The case for the divine origin of marriage can be argued from various lines of evidence. First, the study of both ancient and modern man reveals that marriage is a universal practice of the human family. The late Dr. Ashley Montague, a prominent anthropologist, wrote: “There are no societies in which marriage does not exist” (240). If marriage developed in a random, haphazard, evolutionary fashion, one might expect that “marriage” would be found in some cultures but not in others. The evidence, however, simply does not support that view. Second, the ancient Hebrew record reveals that marriage is the result of the creation of man and woman having been made especially for one another as husband and wife. And Jehovah God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh: and from the rib, which Jehovah God had taken from the man, he made a woman, and brought her unto the man. And the man 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.” Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh (Genesis 2:21-24). In this connection it should be noted that Jesus Christ, appealing to this very text, endorsed the proposition that marriage was instituted by God (see: Matthew 19:4-5; Mark 10:6). To repudiate this reality is to cast reflection upon the Son of God. Third, as far back as one may go, exploring the historical records of the past, marriage has been a part of the fabric of human existence. The code of Hammurabi (c. 2104-2061 B.C.) contains 282 laws of the ancient Babylonian empire. Laws 128 through 161 deal with marriage (Barton, 391-393). Other records, later discovered and going back centuries earlier, bear similar testimony (Kramer, 51-59). There is no evidence that marriage developed in a piece-meal fashion.
Posted on: Sun, 26 Oct 2014 17:02:22 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015