What Definition....

[sailorzeo]

Okay, so, being Jehovah's Witnesses, my husband and I don't vote, therefore, we rarely pay attention to props and whatnot coming up on the ballot. But apparently, Arizona has a few hot-button ones this year, and one is getting a lot of attention. Prop 102 is a marriage proposition.

Now, what really bugs me about it are the pro-102 radio ads. They start off well enough, with a happy (sappy) reminiscing about marriage days, or proposals, or advice a man gave his sons about marriage, but here's where it bugs me: "Marriage is a husband, a wife, a _family._"

So...does that mean that couples who can't or won't have children aren't living up to the definition of marriage?

This is something that's bugged me for a while. In fact, one of the sisters, a good friend of mine, had even made the comment, "Well, if you don't plan on ever having children, why get married?"

To which my response should have been 1 Corinthians 7:8,9 -- Now I say to the unmarried persons and the widows, it is well for them that they remain even as I am. But if they do not have self-control, let them marry, for it is better to marry than to be inflamed [with passion].

See? Paul mentions nothing about kids, just keeping passions within marriage bonds. So that's our reasoning. :-P

Comments

[alessar.livejournal.com]

It's a good point. Everytime someone gets up and starts talking about marriage being strictly for procreation I want to point out that using this definition marriage shouldn't be granted to:

- barren couples, including the elderly
- couples who've chosen to not have kids for whatever reason including medical and lifestyle/career choice
- couples who strictly adopt or foster childen

Yet that definition immediately extends the stamp of approval to:
- lesbian couples who get pregnant via invitro or some other technique

[sailorzeo.livejournal.com]

And another thing on that topic, there was a recent Watchtower that had an article on contraception and the Bible's view on sex within marriage. I'm at work now, otherwise I'd see if it was in last year's library and pull the relevant bits, but basically, it said that sex within marriage did NOT have to be all about procreation (IIRC, it brought out a bit from Proverbs about "rejoice with the wife of your youth...let her own breasts intoxicate you.").

[stephaniejane2.livejournal.com]

Ads like that bug me, too.