Marriage – What is it and what’s the point?

Marriage is from the very beginning, dude. Go read Genesis 2. Hammurabi's Code was not around.

Just to throw in the conservative Christian (my) view... Marriage exists as a covenant before God and is a reflection of the Christ-Church relationship. It is a picture of two becoming one...so that there is no division between the two anymore. All of Christian history is pointing forward to the Wedding Feast of the Lamb, when God's people are united with their Lord as Bride & Groom. This really has nothing to do with a "big Man with a big stick up there."I do have to agree with you that outside of the sacred context, I see no overt reason for marriage itself in terms of purpose. There are, however, all sorts of statistics that point to the success of the arrangement in terms of the well-being of children. That is not to say that children of divorce or single-parent homes cannot succeed, but there is great advantage in the arrangement of having a committed, influential man and woman in the life of children. It provides balance and stability that simply cannot be replicated. Again, that being said, so much rests on the quality of parenting of father and mother, not the mere presence of both father and mother in the home.Not even within the conservative Christian vantage point is there a no-way out mandate to marry, however. In fact, the New Testament encourages singleness in certain regards...just in a very different manner than our society looks upon bachelorhood. I hope this is helpful to somebody.

Sorry, I haven't checked on this thing in a while, heh. I do know that the Code was penned before Genesis, but in terms of raw chronology (the actual events), the events of Genesis 2 would precede the Code of Hammurabi by over 2,000 years. Moses did not make up the contents of the book of Genesis but was rather compiling the oral history of much earlier times.

I may be some psycho-conservative-Christian wacko in your mind, but I try to be respectful to you guys. I have a degree in history to balance my second degree in divinity, so I am in fact familiar with the Code of Hammurabi. I will not personally slam any of you guys for your views; a little reciprocity would be nice. I think a good, honest discussion on this stuff is a great thing.Edited by AdminPD, : WarningEdited by AdminPD, : No reason given.

You are right in saying that, but it is irrelevant.The point is this: Marriage goes back a minimum of 3,000 years before the Code of Hammurabi. Moses' penning of Genesis (whether you think he wrote it or not) did not institute marriage. It was in existence 3,500 years or so before this. Moses was merely reporting what had been passed on to him as to its origins. The Code of Hammurabi was a new codification of law, sure, several hundred years or so before the penning of Genesis...but it was several thousand years after God's institution of marriage...from the Biblical perspective.