children they have many Christians will choose a form of birth control or contraception as family planning. Contraception means a deliberate way of preventing pregnancy. There are natural and artificial ways of preventing a baby from being conceived. There are many different forms of artificial contraception available such as the pill, condoms and inter uterine devices. These tend to be the most effective.
In a marriage it is important that contraception is discussed and that the couple choose methods which both of them feel comfortable with. I don’t think it is fair that only one person should take on the responsibility as it is a two way relationship and a two people are involved in the sexual relationship. There is a big disagreement amongst Christians over which types of contraceptive are acceptable and if it should be used at all. Some feel that contraceptives should not be used as God might want you to have
More children and you are therefore preventing God’s will. On the other hand, other Christians believe that using contraception is part of being in a responsible sexual relationship.
The Church of England and Methodist church do not regard artificial contraception as a sin or a contravention of God’s will and it may be used with good reason as they see it as a responsible way to arrange a family so that it can be cared for properly. These Churches encourage couples to make responsible choices about the size of their families – “The Anglican Church maintains that God has given parents the responsibility for planning their families.”
The Catholic Church also believes that it is important for people to take care when planning families and they too encourage couples to practise “responsible parenthood.” “For just reasons, spouses may wish to space the births of their children… appropriate to responsible parenthood” (Gaudium et Specs 51 n3)
The Catholic Church disagrees with social trends and contraception because of the methods used to prevent conception. In 1968 the Pope wrote a piece stating the Catholic beliefs on artificial birth control. He forbade it, stating that it was “against the natural law” – that within marriage every act of intercourse should be open to the possibility of new life and that people should not go against God’s wishes. Many Catholics find this difficult to deal with as it goes against their beliefs that sex within marriage has two purposes; to be unitive – express love and intimacy between husband and wife and to be procreative – to have children.
The Catholic Church supports natural family planning which is where sexual activity is worked around a women’s menstrual cycle. The most effective method is called the ‘sympto – thermal’ method; while it requires a lot of patience for it to be successful, it is ninety – eight percent effective if used properly and has no side effects. For a devout Catholic couple Natural Family Planning means there is nothing artificial between sex and giving life and shows that you are still open to choose life.
Whilst many married couples may try and prevent conception, many others have fertility problems where they are unable to conceive naturally. However, as technology is advancing there are now more options they can choose from to try and make their dreams of a family come true. There are three main types of artificial conception, In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) Artificial Insemination, by Husband (AIH) and Artificial Insemination by Donor (AID)
Whilst the Bible does not say anything about fertility treatment some Christians, especially Roman Catholics believe that it is wrong because it interferes with nature and God’s plan for couples. They might say if a couple cannot conceive naturally, it is because God does not want them to be parents. For a couple who desperately want a family this can appear to be a very harsh judgement. Other Christians believe that fertility treatment is often a good thing because it helps bring new life into the world and gives happiness to those who long to be parents.
Even if Christians believe that on a whole fertility treatments are a good thing they often express doubts about some aspects of it. IVF is an example of “test tube babies” where eggs are fertilised outside of the womb. If some successfully become embryo’s they are then inserted into the womb to create a foetus. The Catholic Church does not advocate IVF as it could be a donor’s egg or sperm and that goes against the principle that marriage is “exclusive.” Also the destruction of “spare” embryos is seen as the destruction of human life; The Church of England feel that this type of fertility treatment is acceptable as long as the embryos are destroyed after 14 days.
AIH and AID are both accepted by the Church of England but not by the Catholic Church.
“This, we believe, is incompatible with the nature of marriage and respect for the dignity of a child as a person.” (Catholic Ethics for Science and Technology.) They feel that it takes away from the true meaning of procreation, and having a donor means that the marriage loses its exclusivity. The Catholic Church advocates that if there are fertility problems within a marriage that hormones may be taken to improve the chance of conception. If that fails it supports couples in looking towards adoption as a way of creating a family.
One very emotive issue on which the actions of a Christian couple would undoubtedly be strongly influenced by their belief in the life-giving aspect of marriage is that of abortion.
Abortion is the artificial ending of the life of a foetus in the womb. For it to be carried out two doctors have to agree that it is for one or more of these reasons; to preserve the life or health of the mother, the mother’s mental or physical wellbeing is at risk, to prevent a child from being mentally or physically disabled, terminate pregnancy brought about by rape or there is a risk of harm to existing children.
Abortion has been legal in Britain since 1967. The law allows a pregnancy to be terminated up until the 24th week if two doctors agree that there is a risk and without time limit if the danger to the mother’s life is high or the child is likely to be born with a disability. In 1974, 119,000 legal abortions were carried out in England and Wales. By 1995 this figure had risen to 154,000.
None of the Christian Churches believe that abortion should be encouraged. Christians believe that life is sacred and that this should be respected whenever decisions are made about the beginnings of a new life. Life is seen as God given and should therefore nurtured, supported and protected. The Bible does not say anything directly about abortion so people have to try and apply its teachings to modern times and they may come up with different answers. What the Bible does appear to say is that life begins when the baby is in the womb. “For you created in my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13)
Believing a life is sacred, even before it is born, means abortion may be viewed as murder because it destroys God’s plan for a potential life. However, whilst Christian denominations such as the Anglican Church and the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) believe that abortion should not be encouraged they do feel that under certain circumstances it can be justified. For instance if a pregnancy is likely to result in the birth of a severely disabled child it might be said that termination is the best loving thing to do and that such a decision still respects that sanctity of life.
The Church of England spoke out in 1993 against the rising number of abortions in Britain but they recognise the rights of the mother and to some degree the father and so leave the final decision on the issue up to the people involved. Although they encourage adoption they acknowledge that sometimes an abortion is the best option and would not morally condemn a woman if she sought a termination in order to preserve her own mental or physical health.
The Roman Catholic Church believes that abortion is never justified and they strongly oppose it in every instance.” Direct abortion is gravely contrary to the moral law” (Catechism 2271)
They do accept that though a pregnancy may end as a result of a necessary medical treatment given to a woman, called a double effect. The Roman Catholic Church teaching is that the foetus is a human being from the moment of conception. (Catechism 2270)
The Catholic Church feels that if a parent cannot or does not feel they can deal with the responsibility of a child then they can give up the child for adoption and they will assist in this. This would mean that they were following their faith and helping other married couples who cannot conceive themselves.
Clearly applying the belief in the life-giving principle of marriage would make a difference to the attitudes and moral choices made by Christians in relation to the issues discussed. However, it should be recognised that different views are held within the Christian faith itself, particularly by the Catholic Church, and Christian couples would accordingly respond in different ways, taking guidance, even if they do not fully agree, from the teachings of their own particular church.
A03
“Lifelong marriage is too difficult for Christians today. The church should be willing to drop this vow” Do you agree?
Saying that lifelong marriage is too difficult for Christians today is a very general statement; I think that if the church dropped this vow marriage would mean a lot less than it does today. I think that there are already too many people in our society who are getting married too soon and for the wrong reasons. Many of these marriages end in tears because they were not well thought about and carefully planned; I firmly believe that because divorce is so easy to obtain it makes these people not try as hard as they could to resolve issues within the marriage because they already know that they have an easy way out.
The whole point of holy matrimony to me is the intention that you should stay together forever and I think that unless you are abused, widowed, unloved or deserted in the marriage then you should stay together. I also feel that unless you have known the person for a long time or you just know for certain in your heart and soul that this is the person that you want to be with forever you should not commit to that vow.
The beliefs of the Catholic Church are central to successful relationships if the couple are committed to the beliefs. Permanency is one of the four principles and therefore marriage should be a life-long commitment. The vow “Till death do us part” means exactly this and should not be taken lightly. It also states in the bible “What God has joined together let no man take apart” also indicating that marriage is a really serious life-long commitment between two people.
The Church says that if a couple have problems they should seek guidance from their priest or minister and there are also organizations like RELATE and Marriage Care which are there advise those who have issues within their relationship. Many marriages end in tears because people get carried away with the whole excitement of the wedding ceremony, the reception, bridesmaid dresses and new homes filled with material possessions etc.
When all the fuss has died down and the couple are with each other 24/7 with all of life’s ups and downs they often find that life with the other person isn’t what they imagined. Unless the marriage is strong the novelty soon wears off and they are unable to remain committed. People who are without strong religious/moral beliefs on the subject will therefore seek a divorce, take half of the money and possessions and think that it is correct to move on to their next partner. This is something that I feel happens far too frequently today.
One of the other beliefs that I feel is the second most important here is Exclusivity. Adultery is one of the main challenges that breaks up a relationship and causes people apply for a divorce. The Roman Catholic Church states that divorce is not an option even if this circumstance should arise, which is one thing that I don’t personally agree with. I know that no matter how much I loved someone I couldn’t be with them knowing that they had gone behind my back with someone else. If there is loss of love or there has never been any on one of the partner’s part then it is wrong for both people to suffer and wrong to bring children up in a loveless relationship. Pope John Paul II states himself in one of his letters “Preparation for marriage begins in the home when children observe and benefit from their parents loving relationships that they live with daily in their family.” Children growing up in a tense atmosphere, surrounded by arguments are not going to grow up with a positive attitude on love, relationships or marriage. I therefore think that the church needs to accept that in some situations divorce is the best option for all concerned.
The Roman Catholic Church promotes forgiveness and marriage care to encourage us to try and relate to our partners and why they have committed adultery and make all the effort that we can to try and resolve the issue. Marriage is a blessing from God and it is not for us to throw that away lightly as if it meant nothing. What confuses me about this statement from the church is that we choose who we marry and it is blessed by God. So surely if we have chosen who to get in a marriage with we are free to choose if it is best to get out of it and if God is as understanding as the church states then why would this be seen as such a terrible sin? This also goes back to free will and the right we have to make our own choices if we have good reason and have thought about them carefully.
The RC Church even goes so far as to say that divorce is adultery which is another thing that I find extremely outdated. It demonstrates a lack of understanding for people’s feelings and a consideration for different situations which might arise. Some women are in relationships where they are beaten, sexually abused and even have their lives in danger. It is easy to ask people to forgive and forget. You can try to resolve issues but the fact is that in some cases this just isn’t a practical option, especially when children are involved. Children can also be the victims of abuse and be caught up in the emotional turmoil of a broken marriage. I think that it is far better for children to grow up with one parent who loves them than with two that create a dysfunctional family. This can cause life-long emotional problems for the child throughout their development.
Although the Catholic Church does not permit divorce they do allow an annulment in certain cases. These circumstances are… mental illness, immaturity to understand the marriage and non consummation of marriage. In the past an annulment was very expensive and therefore only available to the rich. Even though an annulment is now easier to gain financially, the cost is still too high for some couples because of the high skill of the service. This is because the investigators have to be both priests and lawyers and theirs is a very complicated job!
Divorce has now become so easy that we are beginning to see the effects on society in general. Children are coming from broken homes without guidance from a mother and father, traditional families values are not being not being taught, things like good manners, respect and consideration for others are lacking and as a result crime and antisocial behaviour has increased.