Reference no: EM133278487
Forum 1
Question 1) Do you believe that people can marry one another privately or does some witness or external authority need to be present? Why ?
Question 2) When do you think a marriage legally occurs: during the courtship or engagement, during the wedding ceremony, or after consummation through sexual intercourse? Why?
Question 3) Marriage was not always a matter of the state or the church. What are some reasons that justify state involvement in marriages? Church involvement?
Forum 2
Question 1) What is the meaning of sacrament? How does marriage function as a sacrament in Roman Catholicism? How does marriage as a Christian sacrament relate to the other six sacraments in Roman Catholicism?
Question 2) What is the significance of uncreated grace and created grace and how do these graces operate in marriage as a Christian sacrament?
Question 3) Do you think only Catholic marriages are or can be sacraments? Does any church need to pronounce marriage a sacrament in order for the marriage to confer grace?
Question 4) Compare the ideal of marriage as a sacrament with your perception of actual marriages. Where might you actually find the sacramental quality of marriage being lived out between spouses and among their families?
Question 5) Do you believe the Holy Spirit plays a role in Christian marriage as a sacrament? Why or why not? If so, how does the Holy Spirit function in Christian marriage to foster sacramentality?
Forum 3
Question 1) The traditional Christian definition of cohabitation is "both having a sexual relationship and living together in the same residence." Is this definition adequate? What might be missing from the traditional definition?
Question 2) Which position is the most persuasive to you: the essentialist view of sexuality or the postmodern view of sexuality? Explain why.
Question 3) Is marriage simply "an exchange of sex" between partners? Why or why not?
Question 4) Do you view complementarity, equality, or mutuality as the true nature of marriage? Why?
Forum 4
Question 1) Do you believe that love does away with conflict and therefore love and conflict are mutually exclusive? Why or why not?
Question 2) Do you believe that conflict can be constructive and foster a healthy marriage? Why not or not?
Question 3) Do you think a healthy marriage is possible when there is a mixture of hurt, bitterness, and rejection? Why or why not?
Question 4) How do you understand the typology of the four types of men (the clam, pseudo-liberated, perpetual adolescent, walking wounded)? Do you believe these types of men infuritate women? Why or why not?
Forum 5
Question 1) What do you think constitutes sexual dignity? Do you think there is sexual dignity in our present culture? Why or why not?
Question 2) What do you feel is the current dominant attitude toward sex in contemporary music, movies, and church? Why do these attitudes dominant in these contexts?
Question 3) Do you feel that Thomas Lickona's ten psychological negative consequences of premature sexual involvement are accurate? Why or why not?
Question 4) How would you describe your theology of dating? What is the role of sexuality in your theology of dating? How does sexual orientation (heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual) affect your theology?
Forum 6
Question 1) Describe the Old Testament and New Testament teachings on divorce. What do you think of the differences in these teachings? Do you think these teachings are applicable and relevant to modern-day marriage?
Question 2) What is the Catholic Church's teaching on divorce and remarriage? How does the Catholic Church deal with the reality of divorced Catholics?
Question 3) State the types of impediments to marriage that could be considered grounds for a declaration of nullity (annulment)?
Question 4) On what grounds do you think divorce is legitimate or warranted if any? How might reconciliation and forgiveness help to heal the wounds of divorce?
Forum 7
Question 1) How has the patriarchal structure of the family distorted the relationship between men and women in marriage? How has this distortion contributed to the possibility of domestic violence, especially against women?
Question 2) Beyond domestic violence, what other forms of marital or family injustice come to mind for you?
Question 3) Do you think modern-day marriage structures are more or less just than in the past? How might marriages become more just?
Question 4) What external influences contribute to the presence or lack of justice within marriages today?