Are you dating someone and how long have you been dating? Do you see yourself married to this person? If so, why and what would you be willing to sacrifice? Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Every year there are millions of couples in the United States alone who vow to love each other for better or for worse, for rich or for poor, in sickness and in health; love each other until death do them part. Core marriage vows in the United States, especially among Christians, treat marriage as a lifelong union even though divorce is ironically rampant. Marriage has been an essential aspect of numerous cultures with different ideas about what it entails and how it should be practiced as a couple. The dimensions of marriage are different depending on the natural, social, cultural and religious expectations of the time, also showing different practices in the United Nations like the United States. In Genesis we learn about the creation of the universe, including humanity. Adam was created from the dust of the earth and brought to life by the breath of God. God then created a garden where he placed Adam to protect and cultivate the land. Adam needed a companion who was bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh, that is, like him, to help him in the garden. It was then that God created Eve from Adam's rib and she became his wife. With the father and mother of the human race, God established his expectation that woman and man should be united with each other. Genesis 2:24 explains that man and woman will leave their mother and father and cleave to each other and become one flesh. Finding a lifelong partner is a natural desire and tendency, made perfect in God's creation of our desires. St. Augustine believed that the union between man and woman had exceptional value. In “The Excellence of Marriage” he states that marriage was the first natural bond of human society. From there husband and wife would produce children to create the first social union. It is said that God created beings to be related to each other as members of the same species but also to form kinship bonds. The second expectation of marriage would be the social aspect it produces based on the natural tendency to desire relationships with others. As mentioned above, the union between husband and wife is considered the first bond of human society. St. Augustine believed that God built man and woman out of each other to show the strength of their bond. He states that "those who walk together and look together towards the place where they walk, do so next to each other, from which the woman was taken away". Historically marriages were arranged or an expectation expressed by the individual's parents. Most believed that marriage was an expectation because of the social, practical, and often personal functions it created and which helped shape the structure of our society. Marriage helped create social bonds for two families by offering wealth, land, and social or political power. Unfortunately, although marriage is still part of our social norm, its rate is substantially lower than in the past. Today, marriage is not considered of value to the individual because of the burdensome duties and difficulties it can cause, and because it has moved from a religious issue to a state issue. Because it is no longer a question of spiritual commitment, divorce is at an all-time high and is a normal occurrence. Marriage vows today are not taken as seriously as they once were, and while people were once expected to work things out for better or worse, it is now even encouraged in some churches for couples to divorce each other.