In light of this understanding of Bridegroom and Bride, why is it that the Church is so protective
of the definition of marriage as a union of one man and one woman?
Agreed, and appreciated.
The reason I felt it necessary to establish a proper definition is because the word itself needs to mean something universal in definition just as the word love needs to mean something universal in definition, yet that word was just defiled by a group of German bishops - Catholic bishops - who claimed to have “blessed same-sex unions” declaring “Love wins” in doing so. Obviously this is a perversion of the word; it is not the meaning of the word. Also I felt it necessary because the question draws a comparison between human marriage and “divine marriage”, and as we can see, Jesus certainly is male in his humanity, we only allude to the Church being female; there is no physical bodily characteristic to show that, yet we use the term “marriage” to describe the Union of Christ and his Church in the wedding supper of the Lamb.
This definition also helps to support, on the divine level, why only men can be priests because we allude to, or recognize the Church as woman, yet there are not a few within our own Church who see priesthood as merely a function able to be performed by anyone, completely missing the life giving relationship that occurs between bridegroom and bride, “This is my body given for you”
simply trying to establish clarity.
I suppose the need for understanding of why the term marriage is used for male/female exclusivity comes out of the German bishops actions. Opponents to marriage will cite that since the word marriage does not specify male/female exclusivity in the bible, it is merely inferred by the fact only male/female marriages are cited in the bible, it does not prohibit and we are merely attaching that word through inference to male/female exclusivity, due to antiquated thinking, intolerance, or patriarchal oppression and that as a more enlightened and tolerant society we recognize the term to be more broadly defined - which ultimately strips the word of definition. This sort of thing goes on within our Church by dissenting priests, nuns and laity. This is why a clear definition is needed.
