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death. Let me quote two statements from the Bible teaching
about marriage: "…a wife must not leave her husband; … and
a husband must not divorce his wife" (Apostle Paul's letter to
the Corinthians, 7) "a married woman is bound by the law to
her husband as long as he lives; but if he dies, then she is free
from the law that bound her to him" (Apostle Paul's letter to
the Romans, 7) . The marriage vow meant exactly what it ran:
"I ___ take thee to be my wedded wife/ husband, 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 ordinance; and
thereto I plight thee my troth". As we see, marriage was
something permanent. It was a sacred bond. It was an
instrument for the continuation of the family line based on
social arrangement, responsibility, and obedience. Mate
selection was based on family needs and interests, and
marriage was seen as a contract between families. Today
marriage means different things to different people.
Sometimes it doesn't mean much at all. Marriage may mean
commitment, raising children, romance, absence of romance,
companionship, partnership, love, investment, caring, legal
inheritance of property, wealth accumulation, convenience,
strength and stability, emotional involvement, security,
intimate relationship, safe sex, mutual assistance, additional
economic burden, shared financial problems, pressure, lack of
freedom, obedience, dependence, boredom, violence, fun.
4. The fourth area of change follows from the previous one. We
could hardly speak about marriage/family as a stable,
permanent and lifelong institution of the 2000's. It is a
mutually beneficial relationship, a temporary arrangement.
Now we have to take for granted that there are a number of
alternatives to the traditional marriage in the form of
transient relationships desired. Probably that accounts for the
fact that more and more adults are remaining single, living
together without getting married, delaying having children, or
not having children at all. As a result, family structures that
were not considered traditional in the past are now accepted
as the norm. Blended families (consisting of remarried
couples and their children from previous marriage) adoptive

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