I don't see any positives about marriage

  • Thread starter Thread starter Blue_Rose
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
As a young person growing up in this secular world with family issues that have not been completely a positive influence on your feelings about marriage it is no wonder you are concerned. It is good to think things through carefully and to let God lead you forward. I see many positives about marriage but I grew up without the issues you have experienced. The big thing for you is to make your own decision. Don’t let what you hear from friends, see in the world or have experienced in your growing up years keep you from finding God’s plan for you. Everything we do in life has it’s challenges but when we think we are being obedient to God’s plan we have the strength to go on. Do people love each other for a lifetime? Yes, I do think so as I have since I was 18 and I am 63 now. Wasn’t always easy and it would be a lie to say it wasn’t very hard sometimes, but I have and will continue to until death parts us. I will pray for you to be able to discern the path you should follow according to God’s perfect plan for you.
 
St. Paul’s advice to unmarried Christians to remain as he is admits that the married face difficulties not faced by those who remain celibate. That does not mean he does not value marriage, as Ephesians 5 makes clear.

The priest’s one-dimensional advice was so oversimplified as to be false. Yes, spouses need to be available to each other, considering their bodies to belong to their spouse. No, this doesn’t mean that a good spouse will demand sex without regard to whether their partner is favorably inclined towards it at the moment. That is a big topic, not a one-liner topic.

Since you are not driven to marry even if it means making compromises with regards to the Christian quality of the marriage, you have the advantage that you can hold out for the case where you are “captured” by a particularly good man for a particularly good marriage or else you won’t marry at all. This is a good state to be in.

Your view of marriage concerns me, though. Let us take it step-by-step:
Rarely anyone finds a good partner that follows the faith,
Not as often as we should, because it would seem we do live in a slothful and self-permissive age where self-mastery is undervalued. It does happen, though. If you have the continence to hold out for a good Catholic husband or else do not marry at all, happy will you be. Your main concern ought to be whether you have the fidelity and self-forgetfulness to be a good spouse yourself and whether you are learning self-mastery and an orientation that concerns yourself more with others than with yourself. Those who have that maturity will have a far higher likelihood of attracting and keeping a partner who is just as mature, pious, faithful, and generally virtuous. Hang around with people like that, and your chances of finding one who wants to marry you will be higher. If you discern you are called to religious life, you will also have prepared yourself for that.

married life is full of problems,
Religious life is no bowl of cherries, either, because we humans have our frailties. As Ecclesiastes put it, though: Where a lone man may be overcome, two together can resist. A three-ply cord is not easily broken. Eccl. 4:12 There is a reason that religious communities do not allow anyone to become a hermit until they have mastered the communal life. It is because the communal life lays our selfishness and self-centeredness bare. Marriage and family life have this quality, too. Besides, marriage gives humans a way to express their God-given sexual urges in a chaste and life-giving way.

all men are only interested in sex,
First, it isn’t true, second, a strong libido is not inherently incompatible with the Christian life, and third, I have news for you, but women typically have libidos, too. It is not abnormal to have a low sex drive, but it isn’t repugnant to have a typical sex drive, either. Sexual desire between a husband and wife is not a vice, but a natural urge towards procreation and the total marital unity that makes parents the foundation of the family. This total unity includes a divinely-designed physical unity, which through the Sacrament of Marriage becomes a unity in imitation of Christ and His Bride, the Church, which is a unity par excellence.

I think why should I bring children into the world to suffer and I think there are too many people in the world anyway
This sounds a little too much like Ebeneezer Scrooge, who got his comeuppance from the Ghost of Christmas Present:
*“Spirit,” said Scrooge, with an interest he had never felt before,“tell me if Tiny Tim will live.”

“I see a vacant seat,” replied the Ghost, “in the poor chimney-corner, and a crutch without an owner, carefully preserved. If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future, the child will die.”

“No, no,” said Scrooge. “Oh, no, kind Spirit. Say he will be spared.”

“If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future, none other of my race,” returned the Ghost, “will find him here. What then? If he be like to die, he had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.”

Scrooge hung his head to hear his own words quoted by the Spirit, and was overcome with penitence and grief.

“Man,” said the Ghost, “if man you be in heart, not adamant, forbear that wicked cant until you have discovered What the surplus is, and Where it is. Will you decide what men shall live, what men shall die? It may be, that in the sight of Heaven, you are more worthless and less fit to live than millions like this poor man’s child. Oh God! To hear the Insect on the leaf pronouncing on the too much life among his hungry brothers in the dust.”*

If you do not believe that our suffering here is short compared to the eternal bliss that God intends us to have with Him in Heaven, how can you give yourself to religious life? How can you do penances, how can you deny your short-sighted impulses? How can you claim to have a Christian life radically aimed at communion with the infinite love and compassion of God?

and lastly can you really love someone for a lifetime and not get sick of them?
If you can’t love someone for the short span of our life here on Earth, how will you cut it in Heaven? Who is going to want to live with you for eternity or how will you find bliss in eternal life with others, if you can’t imagine loving even one person, a person devoted to your happiness, for a mere 50 or 60 years?
 
Rarely anyone finds a good partner
Do you decisions in your life solely based on the what others decide and choose?

If you are discerning religious life, and everyone is telling you no, and you are considering it anyway, you obviously are not following in the path of everyone else. Then why in this particular matter are you concerned about everyone else???
that follows the faith,
Solution: Find someone that follows the faith.
married life is full of problems,
Life is full of problems.
all men are only interested in sex,
That is a rather shallow and derogatory view of men.
I think why should I bring children into the world to suffer and I think there are too many people in the world anyway and lastly can you really love someone for a lifetime and not get sick of them ?
Many I assume that you hate your life and think that your parents should not have brought you into the world.
Please remember I don’t wish to cause offense because there are reasons why I feel this way about marriage (growing up in a broken family, hearing about friends being abused in relationships).
I’m divorced and remarried. I married a non-Catholic with an entirely different moral set than I did. I am now married to a Catholic, have several children, and am very happy. Stop dwelling on everyone else’s issues, otherwise you will be living a very unhappy life, married or not.
 
I don’t want to offend anybody so please understand I’m only posting my point of view. I would like to see the positives about marriage so please do let me know what they are.
Disclaimer: my view is intently “less Catholic” then you may be looking for.

From a practical perspective a good marriage is a very fulfilling thing. I’m newly married (a week ago), but the couples I know who have been married for several decades are much happier than other people in there age group (with a few exceptions). There are tons of material reasons like better health (men), wealth (both), and many others but those shouldn’t be the primary reasons, not even secondary.

In short, a good marriage is the best thing ever, but a bad marriage can get ugly. The lesson (and partial answer for you) is to choose wisely and treat kindly.
I’m not married and am discerning religious life but family and friends keep encouraging me to date (which I don’t).
Contrary to what others will say I suggest you consider dating. It will help you to learn about yourself and help you discern if married or single life is for you. Just state your boundaries up front.
Rarely anyone finds a good partner that follows the faith, married life is full of problems,
Choose well, that’s the point of dating.
all men are only interested in sex,
a bit unfair. It is a interest but not the only one.
and lastly can you really love someone for a lifetime and not get sick of them ?
If it is love, yes yes yes (based on watching my parents).
Please remember I don’t wish to cause offense because there are reasons why I feel this way about marriage (growing up in a broken family, hearing about friends being abused in relationships)
I just don’t get it. But I want to. Please help me see the good in marriage and what God uses it for.
Other than my parents I only know 2 other couples in my family that stayed married. I too felt pessimistic about marriage even when I started dating my wife. I don’t know if it happens to most people, but marriage is a bad idea. It is one of the riskiest things I’ll ever do in life and something I planned to avoid. But once you find the right person it changes everything and changes the how you look at it and the risk/reward balance.
 
Maybe this is obvious but… If you don’t feel like marriage is for you, then maybe it’s not for you.

It really is okay to stay single if you feel like that is for what you’re best suited.

There are healthy, normal, faith-filled men that make good husbands and aren’t obsessed with sex, but I will admit they are not found in abundance. And, you’ll never catch one with your current outlook.

Still, maybe married life is just not your calling. If I were you, I’d try to let go of some of the negativity and just see where life takes me and who crops up.
 
Men don’t just think about sex.

There’s also sports, fishing, football, woodworking, video games, red meat, cars, guns and a number of other absorbing subjects.
 
I don’t want to offend anybody so please understand I’m only posting my point of view. I would like to see the positives about marriage so please do let me know what they are.

I’m not married and am discerning religious life but family and friends keep encouraging me to date (which I don’t).

I think what is the point of marriage? Rarely anyone finds a good partner that follows the faith, married life is full of problems, all men are only interested in sex, I think why should I bring children into the world to suffer and I think there are too many people in the world anyway and lastly can you really love someone for a lifetime and not get sick of them ?

Please remember I don’t wish to cause offense because there are reasons why I feel this way about marriage (growing up in a broken family, hearing about friends being abused in relationships)

I just don’t get it. But I want to. Please help me see the good in marriage and what God uses it for.
Don’t let the media turn you off marriage or a few bad examples do so. My parents where very happy together only death parted them. I know many happy couples and look at marriage as a possitive. Like anything else I’m sure it requires work. No one is perfect and there will always be stuff about someone which will annoy you or you might want to change. I’m not married though so my knowledge on it is limited.
 
Good men don’t have only sex on their minds, there’s a lot going on in the lives of typical good men. That said, men don’t marry to be chaste in marriage. If a woman thinks she isn’t going to like sex, she is better off not marrying rather than sentencing her husband to a life of involuntary celibacy within his marriage. I know a few men in this state and it is a really difficult place to be mentally and spiritually.

Have to ask the OP how strongly she feels about being a mother, how much does she desire that. If she really wants to be a mother, then it behooves her to take stock of herself and put in the work to find that guy who is good enough for her. Because that is the very best thing she could do for the children she wants to have, to pick their father well. The good eligible men are out there, just have to look.

Good luck.
 
Thank you all for the responses so far. I will pray God can help me see the good in marriage also.
I do know of a lovely older Catholic couple at Church who run RCIA together and they are inspirational. But I would like to see younger people like this. I rarely see any couples in their 20’s or 30’s in my current Parish unless it’s Christmas/Easter or a baptism.
Are there other parishes nearby that you could visit once in a while? I know that isn’t an option for everyone but if you can, maybe you can find a few more of those younger couples you are looking for.
 
I’ve been married almost 4 years, I have two very happy and non-suffering children, and I really enjoy my husband. I talk to him throughout the day while he’s at work and we stay up late at night just conversing. He and I have attended Mass together every week since we were engaged and are both super active in our parish. So, to answer all your questions at once, I think there are plenty of positives in marriage! But it’s all about discerning and doing the proper preparation beforehand - just like any other sacrament!

That being said, I don’t think it’s for everyone. Attitude toward children, IMHO, is a deal maker or breaker. I don’t think you should consider religious life if you can’t picture yourself with a capacity to love someone else forever. After all, Jesus is your spouse in that vocation.
 
I don’t want to offend anybody so please understand I’m only posting my point of view. I would like to see the positives about marriage so please do let me know what they are.

I’m not married and am discerning religious life but family and friends keep encouraging me to date (which I don’t).

I think what is the point of marriage? Rarely anyone finds a good partner that follows the faith, married life is full of problems, all men are only interested in sex, I think why should I bring children into the world to suffer and I think there are too many people in the world anyway and lastly can you really love someone for a lifetime and not get sick of them ?

Please remember I don’t wish to cause offense because there are reasons why I feel this way about marriage (growing up in a broken family, hearing about friends being abused in relationships)

I just don’t get it. But I want to. Please help me see the good in marriage and what God uses it for.
You (the product of your parents) are what is good about marriage.
 
Good men don’t have only sex on their minds, there’s a lot going on in the lives of typical good men. That said, men don’t marry to be chaste in marriage. If a woman thinks she isn’t going to like sex, she is better off not marrying rather than sentencing her husband to a life of involuntary celibacy within his marriage….
Chastity and celibacy do not have the same definition. Chastity is ordered sexuality. Everyone, consecrated religious, single, and married, are called to chastity.
 
I don’t want to offend anybody so please understand I’m only posting my point of view. I would like to see the positives about marriage so please do let me know what they are.
For me (married 17 years) my top ten positives are (in no particular order):
  1. Having someone who holds me close when things are bad and makes me feel safe.
  2. Being with someone who makes me smile or laugh every day.
  3. My spouse helped create my children which are my gift (with God’s help) to the world.
  4. He’s a role model for our kids and provides me valuable insight into raising them better.
  5. Having someone who’s a partner so I don’t have to be “the leader” all the time - but don’t have to be a “follower” all the time either.
  6. Being able to have someone to share and remember all the good times with now and for all the future years we are given.
  7. Knowing there is always at least that one person who truly is on my side no matter what.
  8. Being loved even when I feel completely unlovable.
  9. Having someone I can take care of - and in return be taken care of by him when needed.
  10. Always having an ally in any argument, situation, dispute or difficulty with anyone/anything outside of our relationship who backs me up, listens to me complain, and offers fresh ideas and perspectives.
Bonus - having someone who’s able to scratch that itch that’s just out of reach and take out the trash (things I could manage to get done on my own, but having him makes it easier) 😃

(And yes we have intimacy and support each other in our faith, etc. but these are what came to my mind first since those issues seemed to be covered by other posters)
 

I think what is the point of marriage? Rarely anyone finds a good partner that follows the faith, married life is full of problems, all men are only interested in sex, I think why should I bring children into the world to suffer and I think there are too many people in the world anyway and lastly can you really love someone for a lifetime and not get sick of them ?
You ask us not to be offended - Why should anyone be offended? You are expressing an opinion you hold about the realities of life. You quote no cogent evidence for those opinions, and most of us can point to overwhelming contradictory evidence, typically in our own lives.

If you feel nil interest in being with men, or having a family, c’est la vie! But do yourself a favour and ditch the nonsense rationale. Spend some time getting to know all the dimensions of the world you live in before you seek to escape from it. That might broaden your view, or confirm your current course. But either way, I hope it will clarify your thinking.
 
You ask us not to be offended - Why should anyone be offended? You are expressing an opinion you hold about the realities of life. You quote no cogent evidence for those opinions, and most of us can point to overwhelming contradictory evidence, typically in our own lives.

If you feel nil interest in being with men, or having a family, c’est la vie! But do yourself a favour and ditch the nonsense rationale. Spend some time getting to know all the dimensions of the world you live in before you seek to escape from it. That might broaden your view, or confirm your current course. But either way, I hope it will clarify your thinking.
Yes–“I don’t want to,” is an excellent reason for not getting married.
 
Thank you all for the responses so far. I will pray God can help me see the good in marriage also.
I do know of a lovely older Catholic couple at Church who run RCIA together and they are inspirational. But I would like to see younger people like this. I rarely see any couples in their 20’s or 30’s in my current Parish unless it’s Christmas/Easter or a baptism.
Perhaps you should visit (more than once) a parish that has more young couples with children. If I were you, I would visit parishes that have parish schools attached to them–I know that many of the families attending those schools don’t attend Mass. But many DO attend Mass, and it would be helpful for you to meet these couples and their children.

I know many young Catholic couples who have lovely families. Just last week, I met up with a young woman who was married several years ago to a handsome young man, and they were determined to live out their Catholic faith in all areas of their life together. I hadn’t seen her in a while, and I was thrilled to see that she is more beautiful than ever and so happy with her life. She told me that they now have four boys and one little baby girl. Two of the boys were with her, and they were delightful and very handsome! Her husband is a religion teacher at a Catholic high school, and they certainly don’t have a high income, but she stays home with her children and raises them herself.

I know other Catholic couples who have even more children! Wonderful families!

And I know plenty of Catholic couples who have only one, two, or three children, and again, delightful!

My husband and I have been married for 35 years, and converted to Catholicism ten years ago . These beautiful young Catholic families are such an encouragement to us! I really hope you can meet some of them.

And I agree with everyone on this thread who says that you don’t HAVE to get married. I would add that you don’t have to join a religious order, either. You could be called to be single. Have you considered this possibility?

But no matter what wonderful life you are called to, you need to develop a proper understanding of the vocation of marriage. At this point, your understanding is twisted, no doubt because of your own sad experiences.
 
Chastity and celibacy do not have the same definition. Chastity is ordered sexuality. Everyone, consecrated religious, single, and married, are called to chastity.
Appreciate the correction, thank you. Let me rephrase what I wanted to say: “Men don’t marry to be celibate in marriage.”

That said, I’ve witnessed my parents’ marriage. They’re not perfect people, but they are a very good case for overcoming their faults and persevering through the bad times as well as the good. Now they have each other in their old age and are doing alright for themselves. Something I think about at times.

If the OP wants to be a mother, I strongly urge her to discern her vocation for marriage. She needs to understand what it is to be in a relationship with a husband, both in practical and in spiritual terms.
 
Yes–“I don’t want to,” is an excellent reason for not getting married.
Indeed it is. Still, it is not spiritually healthy to carry around such false and cynical views of marriage, family life, and the reality that we live for a time in a vale of tears. A religious sister ought not have such a view of marriage and childbearing, let alone our life here on earth, even if it is not her vocation to have a husband or to bear children.
 
To be perfectly honest with all of you, I have really negative views on marriage too. With my career I’m home maybe 150 days out of the year and there’s always whores running around trying to bang my brains out, drug dealers/users, lots of booze. What woman wants to sit at home while her husband is out working a job like that? After 3 or 4 years of a Catholic marriage where you follow all the rules the sex is just gonna end, so the guy has to jerk off in secret to get some kind of sexual satisfaction because doin it once or twice a year is far from enough. Eventually down the line you both just hate each other. I’ve watched this happen to my grandparents, my parents, almost all of my aunts and uncles, my friends are either not married or in their first year of marriage so they’re still somewhat happy but give them a few years and they’ll go down the same path that the rest of my family and their families have. I know this is gonna **** a lot of people off, especially the language I’ve been using, but I’m just posting my opinion. I agree with the OP. She’s pretty much dead on. Married life looks like it sucks. This is going to get me banned.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top