Christian Marriage Ceremony example essay topic

Theology Course Work QUESTION ONE: EXPLAIN HOW THE RITUALS AND VOWS CONNECTED WITH CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE CEREMONIES MIGHT INFLUENCE THE DIFFERING WAYS THAT COUPLES APPROACH MARRIAGE AND MARITAL BREAKDOWN. The Christian marriage ceremony consists of many parts and are held in many different places. the most popular place for marriage to be held in a church because people want to be presence of God. The marriage vows are the most important part of the marriage ceremony. the marriage service may vary in the different branches of Christianity, but the vows are present in al marriage services. the vows are spoken aloud and state that they wish to be joined by marriage to their partner for the rest of their lives, to show their commitment the couple exchange rings. in orthodox churches a crown is used instead of a ring, the crown is called a stefan a and is placed on the couple's heads by the vicar or minister. The marriage vows are shown below: I, -, take you, -, to be my (husband / wife ) to have and to hold from this day forward; for better, for worse, for richer. for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part, according to God's holy law; and this is my solemn vow. Marriage is a major lifelong commitment to somebody it should not be taken lightly, because of this the church prepares the couple as well as they can, usually a priest talks to the couple about the Christian teaching of marriage, and usually prey with them as well. The marriage ceremony itself starts with the vicar or minister asking if there's any known reason why marriage shouldn't take place.

After this the vicar / minister asks the couple "will thou have" (will you marry each other). The Vicar / Minister then starts to read out the vows, after the couple recite the vows, and the rings are place on their hands they are pronounced husband and wife. The marriage register is then sighned by the couple two witnesses must be present it is usually the best man and th chief bridesmaid. The Bible teaches that a man should leave his mother and father and be made one with his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. The Bible also teaches thatmarriage is a sacrament in which a baptised man and woman vow to be together ina loving caring responsible partnership "until death do us part " Most people want to get married to show the love and care they have for eachother. Of course there are some people just get married to make their partner feelgood or even for money but these marriages don t often last very long.

In a recent poll it was found that 82 percent of children in the UK aimed to get married when they grew up, this shows that marriage is the most popular option in a relationship. Of course not everybody wants to get married this is probably because they don t meet the right person or perhaps do not wish to get married. Humanists views are that in the UK marriage has always basically been a civil contract. Until the 16th century a couple who were getting married only had to make a declaration outside the church door in front of a witness to be married. But now a couple are not legally married until they have sighned the marriage registry in front of a witness. Usually humanists marry in a registry office and celebrate as they choose afterwards.

Humanists also think that a marriage is in fact the beginning of a relationship between a couple, and that the two partners should care great deal about one another be tolerant respectful and talk about personal problems together. They also feel that sex is most defiantly not the most important part of a relationship. Roman Catholics consider marriage to be a man and woman completely devoting themselves to one another in a total union of love. this love must be true and not just a passing emotion or a temporary infatuation. You should stick together during the good times and bad, and only death can part you marriage can have many problems such as a baby being born, this causes problems because the couple's time would be taken up by the baby, this would cause the couple to have less time to themselves.

Or perhaps if one of the couple lose their job, this could cause the other partner to become annoyed because their husband / wife is hanging around the house all day doing nothing. Money shortage is another common problem among couples, it can cause a lot of arguments and sometimes it can cause a break-up. Marrying young and then becoming board with their partner because they had "changed" is yet another problem among couples, this usually leads to an affair or perhaps a divorce. sometimes working all the timer being away from home a lot of can lead to problems within a marriage, because the other partner is left at home alone a lot of the time. When people get serious problems in a marriage it is a good idea to visit of marriage guidance council. At this marriage guidance session a councillor talks tothe couple about their problems and tries to solve them by talking to the couple.

In extreme cases a couple might get a divorce. In some Christian traditions divorces are forbidden, one example is the Catholic church, it teaches thatmarriage is a sacrament and no "human agent" has the power, or right to break something that was made by God. Because of this a the divorce in the Catholic church is meaningless it is like saying that you were never born. if your reasons are good enough you can get an annulment which is where it is said that the marriage never took place. Some Christian churches do allow divorce because they see marriage as a contract which shouldn't be broken but can be. In fact Jesus did say that divorce is allowed, but only because "the hardness of people's hearts made it inevitable that some marriages wouldn't work". When there is a divorce concerning children there can be very big problems.

There are often custody battles and children can be affected psychologically, it can also disrupt their progress in school. It has been shown by long-term studies that children that spend more time with their parents and brothers or sisters are much more likely not to get involved in drugs, teenage pregnancies, and unemployment. By using the information above I conclude that different people approach marriage in different ways, most people approach it with a very serious attitude and are ready the future, others don't approach it with the right attitude at all and often are not certain about weather they want to go through with it or not. Some people get married very quickly after meeting each other, sometimes thesepeople are just getting married to satisfy last or maybe just a please their partner, these marriages rarely last very long. This could be because the couple find things out about each other which make them regret getting married. or perhaps the couple grow apart and stop caring for each other this is sometimes caused by lust being confused with love.

Most people prepare fully for the their marriage, and do relay care for and love each other. These people usually stay together happily for a very long time. Although some of these couples may get divorced but most stay together until death parts them. There's also a small majority of people who get married to someone the only to find that him / her has been keeping secrets from them.

Usually when this is discovered the marriage suffers from major problems and in the end of divorce could take place. In today's world divorce is quite common among partners. Unfortunately many people see divorce as an easy way out of a marriage with problems, many of thesepeople don't even attend counselling to sort out their problems. Of course there awesome people will try their hardest to deal with their problems by talking to councillors to see if the matter can be solved, and only if there's no other choice will get a divorce.