Myths About Marriage and Long Life

Will You Marry Me?

On a lighter side, we thought you might enjoy taking this brief quiz concerning two possible myths surrounding marriage, whether you are currently enjoying marital bliss or are single and on the prowl.

1. To raise the chances of a long life, women should get married. Myth or On the Money?

2. To raise the chances of a long life, men should get married. Myth or On the Money?

First, before providing the answers to these questions , let's just look at a few scriptural references on what the Bible has to say about living a long life and its association with that of being married. First in Genesis 2, we discover that God created the woman for the purpose of being a "help meet" for man. 

• In Genesis 2:18 the Lord says that "is is not good that man should be alone; I will make him an help meet (i.e. suitable and opposite) for him."  So the institution of marriage was established by the Lord and not by man. 
• Proverbs 5:18 likewise encourages "husbands to rejoice with the wife of their youth."
• I Corinthians Chapter 7, Paul encourages the single person where marriage or not being married is concerned.  It reads, "every person has his/her proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that." This means that whether you're single or married it is a gift of God.

So what does the Bible say about long life and its connection with marriage, if anything?

• The only thing that I have read is that children are instructed to "honor and obey father and mother: that their days may be long upon the land." (Exodus 20)
• Also, in Psalm 91:14-15 we read about those who "set their love upon the Lord and know his Name does He promise to satisfy with long life."
• And in Psalm 90:10 tells us that our "days are 70 years of age; and if by reason of strength they be 80 years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away."

Well with that said, let's get on to the answers to these two intriguing questions.

And the Answer is ...

Question 1: Myth. The Longevity Project clearly revealed that single women and divorced women often stayed healthy without a husband.

Question 2: Maybe On theMoney. Men who were suited to marriage, and who got and stayed married, lived longest. But men who got divorced, especially if they then remained unmarried, were at very high risk of dying. Remember, 100% of divorces begin with marriage.

However, as far as the Bible is concerned, it does not explicitly state whether marriage adds longevity or not.  Yet, something KEY to remember is that a "happy heart is like a medicine" and maybe men are much happier and healthier when they are living in a state of marital bliss.


RECOMMENDED PRODUCT

Jesus Words About Marriage

Jesus tells us that Marriage between a man and woman is a holy union instituted and established by God.  He said in Matthew 19:5-6 that when a man and woman come before God in matrimony that they are no longer two, but are joined together as one flesh.  He quoted from Genesis 2:24, and He used the word "cleave" which means to join fast, cement, or glue. 

Marriage is a sacred bond that is not to be taken lightly, or interfered with in any way, by any person, including the President or Judges of the Courts.  In fact, Jesus emphasized the sanctity of marriage, saying, "therefore what God hath joined together, let not man put asunder (i.e. divide or separate)."  However, most people in our society today no longer view marriage as sacred.  Many couples are entering into loveless marriages which only seal their fate for failure.  Others are forsaking their marriage vows by engaging in adulterous relationships and affairs. 

Furthermore, Courts and judges in some countries are now passing legislation permitting "same sex marriages" which further makes a mockery out of this holy institution, and only to this world's detriment and destruction.  Thus, this is where a law known as DOMA came into play back in 1996.  DOMA defines marriage as a legal union between one man and one woman for purposes of all federal laws, and provides that states need not recognize a marriage from another state if it is between persons of the same sex. So the purpose of DOMA has been to protect and defend traditional or biblical marriage which is the only union decreed and outlined by the Laws of God, as ACCEPTABLE or PERMISSIBLE.

Jesus said in Matthew 19:4 the following, "Have you NOT read , that he which made them in the beginning made them male and female."  Paul, in a letter to believers at the Church of Rome, urged them to avoid engaging in behavior similiar the heathen and unsaved, saying in Romans 1:26-28, 32 the following, "This is why God has given them up to degrading passions; so that their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural; and likewise the men, giving up natural relations with the opposite sex, burned with passion for one another, men committing shameful acts with other men and receiving in their own persons the penalty appopriate to their perversion."  In other words, since they have not considered God worth knowing, God has given them up to worthless ways of thinking; so that they do improper things." CJB

Remember, God created marriage to be a union between a man and a woman.  For God's Holy Name will never figure into the equation of "same-sex unions", "loveless marriages", or "adulterous affairs."


Watch this presentation 



Dr. Robert Gagnon - What Does the Bible Teach About Homosexuality? from Pure Passion on Vimeo.

Dr. Robert Gagnon is an Associate Professor of New Testament at Pittsburg Theological Seminary and the author of arguably the best book ever written by any scholar on what the Bible teaches about homosexual behavior.

In this episode, Dr. Gagnon answers the hard questions and teachings of both Jesus and the Old Testament on same-sex marriage, homosexuality, and even incest.

DOMA: The Origin of Canonical and Traditional Marriage

The very origin of marriage began with the first created couple known as ADAM and EVE.  Furthermore, the holy institution of their marriage was performed by the Creator God Himself.  He was the Father of the Bride (i.e. Eve) who brought her and gave her away to Adam, and God stood beside him as Best Man too.

God saw after creating man, that he needed a like or similar companion.  Genesis 2:18 says that the Divine Trinity said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet (i.e. suitable) for him." And, the Word of God says that even the created animals of every kind could NOT satisfy or meet this requirement (see Genesis 2:20).

So what did the Lord do?  He caused Adam to go into a deep sleep.  So while Adam was sedated so to speak, and in a deep REM sleep, the LORD took a rib from the man and formed what Adam himself identified and referred to as Wo-man (see Genesis 2:21-22).  See even he recognized that she was a vital and necessary PART of him, proclaiming "this is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man."

The divine ordination of marriage act as declared by God surrounding this most sacred and holy institution as listed in the Covenant designed only between male and female unions is GENESIS 2 VERSE 24: Therefore, shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his WIFE: and they shall be one flesh. For it apparent that even in our created and gendered bodies, that the obvious complement of a man is that of the woman's and vice versa.  This is the only natural and normal process by God which allows for procreation and the bringing forth and continuance of children, offspring, and future generations.  And the Word of the Lord says there are NO EXCEPTIONS to this!