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Marriage and a Happy HomeThe Bible contains many wise words about marriage and how to have a happy home:A Woman for the Man After creating man, what did God say? "And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone." Genesis 2:18. What, therefore, did God say He would make? "I will make him an help meet for him." Verse 18. Note: Not a helpmeet nor a helpmate, but two words - a help meet for him, that is, fit or suitable for him. Man's companion, or help, was to correspond to him. Each was to be suited to the other's needs. Could such a help be found among the creatures which God had already made? "And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him." Verse 20. A Woman from the Man What, therefore, did God do? "And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; and the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man." Verses 21,22. Note: How beautiful, in its fullness of meaning, is this simple but suggestive story, at which skeptics sneer. God did not make man after the order of the lower animals, but "in His own image." Neither did He choose man's companion, or "help," from some other order of beings, but made her from man - of the same substance. And He took this substance, not from man's feet, that he might have an excuse to degrade, enslave, or trample upon her; nor from man's head, that woman might assume authority over man; but from man's side, from over his heart, the seat of affections, that woman might stand at his side as man's equal, and, side by side with him, together, under God, work out the purpose and destiny of the race-man, the strong, the noble, the dignified; woman, the weaker, the sympathetic, the loving. How much more exalted and inspiring is this view than the theory that man developed from the lower order of animals. What did Adam say as he received his wife from God? "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." Verse 23. The Two Become One What great truth was then stated? "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh." Verse 24. In what words, does Christ recognize marriage as of God? "Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder." Matthew 19:6. Note: Thus was the marriage institution ordained of God in Eden, before man sinned. Like the Sabbath, it has come down to us with the Edenic dews of divine blessing still upon it. It was ordained not only for the purpose of peopling the earth and perpetuating the race, but to promote social order and human happiness; to prevent irregular affection; and, through well-regulated families, to transmit truth, purity, and holiness from age to age. Around it cluster all the purest and truest joys of home and the race. When the divine origin of marriage is recognized, and the divine principles controlling it are obeyed, marriage is indeed a blessing; but when these are disregarded, untold evils are sure to follow. That which, rightly used, is of greatest blessing, when abused becomes the greatest curse. By what commands has God guarded the marriage relation? "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife." Exodus 20:14,17. What New Testament injunction is given respecting marriage? "Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled; for God will judge the immoral and adulterous." Hebrews 13:4. Note: By many, marriage is lightly regarded - is often made even a subject of jest. Its divine origin, its great object, and its possibilities and influences for good and evil are little thought of, and hence it is often entered into with little idea of its responsibilities or its sacred obligations. The marriage relationship is frequently used in the Scriptures as a symbol of the relationship existing between God and His people. (See Romans 7:1-4; II Corinthians 11:2; Hosea 2:19,20; Revelations 19:7.)
Marriage With Unbelievers |
Our Patient Merciful God
The Bible and the Gospel speak of God's great mercy for us ...
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