The Main Religious Features of a Christian Marriage Ceremony Essay

myth, we were originally created as a single being, united with our beloved. As pairs, we

companion. This at last is flesh of my flesh and bone of my bone. She

When a man and a woman come together and bind in holy matrimony, two people become one. In marriage, two people come before the pastor and under God with their partner, to recite promises that are vows. In many religions such as Christianity and Catholicism, sex should be for left only for marriage. Sex is an emotional experience

Marriage has always been a convoluted subject to every era of time, especially when wealth is brought into the equation of it. During the Romantic Era, the state of marriage illustrated women’s continued inequality in society. For instance, women lacked legal equality once they entered marriage due to coverture, which is the condition of a woman during her married life, when she is under the law of being the authority of and protection of her husband. This basically entails that once a woman marries, she is property of her husband. In later decades, women would make great strides to gain legal recognition. However, during the late eighteenth century, Romantic feminists voiced more practical concerns rather than that of law (Feldman 280). Before the nation could acknowledge women as equals, husbands must first accept their wives as true partners in marriage. This was considered not only logical, but practical. Feminists located one of the sources of inequality within women’s own behavior and the methods they employed to gain husbands. Women had been taught to use beauty and love to attract husbands, but beauty and love are only temporary states. These states do not establish a solid foundation for a lasting marriage. As illustrated in Jane Austen’s novel Emma, a successful marriage is founded upon the match between two personalities, and not upon looks.

together to form the person to which they belong, and both influence and are influenced by the

The striking Christian concept of marriage theology, in which God is understood as having an allegorical and spiritual marriage with His people, showed both great change and great constancy in the face of the challenges of the Protestant Reformation. Some concepts, such as the importance of unity in conceptualizing mystical marriage, were constant characteristics of marriage theology, although varying in emphasis. Other concepts, such as mystical marriage as sacramental, were distinctly Catholic and rejected by later Protestants. By comparing the ideas of Bernard of Clairvaux and Gertrude of Helfta, monastic theologians preceding the Reformation, with the ideas of Francis Rous and Cotton Mather, Puritan theologians following the Reformation, the impact of early Protestant concerns on marriage theology will be observed.

When looking at pre-marital sex, traditional Christian teachings of the bible suggest that sex is only for married couples and hetro-sexual couples. For example, Timothy 5:2: ‘As a Christian man, if you are not married to her, then she is your sister whom you must treat "with absolute purity." Similarly in 2

In the History of Marriage that is stated in the bible, it is said that it typically represents a symbolic meaning to the covenant union between god and his people.

In a contemporary Christian environment one of the most prominent practices to have a significant contribution to Christianity as a living religious tradition is Baptism. Baptism is of utmost importance for most Christian denominations. It has profound significance for the individual who is baptised and is also important for the Christian community as a whole. As a sacrament of initiation, Baptism calls its adherents to become missionary Disciples of Christ. It is through baptism that one’s faith journey begins and Christians are called to follow and live their lives in the light of Christ.

The Chinese Christian church in the United States often has ethnic characteristics, but different Chinese churches often have special concentration in the composition of the congregation, which reflects the tide of Chinese immigrants in different stages. For example, descendants of early immigrants from southern China usually have their fixed church. International students from the mainland of China have the church which they set up together. And other "informal immigrants" also formed Christian organizations. According to Aihui Lee, she divides American Chinese Christianity into four categories.

Sex is not a dirty word as some may define it, but a pleasurable experience. Women must learn to embrace their sexuality and enjoy it. They should embark on a journey by touching themselves to find out what is pleasurable, and then teach their partners how they want to be touched. A person’s religion or spirituality plays an important part on how they view sex. Abstinence before marriage is the religion world view on sex. Sex outside of marriage is labeled as sin, and called fornication according

Well, unfortunately many people never even stop to ask these questions, let alone answer them; instead they just rush into marriage without actually considering the sobriety of it or the long-term implications of it. They never stop to think through (on any deep or meaningful level) what the bible actually says regarding the origin, goal, purpose & institution of marriage; or what the bible says regarding what to look for in a mate (identifying explicit biblical principles

While abortion law is a lot more straightforward and the patterns are obvious, marriage law in the United States is a bit more complicated.

Within the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Sacred Mystery of Marriage recognises, under the church, the union of the couple; however God's union of the couple has been in progress throughout the relationship. The married couple's unity represents the unity between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit; the joy, sadness and suffering that the couple experiences throughout their marriage emulates Jesus' own life, death and resurrection.

The Catholic Church, being nearly 2,000 years old, still follows many of the same rules and guidelines established in the early church. One item that many Catholics are surprised to learn is that the tradition of priests and other clergy members remaining celibate has not always been present in the church. There are many Catholics, in and out of the clergy, who believe that priests should have the ability to get married and raise a family. In fact, priestly celibacy is not a church law, but, as Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone says it is a "positive tradition," and not "untouchable" (France-Pressez). However, some critics of the practice would argue that celibacy is not a positive tradition, and that in fact it is