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THI MISSING DIMINSIDN IN
~[]M
PIRT IV
.THE BEST AGE FOR MARRIAGE 15 NOT ALWAYS 23 TO 26
In my book
The Missing Óimension in Sex,
there
appeared a chapter on the best age lor marriage. lt
was, ol course, speaking only ola lirst marriage ol
young people. And e ven then, only ol the best age.
But what about widows and widowers who, at
various ages, contemplate another marriage?
Knowledge ol the "missing dimension" is revealed
knowledge. The Bible reveals -some remarkable case
histories ol remarkable bíblica/ personalities- ol
various ages and circumstances-set lorth as
examples lor us today. They wi/1 prove an
eye-opener lor
m~ny.
by
Herbert
W.
Armstrong
r
THJS
installment lhe pllfPO" is lo
oover lhe question of "'lhe best age
for marriage" in tbe
case
of a second
marriage - involving marriage by a
widower or widow, ora second marnage
at any age by those eligible for mar·
riage.
lf lhe parties concemed are of lhe
same age,
or,
say, even wilhin five
10
ten
year$ of tbe same age, lhen age is no
problem. But wbere lhere is a consid–
erable age dilference between tbe par–
ties concerned, there could be a question
that needs under$tanding.
Wbat
if
a consíderably older woman
becomes intcrested in
a
mucb younger
man oran older man in a mucb younger
woman?
For example, British Prime Minister
Disraeli married
a
woman
12
years oldcr
Iban be. My wifc wu 9 months older
than
l.
And aner
SO
years ofmarriage,
l
have
been
alone
almOSI
9
YC&r$·
A num–
ber
of well·known meo are married
10
women fl·om
30
to
SO
ye8r$ · younger
than tbey.
A per$On of older calendar age oflen,
faces lhe more or
less
common assump–
tion lhat marriage to a mucb
younger
person is uncommon, irregular, and so is
waoNo. This assumption is sufflciently
general tbat
if
an older man or woman
of prominence marries a person a grcat
deal younger it is blared forth in the
press as sensatioo,al news or "scandal."
On lhe olhcr band,
10
many
peopl~
such
a
marriage
lül.s
no
eyebrows
at all.
"Well, wbat' s wrong wilh age ditl'er–
ence?" lhey aslc.
ls
Age
Olfrerence a Factor
Wilh
Gocl?
In my boolc
TM Missing
D~nsion
in
Sex,
it was stated,
u
Error$ almost always
come from false basic premises,
as–
sumed as self-evidcnt and carelessly
talcen for granted."
lt
was also stated in lhe book,
"11
is ,
Ood wbojoins together
a
busband and
a
wif4: in
marriag~.
Thcrcforc,
il Oll&bl 10
be - in your own interest - God wbo
selects for you lhe busband or wife you
are going to many. And God will do
tbis,
if
you aslc bim and refrain from get·
6
ting in a burry llJld talcing it into you.r
own baods. Tbis may require self–
restraint and patience - yes, and also
failh. But ifyou rely on God, he will not
fail you. And if he selects your lifetime
mate, you'IJ have the rig)ll one."
In hne with lhat adviQC:, we may
aslc.
is age dilfereoce an importan! factor
wilh God?
Would God ever select a woman in
ber tlürties
10
be tbe wife of a man in
his
sixties, seveoties
or
eighties - or a
younger man as busband for an older
woman? Oon't be too su re!
Does
tbe Bible teacb that age ditl'er–
ence in marriage is WttONG? Or is th.is
feeling against a considerable age dilfer–
ence only a matter of prejudice, care–
lessly ASSUMBO?
What, then,
if
any,
is God's teacbing
on the question? Probably most of our
reader$ have never given a thougbt to
Ibis
question.
But, surprising or not.
THI!ttE
IS NO
BIBUCAL TEACHING AOA!NST SUCH AGE
DlPFEilENCE!
But
Tbere
Are
Some
A&tonislúng
Examples
As
stated before, lhere are sorne very
Outstanding biblical EXAMPL!S, in·
volving sorne very outstanding pe=n–
ages - sorne
very
top biblical VIP'S!
Suppose we start wilh the patriarcb
Abraharn. No personage in lhe Bible
(Cbrist excepted) ranlcs hígher
with God.
He is called lhe wfalher
o(
lhe failhful"
All
lhe promises of eterna! salvation for
us,
today, were made to Abrabam and
his
children.
To inberit eterna! life you must be–
come one of Abrab a m's cbildreo
lhrougb Cbrist. For, says your Bible, "lf
ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's
seed,
and heirs ac:cording to lhe prom–
ise" (Oal. 3:29).
Again, "Now
10
Abraham and his
seed were the promises made"
(Oal.
3:16).
Ag¡úo, " . .. lhey wbicb are
of failh. lhe same are lhe children
of
Abraham" (Gal 3:7).
The wife of Abraham's youlh,
Sarah,
died wben Abraham was
136
year$ old.
.And wben he was 145 years old, sorne 9
years after Sa.rah died, be decided to
marry again.
Now suppose Abraham were living
TODA
Y.
He would assuredly be lhe patri·
arcb and HUMAN LE>.DU. of Ood's
people. And suppose sorne one should
ask you, "Wbat
age
woman do you thinlc
Abraham shoulá marry?" Would you
answer, "Wby, sorne one very close to
hisown age."
Now Abraham was very dose
10
Ood.
Ood spolce directly and personally
10
bim. He
Wll$
undoubtedly very tamitiar
witb God's wiU. Jf it were contrary
10
God's willthat a mao of lhat very great
age marry a comparatively young
woman, Abraham would bave lcnown it.
Furthermore. must we not suppose that
a
man
so
dose
to God would actually
have done prcc::isdy as
1
suggested in ibe
book - bave reUed on God to cboose
his
wife for bim?
He
did rely oo God to se–
lect tbe wife for his son Isaac.
Altboug.h Abraham was 145, un–
doubtedly be
looked, acred,
and
felt
very, very mucb younger.
Ab!~.
did
not
l!'an:l:'
.!
~c¡man
near
bis own
age. He married a compar–
atively
young
woman - youog enough
to bear
him
possibly twelve children.
Probably Keturah, the young maiden
wbom he married. was
in
her twenties
and quite surely not beyond ber early
forties..
Keturab did bear Abraham s ix sons.
named in tbe Bible, and lhe number of
daughter$
is
not recorded, but according
10
lhe law of avernge it sbould have
been about six - a probable total of
TWELVE
childrcn. And even in lhose
days. wilh the possibility of
a
later-age
menopause,
a
woman could bardly bave
begun
witb tbe tlrst of twelve children if
over forty years or age.
l
think it would
be mucb safer to estímate lhat she was
in ber twenties or at least under lhe mid–
tbirties. And Abrabam
Wll$
14S!
Afler all,
God sa.id, "lt is not good
tbat lhe man abould be alone!"
The next biblical
VIP
case
history was
so imponant tbat God inspited
a
wbole
book in lhe Bible to give us lhe Story -
t.be boolc of Ruth. This case bistory in–
volves lhe great-grandparents
of
King
David and lhe ancestors of Jesus Christ,
by 28 generations.
Calculating ftQ.m lhe genealogies of
Jesus Christ and olher biblical passages,
we are surprised
10
ftnd lhat Boaz was
100
or more years of age wben be mar–
ried Rulh,
a
Moabitess wbo became an
lsraelite.
In
probability Rulh was in her
early lhitties.
Now Chrlst's
0...0
Molher
Now we come to Mary, mother of
Jesus, lhe woman God chose aod hon–
ore<! perhaps above any other woman
to
become lhe molher
of.his
Son
and our
Saviour J esus Cbrist! The Scriptures in–
dicate tbat Josepb, the busband of
Mary. died before Jesus chose his dís-
¡:iples, Jesus beiog about age 30. Joseph
is
not mentioned agaio in the Bible after
Jesus was
a
boy of twelvc years. It
is
un–
lhinlcable lhat wilh Jesw continually
healing all be "ncountered, lhat
his
molher's busband ·o1ould have come to
a
prernature dealh by any sickness or
dis–
ease.
Undoubtedly Josepb died naturaUy
from old age. More probably, if lhe Heli
of
Lulce 3:23
is lhe Heli of lhe royal
bouse
of
Britain (73-
n
B.
C.),
Josepb
migbt weU have beco nearer 75 ye8r$ of
age wben be married Mary, a young
woman undoubtedly
in
ber twenties. Al–
though no one
can
be sure, Mary may
have married a husband at least
SO
years older tban sbel
Was such
an
age dilference approved
by God? God's aogel said
10
Josepb,
"Josepb, lhou son of David, fear oot to
take unto thee Mary lhy wife" (Matt.
1:20).
These three biblical case histories con–
cero agc dilferences in marriage of from
ftfty
10
more lha.n..one hundred ye8r$ -
all very apparcotly approved of God, if
not directJy cbosen by God.
Y
et, in
Ibis
world, many would tbinlc
of an age dilfereoce of even
30
or
40
ye8r$ as not ooly uncommon, but irregu–
lar, or even WRONO. But that is not
God's teaching!
But suppose an older mao married a
girl
in
ber mid or late teens?
Th~
would
be
a
mature person marrying an imma·
tureone.
And althougb tbere is no literal, spe–
cific teacbing in lhe Bible against sucb a
marriage, it migbt be very bazardow
and even violate a biblical teaching
111
PlUNCLPUl.
The Bible says nothing against
"::le–
dill'erence
111
GENER¡.L.
Wbat it
does tea
eh is
..
"fike-mlndedness."
For cumple, "Be ye oot unequally
yoked togetber with uobe1ievers"
(ll
Cor. 6:14) is God's command. The
Bible teacbes LUCE-MINDEDNESS,
nor
like–
aged. Jesus Cbrist is going to marry lhe
churd:> -
when
it has been resurrected to
SPiatT composition and immortal life.
One ntight malee a comparison lhere, as
10
age. Christ
b~
ellisted from etemity
(Jobn
1: 1-3).
And, as tbe l!ntbom,
by
a
resurrection, of many brethren. he was
boro
a
diviDe Son ofGod by a resurreo–
tion (Rom.
1:3-4)
more than
1900
years
older tban his wife!
But his wife MVST
BE
LJJCE·MIIIDEDl
"Fulftl
ye my joy, that ye
be
lik~-mínded,
baving tbe same love, being of ooe ao–
cord, of one mind" (Pbil. 2:2). And
again. «Let lhis mind be in you, wbicb
was also in Cbrist Jesus" (Phil. 2:5).
This
points out a reason for avoiding
interracial marriages. An Oriental mind,
for example, normally
thinks
ill
a
dill'et–
ent manner than an Occidental mind,
and a bantilic or blaclc mind lhan eilher
Oriental or Caucasian. Furthermore,
even two people of tbe same race but of
WEEK ENDINO JULY l2. 1975