Understanding Marriage Vows (3)
By Nwele Euphemia
It should be written to suit their personalities; a vow should be a commitment by the woman to meet the needs of the man and a commitment by the man to meet the needs of the woman. When you know that the woman you are getting married to is hot headed and stubborn you as the pastor or priest might want to include in the vow a promise that she would submit and respect, because it is easier said than done.
Priests should develop a vow to suit that couple with health issues (could be HIV, could be that the woman lost her womb, or one person has a reckless past; so, no one uses anything against anyone in the nearest future), develop a vow for people who are wealthier.
The above is a recap of what we discussed the last time and today I would be touching ‘writing your own marriage vows’. With the understanding you must have gained after reading my previous articles, I am sure a part of you is craving writing your own vows, I am sure you already have ideas of what you even want it to look like. (giggles)
It is important that you let me know how helpful and knowledgeable my articles have been to you, share your thoughts too, so please take out time to leave a comment.
Develop a vow for people -develop a different vow for that couple that is a sickling and for a couple where the woman is richer, seeing that a vow is a commitment that binds you and your partners happiness together it should be written; couple specific, for different people so that the two people involved have their interest protected.
All over the world, marriage vow formats and content differ – it stands out based on church denomination, religion and belief. The way a Christian would take their marriage vows is different from that of a traditionalist.
In the western society however, it is common to find couples write out their own marriage vows, they come to their wedding with their vows carefully written and they say it out to each other. In some other countries, there is a system that marriage takes on, it is a procedure that is unamendable and couples who must wed in societies like that have to follow the laid down process.
To further buttress my point, I want to share some transcription of Pastor David Ogbueli’s teaching on marriage vows with you.
“so spice up your wedding vows… and people actually need to see their vows ahead of time before the day they take it. They need to know, and there might be things they need specially and you make sure there is agreement before they come to take it… and the last one is that people too are allowed to write their vows, there are special cases where I do it, whenever people want to marry and they want to write their own vows, let them do it.” – David Ogbueli
This settles it all, from the above statement you see that it is possible to write your own marriage vows, though, not all societies or religious denomination allow it, but then in a society where it not allowed you are allowed to suggest to the priest or pastor in charge that you and you partner would want to add to your marriage vows or that you both have a vow of love you or a promise you both want to take or share before God and man just after you take your marriage vows.
Make sure you show someone this article, make sure to share it also, you can proceed to read more about this, you can start asking questions now in your place of worship, ask around you to know if this is permissible where you are and what exemptions can be made.
Please leave a comment and follow me on Instagram @euphe_mya for more updates, next week, still on this series, I bring you something exciting.
You can read the first and second series here.
