Do you believe in marriage?

[Ciel_Rouge]

Simple. Just say "no thanks" instead of "I do".

Brilliant

Forced? Are we talking about arranged marriages now?

Well, believe it or not, from I have seen around where I live MOST marriages are still arranged marriages. I would even say that the rate has INCREASED with the economic crisis etc. I also know some people who have married because they like each other, maybe you are such person, but this is RARE. And then again - even if you like each other, you sign a contract that you will pretend that you like each other even if in reality you don't like each other any more. So in a sense even non-arranged marriages are forced and arranged

Minor nitpick, the "era of matriarchy" is itself a notion that has collapsed.

I kindly request evidence for this extraordinary statement.

[KichigaiNeko]

Aren't you scared of breathing? The permanence of this situation will lead to your death.

Breathing is a natural function of the body. Forced lifelong monogamy or polygamy isn't. And at the point when the state issues a warrant regarding your feelings, it stops being about your feelings anymore and becomes something the state wants you to do. For me this is scary, artificial and wrong - in so many ways

Hang on there Ciel. Where I am marriage is just the right of inheritance (conveniently smoothing the way) legally recognising the value of "the other" in a relationship and this is the crux of the "Gay marriage" issue"

I am 55 years old and have never married til now, and only because my partner thinks that it would be much easier for me to inherit our home and access his savings (should anything happen to him). Quite frankly in a court of law "marriage" carries great weight.

IF you do not wish to marry DON'T! No one should force you to .

[kılıç_mehmet]

Let's say that I have an ideal called "marriage" and "family". I stick to these ideals. As long as these ideals are preserved within marriage, I will uphold this institution.
If not, I will topple them and remake it to fit those ideals.

[The Grand Nudger]

I kindly request evidence for this extraordinary statement.

Precisely why the notion collapsed.

[Drich]

I admire that you took that baggage on.

She must have been one mega-babe or else you were one love lorn puppy. I hope she quit for good and doesn't blame you for it.

I stayed because I made a the commitment to stay. (for better or worse, in sickness and in health for richer or poorer ect..) Her sin against me was a reminder of my sin against God. And if I ever hoped to have god's forgiveness for my sin I needed to forgive her of hers. Trust me the beauty fades away with that drug, and detox, and all of the rest of the BS we had to go through.

I do have pics posted on my CF profile page.

People often ask me couldn't I tell when she was using (during the period when she first started back and before I finally caught her 6 months later) and I will use the picture of her standing behind my mustang, the day after our honeymoon, and Ask does this person look like she is hopplessly addicted to Herion to you?

[festive1]

Addicts are liars by nature, but people who choose addicts to be in their lives are often in denial and suffer from varying degrees of co-dependence. These two types of people gravitate toward each other like negatively and positively charged electrons. I don't have a link to your CF page, so I can't judge whether or not she looked like a "typical" heroin addict, I'm guessing she doesn't. But looks can be deceiving.

[Drich]

Addicts are liars by nature, but people who choose addicts to be in their lives are often in denial and suffer from varying degrees of co-dependence. These two types of people gravitate toward each other like negatively and positively charged electrons.

Before we met, there were two things I absolutly had no patience for. The first was a theif and the second was a liar. I 'learned' to work with both. Don't get me wrong, I still distain these practices, but have learned to seperate the sin from the sinner.

I don't have a link to your CF page, so I can't judge whether or not she looked like a "typical" heroin addict, I'm guessing she doesn't. But looks can be deceiving.

Indeed.
I just checked and they won't let you check out a member's profile unless your signed in.

Eitherway she does not look like she has drugs in her system

[festive1]

Addicts are liars by nature, but people who choose addicts to be in their lives are often in denial and suffer from varying degrees of co-dependence. These two types of people gravitate toward each other like negatively and positively charged electrons.

Before we met, there were two things I absolutly had no patience for. The first was a theif and the second was a liar. I 'learned' to work with both. Don't get me wrong, I still distain these practices, but have learned to seperate the sin from the sinner.

What I'm curious about is this: She obviously got treatment for her addiction. What kind of treatment did you get for your denial and co-dependence?
No judgement intended. I'm the product of an addict and a co-dependant, which means I can exhibit the behaviors of both of an addict (I can lie with the best of them, but I choose to fight that impulse) and co-dependant (I can overlook/ignore some pretty serious shit).

[Ciel_Rouge]

I kindly request evidence for this extraordinary statement.

Precisely why the notion collapsed.

The unusual hatred towards women and attempts to restrain them which we can so readily see in the Bible looks to me like the aftermath of an overthrown matriarchy. They are trying to suppress women because they have just seized power from them.

Regarding solid evidence, what do you say to inheritance on the maternal line apparently present in the ancient world or kings wearing fake boobies as an attribute of power...

[The Grand Nudger]

Probably deserves it's own thread, however......

That we find examples of societies where inheritance can be (or is exclusively) aligned along the maternal line does not warrant a conclusion of matriarchy, let alone "an era of matriarchy".

Fertility is powerful. Androgeny is "mystical"..... What about a King seems matriarchal to you?

The trouble is that we just can't find evidence of any era of matriarchy (or any of the other attendant assumed attributes when we find an example of what -might- have been a matriarchy, or at least a more egalitarian society). Whatever hatred you see towards women is much more likely a product of the cultures general level of home grown misogyny than any effect of some prehistoric coup d'etat.