We believe in the Power of Marriage
“Western civilizations there have been several competing views of what the “form and function” of marriage should be. 24 The first two were the Catholic and the Protestant perspectives. Though different in many particulars, they both taught that the purpose of marriage was to create a framework for lifelong devotion and love between a husband and a wife. It was
a solemn bond, designed to help each party subordinate individual impulses and interests in favour of the relationship, to be a sacrament of God’s love (the Catholic emphasis) and serve the common good (the Protestant emphasis). Protestants understood marriage to be given by God not merely to Christians but to benefit the entirety of humanity. In particular, lifelong marriage was seen as creating the only kind of social stability in which children could grow and thrive. The reason that society had a vested interest in the institution of marriage was because children could not flourish as well in any other kind of environment. 25”
— The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Marriage with
