marriage and celibacy ?

Question

am i missing something .... when in history did marriages actually start taking place ? because if memory serves me well there were no marriage ceremonies in biblical times but simply a joining of people ?
im not too well read on this so perhaps someome can inform me better
because i see so many questions relating to remaining celebate before marriage in referance to the bible

thansk for the input guys .. seems the general consesus is that it doesnt have to be a christian ceremony ( since that is post crusifiction anyway ) but as long as seen under gods eyes and the parties remain faithful to one another
thanks for the links given also will look into this more
ppst im damned anyway with 3 kids to 3 men and 2 out of wedlock but hey ho .. beats living with the idiots i made the mistake of loving till i found out they were drug takers and gamblers .. and for this ive sinned ? eek

Answer 1

Marriage is purely a spiritual thing. There is no ritual necessary. However the Lord says to respect government authority and adhere to law. It is required by law that a marriage certificate is obtained etc.

Answer 2

In the bible, Jesus talks of marriage all the time. There is a parable about a bride and bride groom (Matt 25:1-13). There are references to Jesus attending weddings. There is a story about the Sudducees trying to trick Jesus (Luke 20:27-36).

Adam and Eve got married in the garden of Eden, with God being present.

Here are some referances to marriage in the bible- Gen 16:1-11, Gen 29:21-28, Matt 22:1-14. This is just a few. There are more out there.

In jewish culture back then, if a bride was found to not be a virgin at the time of marriage, the man could put her away. Take for example the story of Mary and Joseph. Matt 1:18-20.

As far as celibacy in the bible, adultry is what they talk about most, which is defined as sexual contact OUTSIDE of marriage, whether you are married or not. It is also called fornication or sexual immorality. Here are some references to these: Ex. 20:14(one the commandments); Matt 5:28; 1 Cor 6:9-10; Heb 13:4; Proverbs 12:4; 1Cor 6:18-19; 1 Tim 4:12; and Proverbs 31:10-31.

I hope these help answer your question!!

Answer 3

You are right that in early history there was no marriage ceremony and it was simply a case of joining together with others, but it was a lifetime commitment, not just for a time of pleasure. But at least by the time that the New Testament came about there was marriage (ie the first miracle was performed at the marriage in Cana).

As society grew, marriage and the requirements grew. I learned this from my art appreciation instructor. Did you know that in the middle ages all that was required for marriage was for a man to raise his hand and state he took a woman as his wife (usually before the bride's family) and this was an oath and considered binding? The problem was that this left very little protection for the woman, because a man who got tired of the woman could simply state his fingers were crossed or some other technicality. The wise was then out of luck even if she had children.

In regards to celibacy, until recently a bride was expected to remain a virgin until marriage. So a woman was expected to remain untouched if she expected any type of a decent marriage.

Answer 4

Yeh I asked that! I'm not remaining celebate, because at the time of having sex for the first time the bible was the last thing on my mind! But just afterwards I thought about it. And in the bible times you did have wedding ceremonies and traditionally you would nly sleep with them on the wedding night, but then again, you'd only meet them a few days before the wedding! I think it's just a matter of opinion really!

Answer 5

I personally think that when God introduced Eve to Adam in the Garden, it was a kind of wedding- wow- match made in heaven?

I'm- gonna use the Bible- It's the only record I've read that has information about marriages and other sexual relationships...

Most every relationship with a sexual facet in the Bible was either blessed by God or condemned by Him-- Those that were blessed were called marriages, or at least the partners were called husband and wife. Those that were condemned- the sexual act was called adultery.

The few times that there is ambiguity was in regard to times when the wife gave a handmaid to her husband for the purpose of childbearing- Abraham and Sarah and Hagar, Jacob and Rachel and Leah (they were sisters- their father tricked Jacob...) and their handmaids, Zilpah and Billah. I suspect that these incidents of polygamy were allowed because-

Abraham- God promised him a great posterity, and his wife was too old to have children... or at least they thought. She felt that the only way her husband was going to have children was through another woman.

Jacob/Israel- His intended father-in-law tricked him, and there was a little bit of a competitivness to the relationship between the wifes- Rachel and Leah.

Answer 6

Purple,

That's a pretty intense question, given the layers of history, interpretation of the bible, and theology which must be discussed.

One reading is a letter from Bishop Martino, to which I have linked below, which discussed these layers in regards to this issue and related issues.

St. Paul and St. Matthew discuss this as well. I have placed a link to them below.

-j.

Answer 7

In the beginning God created one woman for one man, we created the marriage ceremony. Fornication is often spoke of in the Bible as a sin. It is not pleasing in the sight of God. Also, remaining celibate until marriage is in a persons best interest because of all the down sides of sex between unwed people.
-Disease (Too many to name them all)
-Parents too young to care for themselves that absolutely cannot care for a child
-Sinlge parents (Not enough income, can't be everywhere for their kids, harder to dicipline children)
*****Also, proper sex between virgins is a blood covenant with God & each other, that is why it is set up for a virgin woman to bleed the first time she has sex. The person first person peolpe have sex with is the person that they are supposed to marry.

Answer 8

the oldest cultural records we have include record of formal marriage

these records, like most surviving ancient documents, deal primarily with nobility

if you are actually interested in what the bible says concerning celibacy before marriage, go to an on-line bible concordance (there are many of them) and search for occurances of the word "fornication" and study what the bible has to say about it

this is an interesting subject and there are of course lots of scholarly and not-so scholarly works on the subject

this is an interesting starting place
http://a4.nu/christian/celibacy.htm

Answer 9

God joined Adam and Eve together. This was the first marriage.
Genesis 2:23-25 (NKJV)
And Adam said:

"This is now bone of my bones
And flesh of my flesh;
She shall be called Woman,
Because she was taken out of Man."

[24] Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. [25] And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.


Genesis 4:17 (NKJV)
And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. And he built a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son--Enoch.

Genesis 11:29 (NKJV)
Then Abram and Nahor took wives: the name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and the father of Iscah.

In the Bible, there are many weddings. They were celebrated for almost a week. Today the Arabic wedding is very similar, from what I understand. They stretch the celebration out over many days.

Marriages began when man first appeared on the earth.

Yes, both parties were to be virgins. In fact, the Bible teaches that it was the custom for a woman to prove her virginity on her wedding night. Sexual purity was demanded. Both men and women were to be devoted to each other through marriage and the ceremony made them "one" in God's eyes.

The family unit was, and still is, very important in God's eyes.

The world's idea of doing whatever you want with whomever you want ... or even with your boyfriend ...is not God's way of things.

Answer 10

I think people tend to promote celibacy before marriage simply to avoid problems of unwanted pregnancy & avoid 'sins of the flesh'!! Its become more of a socially defined concept that people should be married before engaging in sex, rather than a strict religious rule. For example, the Church of England say that sex outside of marriage is ok provided it is within a loving relationship. People have to follow their own beliefs & do what feels right for them ultimately though!