Trust is also important in marriage because without trust in a marriage the marriage will probably fail. Honesty is linked to trust because if one of the partners commits adultery and does not tell their partner and their partner fins out about it, the trust between the couple is ruined. Without this trust they can’t trust each other in what they say. So if one of them says that they are going to work, the other person could think that this is just an excuse to go and commit adultery again, and so the marriage will fail from lack of trust.
Permanence means that marriage is life long, therefore, divorce is wrong, as the marriage vows state, “until death do us part” This is important in a marriage because firstly, it shows that you keep gods commandments by keeping the marriage vows. And secondly, it shows that your marriage is a good one, and that you are obviously an honest, trustful person, so you get respect from lots of people.
Exclusivity means to promise, to love and cherish, better for worse, in sickness and health, be loyal, do not betray your partner. These are the main body of the marriage vows. If these vows are kept it shows that there is respect between the couple. It also shows that there is honesty and trust in the marriage. All these things are important in a marriage.
Fruitfulness means that you will accept your children lovingly from god. This means that if you become pregnant you will not have an abortion, and to a certain extent not give it away to be adopted by other people, but this could be accepted in certain cases, and also abortion could be accepted if the pregnant women was rapped or something similar. Being fruitful in your marriage can help, as children can often keep marriages together. Having fruitfulness in your marriage shows that you must have love for each other, and your child, which is nice to see.
AO2
In the course of a marriage there are many situations in which the principles (explained in AO1) can be applied. The principle that makes the biggest change is purity of heart. This is because many more rules are added to it. When Jesus taught about Purity of heart on the Sermon on the Mount he told us not to commit adultery but also said that ‘anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart’. This means that you should not commit adultery but also do not even think of another man or woman lustfully or you have already cheated your husband our wife in your heart making it impure. This strengthens the marriage making the couple feel more trusting towards each other. Trust is very important in a marriage and a marriage can be greatly weakened if one partner hides something from the other which is why the principle of honesty should be made even more important and the couple should tell each other everything and have no secrets.
The principle of non-violence is very important in a Christian marriage otherwise for example the man could be repeatedly beating his wife and she would be too scared to tell anyone for fear of her life. This leads to many lies, which should always be avoided and if the situation becomes seriously out of hand it could result in murder of someone in the marriage. This is especially dangerous if there are children involved in the marriage as it would be very easy for them to get hurt and if the marriage led to divorce, as many do if violence occurs, the children will have no stability in their early life and it is likely one of their parents (the one inflicting violence) will go to prison and they will probably never see him or her at all.
During the course of a marriage it is more than likely at least one of these principles will be broken. This leads us to the principle of forgiveness and reconciliation. A marriage needs forgiveness because it is almost inevitable that nothing will go wrong in a marriage and if it does the person in the wrong must be prepared to apologise for what they have done wrong and if their partner knows they are truly sorry he or she must be prepared to forgive them. If this principle is not in place a marriage may not last long and even lead to divorce, which is a sin in the Christian belief.
The ‘Golden rule’ also applies in marriage and stays just the same as it does in a relationship although instead of treating others the way you want to treat them you must treat your partner the way you want them to treat you regardless of others around you.
St. Paul’s description of love is also considered as a teaching for marriage. His description is: ‘Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.’ It is almost like a set of commandments to how those in marriages should act towards each other and if followed, along with the Christian principles, should result in a strong, happy, lifelong marriage.
AO3
I think that lifelong marriage should still be kept in the church because it shows the commitment between the two people. You get married to someone to live with him or her for the rest of your life, that is why it is such an important sacrament. I can see why people want to get rid of the rule of lifelong marriage because these days, our life expectancy is much longer, so instead of living with someone for 20 years like they did way back before proper medicines and vaccinations had been invented people now live with someone for up to 60 years, which is a very long time. Also, in earlier generations it was generally the men who went and out worked while the women stayed at home and looked after the children. But since world war ii women have been working and have become more independent, this means that couples will see less of each other, also new and improved contraceptives stop people having children, which sometimes keep marriages together.
