Monday, October 4, 2010

The silver lining of marriage in the Bible

I have reached the age that all of my friends are starting to get married and live happily ever after. I have always thought that the wedding ceremony was pretty and represented love. At least I thought this until last Thursday, when we had Lynda Sexton as a guest speaker. When discussing women in Genesis, we happened upon the subject of Leviticus 19:29, which specifically gives fathers and husbands the power to make prostitutes of their daughters and wives. I had already known that women used to be viewed as property but then we started discussing the role of the actual marriage ceremony. I had never thought of the ceremony as a property transfer ritual but that is what it is! This idealized and cherished day is just a business transaction that is celebrated. This means that every little girl out there that dreams of the day she will get married is in all actuality dreaming of a business transaction. This pretty much takes all of the romance out of weddings. After I got over the shock of realizing this, I started to wonder, is marriage still viewed as a business transaction in today's world. After researching several different sites, I found that marriage is indeed seen as a business transaction. The true purpose of marriage is not be joined with someone because of love, even though that always helps make things easier, but it is to help make business transfers. It often makes sense economically to marry as it creates shared assets.
I have been thinking upon this subject for the past few days. I traveled home this past weekend to attend a wedding for some family friends but ended up not going. I am glad that I did not go as I think I would have spent the entire ceremony considering what the bride and the groom were getting out their newly instated property transfer. Was the groom or the bride going to gain more from this contract that they were forming? For the past few years, I have always joked with my mother that I am going to marry a sugar daddy and she would always respond that I was being very cold and unfeeling. But if I go with the Biblical interpretation of marriage, I would be marrying for the correct reasons. I would be transferring my skills as a wife for money. God in Genesis describes the marriage of Adam and Eve as a helpmate. Marrying an older man would make me his help mate so this means that I have finally found my justification for marrying a sugar daddy and becoming a trophy wife! I have found the silver lining for losing my childhood views of marriage and love.

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