Zusammenfassung der Ressource
RE - B603
- Human Relationships
- Marriage
- The Marriage Ceremony
- Rings are exchanged - circular shape represents eternal love
- Vows are said - promises to each other and to God - cannot be broken
- "till death do us part"
- Hymns are sung and prayers are said to show that God is present in the relationship
- The Purpose of marriage
- To join two people who love each other
- To Procreate
- "A man must leave his mother and father and unite with his wife"
- It is an expectation of todays society
- Monks and Nuns do not marry because they don't want a distraction from God
- Divorce
- Most Christians believe Divorce is wrong
- Ways to prevent Divorce
- Counselling
- Live separately
- Seek advice from God directly or look in the bible for Jesus' teachings
- Catholics
- Do not allow divorce under any circumstances
- Only God can end a marriage by death
- Some will be forgiving and will allow an annulment if the marriage vows were not official
- "What God has joined let no man break up"
- Protestants
- A little more lenient - will allow divorces in some cases
- The Golden Rule
- Sex before marriage
- Seen as wrong by all Christains
- "Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit"
- Defies the point of Marriage
- Medical Ethics
- Euthanasia
- The assisted ending of someone's life who is suffering
- Active
- When the person suffering asks / is aware of assistance
- A special drink / tablets that will result in the person dying painfree
- Passive
- When the person suffering is in a medicated coma or is unable to communicate
- Switching off life support machines or taking away anything that is artificially keeping them alive
- "Thou shall not murder"
- Bible teaches us that life is sacred and should not be wasted - Sanctity of Life
- The only form of Euthanasia that is acceptable is the Doctrine of Double Effect
- Animal Testing
- Most Christians do not agree - Stewardship
- God told us to look after everything on the earth and animals deserve to be treated with respect
- Animals were made from to same source as humans - torturing / killing animals is classed as murder
- The Garden of Eden has animals and this is a representation of God's ideal world - where animals and humans live in harmony
- In order to prevent it some Christians will protest outside of animal testing labs
- Some Christians accept it- Dominion
- Animals do not have a soul so don't have a special relationship with God
- In Genesis God said " humans rule over the fish in the sea, the birds of the air..."
- If testing on animals will benefit humans e.g. a new drug then God will be accepting because it was worth it
- Abortion
- Most Christians do not agree
- "Thou shall not murder"
- All life is valuable to God
- Sometimes there is a genuine reason why abortion must be done
- Acceptable if the mother and baby will die during birth
- Protestants are pro-choice and if the mother thinks abortion is the best option then her views must be valued
- Jesus would have shown sympathy and would have been forgiving as he greatly admired women
- Fertility Treatment
- Most Christians would disagree as it is playing God
- Against God's original plan - not natural
- "Hannah had no children for God had closed her womb"
- Treatments such as IVF also create spare embryos which either get used in surgery or destroyed which is again murder
- Can be the most loving thing to do to give a couple a child.
- Child will have multiple parents - unnatural and emotionally difficult
- Poverty and Wealth
- An obligation to care for the poor
- Everyone is God's child and everyone is your neighbour
- "Do unto others as you want to have done to you"
- "It is easier to fit a camel through the eye of a needle than to get a rich man into heaven"
- Christians would argue that communication and travel is easy now so there is no reason why we cant help developing countries
- God says it is impossible to love him if you ignore the needs of others
- "The Love of money is the root of all evil"
- Christians will work with charities such as Christian Aid and Tear Fund
- Story of the poor beggar woman who gave all the money she had to the church