VERSION|0.5.1|SUBJECT|Right Awful Anne Atkins - Agonising Aunt and Vicar's Wife|CONTENT|[b]Rating[/b] 3 out of 5 (Fairly platitudinous)

[url=http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap130307.html][img=images/2013/03/pic130307.jpg popup=false float=right][/url]Anne Atkins here, ready to talk to you once again about young couples, marriage, sex, love.

I know a young couple who had an arranged marriage. It turned out they were very happy together and very much in love, even though they had never met before their wedding day. This means that arranged marriages are not always a bad thing and that I have a wide, multi-cultural circle of friends, some of whom are not Anglicans.

Arranged marriage should not be confused with [url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/05/two-year-old-forced-marriage-risk]forced marriage[/url]. Arranged marriage is where two people agree to be married after it's arranged. Forced marriage is where one of the two people does not agree to be married after they've been flown out to a distant land, told that they're just going for a short break to see their extended family and suddenly find themselves pressurised to get married. The former is a long established cultural tradition and a very good thing, whereas the latter is a long established cultural tradition and a very bad thing. So you've got at least a 50-50 chance of it all turning out happily.

Of course not all arranged marriages start off with the couple loving one another. Sometimes it takes a few years for them to get to know one another and gradually start to care about each other. I learned this from a missionary friend who was busy converting people into the  one true faith, Anglicanism, where the Invisible Magic Friend has appointed the English monarch as the head of the church.

To be married properly, the two people have to agree. That and take proper Anglican marriage vows, which are the only correct marriage vows. 

Saint Paul, who thought everyone should be [url=http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+7:8-9&version=NIV]celibate like him[/url] gives plenty of good advice on marriage and sex. He's well worth reading on the subject.

[url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0160ff0]Listen/Read[/url]|CATEGORIES|70,20|IP-ADDRESS|94.168.119.214|DATE|1362644863|CREATEDBY|admin
