Marriage Culture - Problems and Solutions

• In the Beginning
• Prolonged Adolescence Leads to Gender War
• Age Difference in Marriage Culture
• Parentally Sponsored Marriage
• Economics
• Small is Beautiful
• Let's Create a Community!

In the Beginning

The first marriage was "arranged" by a Father for His son. God, as Father, "gave His daughter" to his son Adam. Adam was pleased and called her "woman" and "Eve". That the woman was created after the man also implies that the woman would be typically younger than the man. The institution of marriage is based on this precedent. (Gen. 2:22-24)

Adam's wife conceived Cain. Later, it is mentioned that Cain "knew his wife", that is, had sexual relations with her (Gen. 4:1; 17). Cain either obtained his wife by permission of Adam, her father, or else he took her without permission. The idea that the "father gives the bride" is rooted deep within us. Cain was a violent man who "took" his brother's life, so perhaps he "took" his father's daughter as well, rather than asking for her.

Cain's violent nature was easily passed on to his descendents. One of these is described as a polygamist, a murderer, and a braggart. (Gen. 4: 19, 23-24)

The later narrative seems to describe a cultural deterioration, when choices of mates were done without supervision of wise fathers and godly mothers. They "took"; they weren't "given" (Gen. 6: 2). Later "the whole earth was...filled with violence." (Gen. 6: 11, 13)

After the flood, the new beginning of culture was blessed by God, who repeated much of the same mandate he had given to Adam and Eve: "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth." (Gen. 9: 1b)

When the later generations resisted the mandate to "fill the earth", preferring to huddle in one place and "make a name for (themselves)", God became concerned about the danger of this development, and proceeded to confuse their tongues and scatter them, allowing them to develop their own diverse local cultures throughout the world.

Even today, too local a congestion of population is a danger in the world. I believe mankind was meant to "fill the earth", not huddle too densely in congested large metropolitan areas. Let us consider some of the effects of this congestion, how we got ourselves caught up in it, and how some of us might relieve the pressure of it or even escape it altogether. If you are a thoughtful person, concerned and confused about contemporary trends, please read on. There is hope.

In the transition from ancient to modern society, much good has come through technological progress, but also some folly, some "towers of Babel", as it were.