Catherine+Nardone

Catherine Nardone 10.26.10

=Happily Ever Afters?=

//Introduction//
In today's world you can see the distress that divorce is causing people. So, maybe divorce isn't the answer, maybe the bible is. Maybe what people need today is God to help them see the faults in their actions, to make their marriage the thing it is supposed to be in the first place. What you are going to read here today is the life you would have to live before marriage, to see that marriage is a sacred thing and nothing to joke around with.

**Jehovah's Witnesses**
Under Jehovah's law as written in the bible, marriage is a sacred thing. Jehovah views the marital arrangement as sacred, and the answer is found in the bible under [|Hebrews 13:4]: "Let marriage be honorable among all." But there are some people who stray from this law, and they might not even know they are straying because they are not Witnesses, or they don't know, but it seems like a good thing to know. Jesus added: “What God has yoked together let no man put apart.”—[|Matthew 19:6]. This describes how once you are married you become one with your spouse, not before you get married, but after marriage, you become one... So let me ask you this. If God has yoked you together, and no man can pull you apart, does that mean its okay to live before marriage even if you are engaged? The bible's clear answer is here at [|1 Thessalonians 4:3]... "For this is what God wills, the sanctifying of YOU, that YOU abstain from fornication..." So its clear that the statement that Jesus made is only liable for married couples, and the the pre-marriage ritual for today's modern world couples are being held accountable for living together before marriage. Let's think of an easy way to compare. When you go to a store, and you find a piece of clothing that you like... would you just buy it without looking at the sizes? No, of course not! If you bought it, and it wasn't the right size, you would have wasted time and money... Many people apply this same idea with marriage. They think that if you "test-drive" your life, before you make a commitment as big as marriage to see if it'll work out or not, and if it doesn't, then both partners can walk away unharmed, and go on with their lives. But, it's the opposite in the bible. Jehovah wants you to abstain from fornication and be pure for marriage. If we look at the definition of the word "fornication" it means two people who are not married having sexual relations. This includes a couple having sex before marriage even if the intent is to be married. So according to the bible, its wrong for a couple to live together. Some people may argue that the bible's viewpoint is out of touch with reality, so living together nowadays, isn't a big deal and it's considered normal, but think about the affects it has. Are they happier? Studies show that couples who cohabit have been found to experience higher levels of unhappy marriage and later divorce. Even if some people disagree with the studies, it just goes against what God wants out of his faithful servants. Let's look again to the scripture [|Hebrews 13:4]. "Let marriage be honorable among all." When a man and woman wed, they have a bond that isn't easily broken. ([|Ecclesiatstes 4:12])



Judaism
According to the [|Talmud], Rav Yehuda taught that 40 days before a male child is conceived, a voice from heaven announces whose daughter he is going to marry, literally a match made in heaven ([])! In Jewish law, there is a belief of soul mates, called bashert in Yiddish. It can be used to refer to a "fortuitous good match." When a man and a woman are engaged, it means that they have picked out a place in time when they want to be married. The focus of marriage in Jewish law, is love and to be together forever, not just to become fruitful, and have as many children as possible. So we can see here that already Jehovah's Witnesses and Jewish Law differs, yet compares; they both want to marry for love. Another thing that differs, it the fact that there is no law that does not permit pre-marital living arrangements. It is not frowned upon, it is more likely encouraged because of the sexual activity, but that is a subject of another topic. One thing that the Jewish law does permit, is divorce. There is a certain part of the marriage ceremony that is an agreement that the bride and groom both agree upon to divorce if things don't work out. Other than that one difference, the Jewish law wants us to marry for love recognizing that marriage is a sacred bond between two people.

Compare & Contrast
To compare the 2 completely different religions, we can see that both of the religions want people to marry for love, and notice that it is a sacred thing. But they differ in many ways... Jehovah's Witnesses want to get the most out of marriage and they don't believe in divorce, because they won't think it will ever come to that. Judaism is quite different, see they allow for divorce if it will have to come to that. Another thing is living together before marriage. In Jewish law, its seen as okay, but as seen in Jehovah's eyes, its looked down upon, and is not in accordance with the bible.

Conclusion
We can see that there are many different religions that have different views on people's happily ever afters. We can either follow them, or not. We can choose to make our own decisions, or we can live by what the bible says. We can turn to Jehovah, and want a successful sacred marriage that hasn't been tarnished by living together before hand resulting in a true happily ever after, or we can turn to Judaism, and maybe want to get married, but maybe it doesn't work out and you can live you happily ever after by living your life! We all have different views on religion, but one should be the same... And that is, that marriage is a sacred union between a man and a woman that cannot be broken and live our happily ever afters.