Marriage and Family Life (Essay Sample)

What contributes Satisfaction in Marriage and Family Life?
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What contributes Satisfaction in Marriage and Family Life?
Based on the course work I have covered in marriage and Christian vacation, I am convinced that marriage is part of the most "intense" human relationships. However, the stability of marriage relationships are defined by the spouses, and it is very important to share their experience of family life. Additionally, to some point, the universality of family life and marriage does not show that every person in society is willing to get married; this leads to vocational training in the church. However, in most cases, most of the people in a family or society get married; this happens at least once in their entire lifetime (Paul II, 2002). Consequently, the two institutions of marriage and family life are seen as a biological foundation through which family values are built. In addition, it is evident that marriage, church vacations, and family life have an adequate history that is unique and different from the other. For example, most f the scholars believe that marriage is a “universal” and social institution that is founded on love. According to Zabriskie & McCormick (2003), marriage is an institution that is established by human beings to regulate and control sex life between male and female. For this reason, marriage is used to mean an economic and sexual union between a man and a woman that is approved by the society. It is, therefore, easy to conclude that marriage is an institution that is a legal union between a man and a woman. According to the Christians' teachings, every person, who is not willing to live a celibacy life, is free to marry. Consequently, every person who is at marriageable age, he or she enters into spouse search and demand framework either consciously or subconsciously (Moxnes, 1997); here, the male or the female makes selection, and comparison before the marriage is done.
Consequently, this paper is a review of the knowledge I have gained about marriage and family life and the issues that contribute to stability and satisfaction to the spouses. The endeavor of the paper is to examine the extent to which the knowledge about marriage and family life can contribute to satisfaction. Additionally, the paper will use a chronological pattern that is based on the critical and empirical reviews from the objectives of course learned. Based on the course studies, I feel there is a huge research gap that exists in the area of marriage pattern and family life, sexuality in marriage, and satisfaction achieved in marriage. Consequently, based on this rationale, the paper will take the institution of marriage and family life as the main study phenomenon that has significant influence when the issue of “satisfaction” is discussed in a marriage or in a family life. To monitor the satisfaction level in marriages, it is important to know the factors that contribute to it. For example, according to an interesting survey that was carried out by Heller, Watson, & Ilies (2004), it is evident that issues such as anti-Christian cultures, absent of father figure, adequate finances, lack of communication, lack of discipline, high level of divorce, materialism, negative influence from the media, and busyness are the main factors that are influencing satisfactory in marriage and family life. Additionally, in today’s world, most of the spouses are not able to balance between work and family life thus experiencing a negative experience in the sexual life and communication. For this reason, it is paramount to help spouses in a marriage to embrace a balance between family life and work.
What are the intentions of Christian-based Marriage and family life?
A marriage that is based on the Christian basis is the one that takes place between a man and a woman who are believers and with a sincere heart to serve God as a couple. However, a man and a woman can marry and fail to serve God together as a spouse. The intention of the Christian based marriage is to ensure that the couple marries not only to achieve sexual satisfaction but also to glorify God. This is because, according to the Christian's teachings, marriage is a sacred union, and those who enter into it should not enter it impulsively. Silverstein & Giarrusso (2010) affirm that every woman or a man should carefully consider marriage life and before marriage they should be engaged for at least one year; this is according to the Hebrews traditions that took place before vows were exchanged. As a result, the church intends to nurture a loving couple and help them not to rush into marriage institution because marriage is sacred. For example, the book of Mathew 5:32 Jesus affirmed that a man and a woman who are married should remain in marriage unless a case of adultery is reported. Consequently, the reason for a man and woman taking marriage vows before God is to ensure that they will remain united in love until death separates them. Jesus went ahead to assert a man and a woman who are united in marriage are one person. Jesus concluded his teaching by affirming that what God has put together no man should put asunder. As a result, most of the churches do not allow man and woman who are married to divorce; however, during the time of Moses in the Old Testament he encouraged a man to divorce his woman when faced with “hardness of heart.” However, according to a survey that was carried by Heller, Watson, & Ilies, (2004), the results asserted that most of the married people including the Christians get married with wrong reasons and bases. The results indicated that 70 percent of the couples in the study married because of sex, 60% of the participants confirmed that they married because of security, 55% because of fame and wealth, and 42% because of early pregnancies thus wanted to escape their parents. On the other hand, some spouses said they married because they were mistaken and thought that they loved the other person. But according to the church’s teaching every man or woman is supposed to marry so that they can glorify God through their marriage and family life. The following is a bar graph to show the reasons for people entering into married and family life:


Additionally, the churches encourage the couple to consider various factors that will help them glorify God as compared to two people who are single. Consequently, the couples are supposed to make the required determination through the assistance of the church deacons or pastors before making the decision of committing themselves in the marriage life (Silverstein & Giarrusso, 2010). As a result, two people can get married only after understanding that they cannot divorce after making the marriage vows; this is because of issues such as lust or security reasons things can go bad if the expectations of one party are not met (Heller, Watson, & Ilies, 2004). Moreover, the word of God in the book of Proverbs 21:9, 19 affirms that a bad marriage can be intolerable. As a result, every man and a woman should understand the biblical teachings about marriage and get a reason why they what to be married as seen below:


For example, every woman must know that the man is the head of the family as stated in Genesis 3:16; Peter 3:6, and 1 Corinthians 11:3; this will help in avoiding conflicts that results to the notion of 50-50 proposition between the man and the woman as proposed by couples of these days.
Lastly, the church teachings state that the woman should submit to his man in all things from his body to the rest. The church teaches the married couples on how to have a life that is joyful, gland, and respectful while enjoying each other through sexual acts, sharing their material possession, and expressing their gentle behavior through the guidance of the holy spirit. To achieve a satisfactory life both the man and woman are expected to fulfill their duties as stated in Corinthians 7:3. Additionally, just as Sarah loved his husband Moses and called him Master or Lord, a woman in the contemporary church basis should be willing to respect and call her husband master. However, this is not practical since the feminist movement was started in the 19th century and wives stopped referring to their husbands as Master or Lord (Paul II, 1993). However, for a marriage to remain lovely and fulfilling, it is important for both the man and the wife to remain loving and respectfully and adoring to each other; a man should, therefore, show love to his wife at all cost.
Factors that can lead to failure in Marriage and Family Life
As mentioned before, various factors such as lack of effective communication, anti-Christian cultures, and financial constraints can result in marriage failure. However, it is important to know what it means for anti-Christian culture. Moreover, people in marriages are blaming failure in the marriages on negative media influences, surrounding cultures such as marrying multiple wives and other forms of sexual like lesbianism, homosexuality, and sex practices with animals. However, I tend to affirm that people blame marriage failure on the factors that can be controlled. For example, is it the fault of the media if the marriages are failing or is it the couple involved? Secondly, the issue of divorce is so rampant today. However, divorce is an indication that there are so many deeper problems facing the marriages that couples cannot bear (Paul II, 1993); the reasons for divorce are the factors to address the main cause of marriage problems.
Secondly, it is true that our marriages are falling apart because we are too busy in out places of work? The answers if a big Yes because most the couples are not striking a balance between the busy work schedule ...