Slide 2-How long should an engagment period be?

Between seven months to one year. It is preferable not to extend the engagement for longer than a year, for when the engagement period is prolonged, problems may start to occur.

Slide 3-What is the best way to know each other during the engagement?

The best way to know your partner is through prayer only, because in this way, you are inviting God into your relationship and your situation. Do not rely on the emotions because they change all the time, do not rely on your intellect, for your mind is limited and you may be deceived, and do not rely on the physical, for you may commit sin. Prayer is the priority and the most important aspect. Pray and ask for spiritual guidance, for the spiritual aspect is the decisive one. Pray, and God will enlighten your mind.

Slide 4-What is the purpose of getting married?

Slide 5-How can i deal with my in-laws?

Problems usually occur when the husband, for example, is very attached to his mother, and finds the transition from his parents to his wife a difficult move. It is important for him to be mature, however, and independent - not in a way that causes him to neglect his parents, but to establish balance in his love towards his parents and his wife. Pray, and ask the Lord to bless your relations with both.

Slide 6-In marriage,is it wrong no to want children?

In the western world generally, this deficiency in giving birth to children is something very negative, that implies that the partners are not willing to give; they only want to give and take between themselves, and at times, in the occurrence of an unexpected pregnancy, the partners may abort, or divorce, or give their child up for adoption. However, within Christian marriage, child bearing is holy. The Lord said, "Where two or three are gathered in My name, I will be in the midst of them" (Matthew 18:20). The two can signify the parents, and the three, the child

Slide 7-If a couple are unable to have children,does it mean their marriage is not blessed by GOD?

Not at all. If the Lord has not granted the blessing of child bearing to the couple, it is because He wants them to be parents for many, many spiritual children, such as the orphans.

Slide 8-What is the church's view on birth control within marriage?

The church never stands against birth control within marriage as long as the means of achieving this purpose is not killing the embryo or hurting the partners. The Church permits contraception for the purpose of planning the family, which you will support spiritually, educationally, psychologically, physically, socially and financially.

Slide 9-If someone has had sex relations before marriage,would the words of the ceremony be different from those said for the virgin couple?

If they have not been married before, and have repented from their sins, then the ceremony proceeds as usual.

Slide 10-What is your opinion about sex?

Sex is the most spiritual thing in life, and the holiest of holies in human nature. But in society today, it has become distorted, corrupted, substantialised and humiliated. Originally when God created Adam and Eve, He developed a triangular relationship : God, man, and woman. In this relationship, love passes from God to man, man to God, God to woman, woman to God, man to woman, woman to man. This is the holiest relationship, and the one which represents Christian love and marriage. If, however, man/woman separate themselves from God, there will be no spiritual union, only ego and selfishness. The result, in this case, will be that the four components present in humans, (body, mind, psyche, spirit) will be disturbed because there is no discipline: the body will be crying, the psyche is sorrowful, the soul is agonising, and the mind is trying to philosophise the sin. In such a situation, much sexual deviations will occur, but without happiness, because sex is no longer unifying, but dividing, and this sin will always be present because there is no grace inside such people.

Sex, as God planned it, was to be the medium for love, happiness and unity. But sadly society has corrupted this by emphasising that lust is love. According to the Bible, there are three Greek words for love: EROS, which is the lusty, sensual love; PHILIA, which is the human love without desire or spirituality, as occurs between people generally; and AGAPE; which is the Christian, spiritual love, unifying and unselfish. Today, however, non-Christians are living in Eros, thinking that this will lead to marriage, but what it results in is a broken marriage. Therefore, as Christians, we refuse this erotic love because it is body to body, instead of person to person. What you are seeing around you is not sex as God meant it to be, but uncleanliness. And you always notice how they are never happy or satisfied; but always thirsty and greedy for more. For this reason, sex today divides the people because it is not spiritual, but deviated and negative. This is why Christians never enter into sexual relationships outside of marriage.