Evolution

Charles Curran states that "increasing numbers of Roman Catholics do not accept the Church's teaching on the indissolubility of marriage." This in itself is revolutionary. Although the Pope presents himself as the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, and ostensibly the de facto leader of Christendom in general because Catholicism until very recently believed one must be a Catholic to be saved, the Pope is only a leader insofar as others follow. If when Curran wrote in 1977 this was true, even more is it true 20 years later. Therefore, if Curran is correct, the Roman Catholic Church may question its unity, at least as a denomination in Christendom. Curran himself immediately proceeds to clarify that he is one of these dissenters.

But Curran continues: "In general, my stance would tend to avoid the extreme opinions that the breakdown of many Catholic marriages is due only to weakness, sinfulness and selfishness or only to positive or neutral factors." How Curran could imagine a positive factor bringing about such an undisputed tragedy as a divorce indicates, perhaps, that he is unfamiliar with marriage in general.

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ould not be surprising either. The question is then not what does the Pope say but what does the Bible say? Efird attempts to go this route but begins with a detour through sociology, noting that the family is the basis of society and society therefore enacts laws to protect it. Getting married was such an assumption in the Old Testament that one of God's signs to the Israelites that their days were numbered is His command to Jeremiah not to marry. He cites Paul's command to marry "lest you be tempted" and then notes that marriage created a family which stabilized men and women's sexuality and transmitted values. Efird fails in his attempt to bring a Biblical perspective to the subject of marriage because he does not go back far enough in the Bible, beginning with a historical perspective only as far back as Deuteronomy. However, Genesis 2:23 quotes Adam's description of woman: his equal in all respects. God adds, "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they shall be one flesh." Since woman was created the equal of man, man should leave his parents (his original family) and remain with his wife and make a new family. God's intent was that the marriage would be undissolved.
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1873
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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