Now personally I believe that all of these things are true of marriage. This is why nowadays there are so many divorces in our world. People do not view the whole package of marriage. Some couples are just good friends not lovers. Others are mainly just sex partners with no relationship other than the physical.
The last section of paragraph nine is the part that I must disagree with. The Pope goes on to say that marriage is not complete without children. That is the greatest gift that marriage can bring. Now if this is true, what about all of those couples who choose not to have children because they no that they will not be the parents a child deserves? What about those married couples who physically cannot have a child? Are these people not truly fulfilling their marriages? In my opinion, marriage is about the love between husband and wife, the companionship they share, the lifelong commitment they make. It's not about the children they do or don't have. I feel having children should be an act of freewill as well, not just something you sign up for when you get married. This is where the controversy of birth control comes in. Without it we would be fulfilling the the Pope believes is the most important part of marriage, procreation. We would also have many children who are neglected by parents who didn't want them or couldn't afford them. This to me is unacceptable. If marriage is an act of free will, so should the decision to have kids.
It is also really interesting that the Pope later wrote about how artificial insemination is wrong (at least that was my understanding of his opinion). So what does he expect married couples who cannot physically have kids to do?
ReplyDeleteI agree with your arguments completely and think that the Pope needs to begin to further consider modern marriage situations.
I also disagreed with this paragraph. My aunt and uncle (who have been married from 25+ years and still very much in love) do not have children of their own, but are an amazing aunt and uncle to me and my sisters. Now I don't know their reasoning behind not having children, but they have still lived a complete life full of family and love. I would say their marriage is not any better or worse than my parents...just different. And everyone and their relationships are different, so I definitely disagree with any generalized "rule" that everyone is supposed to fit to.
ReplyDelete