Your question was: Paying for Match.com??? Is it worth it????? Thanks.?.

What a great topic to discuss!!.

To me marriage is a choice to live a committed life with someone.  but since you mentioned a list,  here is mine.

1.  A choice.

2.  companionship.

3.  commitment.

4.  devotion.

5.  passion (yeah for this!!).

6.  Work.

7.  security - like knowing someone is on your side..

8.  romance (at least every now and then).

9.  putting in your part - each person of the couple is an individual and the unquine characteristics and talents that each one brings to the marriage completes and/or helps the other..

10.  A choice.

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Marriage:  the institution whereby men and women are joined in a special kind of social and legal dependence for the purpose of founding and maintaining a family (per Webster's)..

That is the clinical definition of marriage.  Are you asking what marriage consists of beyond that definition?  Or what should marriage consist of?  Marriage should consist of a lot of things including love, honor, cherish, friendship, passion, trust, and loyalty..

 ..

Ah...dictionary definition mine is not!  I believe that marriage is a union of 2 people...of any gender who want to be in a committed relationship (thru Match.com) for life....

My list....

Unconditional love, mutual trust, mutual respect, intimacy/passion, friendship, communication, compromise, a similar direction for the future, similar beliefs in important aspects (kids, etc.),  loyalty....

I hope to someday test my theory on all of this!  Thanks for your input!..

What is marriage?  Its a contract.   A bilateral, binding, legal contract. .

Not very romantic, but that's what it is.   Undisputably, it is a contract. .

The question I've ask myself, and have asked many others ... but, have yet to be offered a truly satisfactory answer (to my satisfaction at least) ... is what does marriage bring to the table that a long-term committed relationship (thru Match.com) cannot?.

IMO, there isn't anything that a committed relationship (thru Match.com) cannot offer that a marriage offers.   You can still have companionship, love, friendship ... all that good stuff ... but, without the legalities. .

And yes, I've heard the 'rights of survivorship' ... ability to make medical decisions for your partner (which you CAN do thru a medical power attorney ... no need for marriage),etc, etc ... I've heard all that ... but, none of that has to do with the sharing of your lives ... that's just more legal stuff.    I'd like to hear an answer that doens't involved legalities.   And have yet to hear one ...

In a nutshell, I think marriage is great for family ... for children ... for family unity.  Not BECAUSE of a child (ie, I would never marry someone just because there's a child involved) ... but FOR the child/ren ...its good for the child/ren to have a family that all shares a name and the unity of family.  .

FWIW, I'm not anti-marriage at all ... I haven't been married ... and probably won't (unless I have kids) ... but, I'm not a 'hopeless romantic' ... not into the pomp-and-circumstance of weddings ... so, the idea of marriage just doesn't appeal all the much to me.  ..

I have absolutely no clue. Sure, I've met and worked with married people, seen marriage portrayed on tv and in movies, but I have no personal experience. I've never been married, close to being married, or in love for that matter. My parents weren't married and I never met my father, so I don't know what that relationship (thru Match.com) is like..

Good luck finding the answer. For as many who answer, I am sure there are tons of various answers...