Whats In A Ritual?
According to many Christians today, the anwser to my title is...nothing much.
But does the Bible make "nothing much" out of rituals or ceremonies?
Do we read our own contempt of ritual/ceremony into the Bible?
Before the High Priest actually went through the ceremony/ritual to become High Priest he dared not take it upon himself to just perform the duties any way...it would have led to his death...
...but after the ritual/ceremony...he was now "set apart" or holy for this task.
The Bible says that fornicators will be judged by God but the marriage bed is undefiled.
Whats the dif...sex is sex right?
Wrong!
God has ordained marriage and the husband and wife relationship point to the greater relationship of Christ and His bride [the Church].
But before the ritual/ceremony you have "two" single people...and after this wonderful ceremony the two become "one flesh"...they are joined covenantally together.
Sex in marriage is blessed of God...and outside of the marriage covenant...sexual union is a curse...no matter how much the couple profess "love" for one another.
The ritual/ceremony of baptism [into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit] is what brings a person into a covenant relationship or covenant union with God.
This covenant is two-fold.
There are blessings for faith and the works that flow from that faith.
There are curses for unbelief and the rebellion and disobedience that flow out from it.
Rituals are very important and have much Biblical meaning to them.
Since the people of God are the salt and light to the world...I wonder how much of the common law marriages we see today are not the world learning from the church?
But that is for another day.
posted by Dale Callahan at 5:59 AM
7 Comments:
If common-law marriages are "the world learning from the Church", then so are gay marriages, right?
"Outside worship and reverence, rituals can have a more basic sociological function in expressing, fixing and reinforcing the shared values and beliefs of a society. Ritual thus is as much political as religious in orientation.
Rituals have formed a part of human culture for tens of thousands of years. The earliest known evidence of burial rituals dates from around 20,000 years ago. (Older skeletons show no signs of deliberate 'burial', and as such lack clear evidence of the materialization of ritual.)
Rituals can aid in creating a firm sense of group identity. Humans have used rituals to create a social bond and alleviate the isolation that can be felt otherwise." (Wikipedia)
They say it so well. To claim a ritual, particularly marriage, as a specifically Christian or Judeo-Christian concept is narrow minded at best. Rituals to join men and women together in committed relationships existed in many other cultures before and alongside their use in biblical times. Then there are the many biblical characters who were polygamous - wouldn't a faithful believer in the Bible agree that having as many wives as Abraham (not to mention concubines) is ordained by God?
God created and in the garden God ordained marriage.
You can try and pull out as much "old" evidence that you want that other cultures practiced marriage...but the real question I would like to ask is why?
Are you married DL? If so, why?
Is marriage for life for you? If so, why?
King David committed adultery, practiced murder...according to your biblical interpretation maybe we should begin practicing these things as well.
God ordained marriage in the garden of Eden? Aside from the obvious mythological nature of that story, exactly what choices were Adam and Eve presented with? They were, presumably, the only people that existed. They had no minister to marry them, no ritual, no idea what commitment might mean, and no alternative. Please try to make some sense - it helps your argument.
Why did older cultures practice marriage? Probably to insure increasing population and decrease fighting among men over women. When they brought their deity into the picture, it was to provide authority to a practice they had already established. Certainly that's the case described in the bible. Where exactly does the bible begin describing marriage as a ritual? Not until the NT for sure.
I am married. Why? Because we decided that a committed lifetime relationship was what we wanted. We agreed on our own (pre-ritual) that we would not seek to dissolve our union. We, unlike Adam and Eve of legend, had and tried alternatives and found them unsatisfying to us. We have friends who have made other decisions that worked well for them.
As I recall, according to the story God was not too happy about King David's adultery and murder, but many important figures in the OT stories had multiple wives and sometimes concubines, and there's no record that God was displeased with that aspect of their life. In fact, sometimes the plethora of wives is seen as evidence of God's blessing upon them. Seems to me that if you take the OT literally and value it equally with the NT, then you ought to applaud polygamy.
The minister speaks on behalf of God...that is who gives him authority...church or civil.
God was there in the garden so He was the One who authorized the union.
Since God is the author of His
Word then we need to read His word as a unified writing [something you refuse to do].
The Apostle Paul tells us that the husband/wife relationship really points to Christ/Church.
Please show me where in the Old Test where a man with many wives was a sign of God's blessing...and that God said this was a blessing.
Changing gears...
Did you and your wife have sex before you entered this union of marriage?
If so was it "wrong"?
Was it fornication?
Now that you are married would it be "wrong" for you to have sex with someone else? If so, why?
If your answer has to do with breaking your vows then why is it wrong to break your word.
Is there an absolute, universal, law of truth?
Since we can really know truth because we all interpret it differently then "for life" may mean different things to different people...right?
If you are your own little god then I guess you make the rules...you could change your mind later on...and if you did this then who would you ultimately have to answer to?
In your world you would have noone to answer to but yourself.
In your world adultery is really not a sin...its not wrong...because in your world there is no such thing as right or wrong.
If you say your standard is that something is ok only if it doesn't hurt someone else then commiting adultery isn't really wrong...as long as you don't get caught.
You could have yourself a little mistress...and as long as your wife was not privy to it then your ok...right?
No one is watching over you...no one is going to judge you...so you can do whatever you want...right?
So let me restate your position in clearer terms:
1. When a Minister says that he was called by God, then you think he speaks for God, at least when he says things you agree with.
2. Since you think the Bible is God's Word, then everyone who doesn't see it as a unified text is wrong.
3. You think God punishes sin and even though God greatly blessed Abraham the polygamist, you don't see that as condoning polygamy.
Dale, the truth of the matter here is that making commitments and living a moral life is not dependent upon believing in Christianity or any other religion. It has to do with maturity and integrity, qualities that occur as often in unbelievers as in believers. If you stopped believing in your particular variation of the Christian religion, would you be more likely to cheat on your wife? I doubt it. If you came to the realization that everything you believe about God and the Bible is a myth, would you then abandon your children? Hardly.
If I didn't believe in the Lord would I be more inclined to cheat on my wife? Yes.
You forget...there was a time when I didn't know the Lord and I know what I was like.
Enough rabbit trails...
Did you fornicate...have sex before marriage...was it wrong/right?
If either of you or your wife now had sex with someone outside of your marriage relationship would it be wrong/right?
Explain how any moral law is binding, when there are no universals and no personal accountability?
Have you ever changed you mind in the past?
Have you ever lied in the past?
Have you ever made bad judgment calls in the past?
If so then you are a very arbitrary judge and lawmaker.
When things get hard...it is very convenient to "change" the definitions of marriage...right?
You speak matter of factly...you don't need religion for morality but like logic, and science you don't explain how...you simply draw off the Christian beliefs to do so.
As for you "restating my position in clearer terms"...what you should really say is restate my position in your unbelieving terms...[clear as mud].
God's covenant relationships are two-fold...blessing for faithfulness and curses for unfaithfulness...I have said this before so when you "restate" my position in your "light" you are really being dishonest [which really isn't surprizing].
This two-fold nature of God's covenant relationships means that you can have really and for truly wives/husbands who are really and for truly rotten stinkers...because they are not acting faithfully to the covenant they entered.
You can have ministers who are faithful, and those who are not...but you also have a universal, absolute standard by which you judge something good or bad, and a personal Judge who you will have to answer to...not just some arbitrary standard...that has no teeth [no accountability].
You can have Christians who are faithful and those who are not [hypocrites].
But the Christians are really Christians, the wives/husbands are really wives/husbands and the ministers are really ministers...but they all have a standard to live up to...God's word.
Are those who disaree with God's word [Genesis to Revelations] wrong? Yes they are.
God's Law is the standard of what is right and wrong and not the lives of God's servants.
If God chooses to not punish the sins of His servants who live in a immature time [Abraham did not have the fuller revelation that was to come later] then that is His right to do so.
Your problem (or at least the one that is apparent when you try to argue on behalf of your world view) is that you only talk from the position of someone who already believes the same as you. When you have to talk to someone who believes differently and insists on a rational discussion, you resort to simplistic logical tricks.
Most people in this world do not need to crutch of an ever-seeing, all-knowing Daddy in the sky or the threat of an eternity roasting on a spit in order to act morally and ethically. You don't seem to be able to acknowledge that, and perhaps you need the crutch. If your belief system is all that keeps you from a life of drunken promiscuity, then by all means hang on to it. Those of us who are able to live decent moral lives without that baggage don't envy you.
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