Hintjens wrote that arranged marriages evolved from the need to safeguard against predators entering the family. He writes, “The rate of arranged marriages will correlate with social status of the pair. The higher their status, the less free choice in marriage. This seems true in all societies. Between societies, the weaker the state, the higher will be the rate of arranged marriages. This is because weak states cannot protect a family’s wealth from predators.” What is Creator’s perspective?

This is a fair general assessment of a kind of intrinsic consideration perceived naturally by people who have witnessed the doings of others and knowing that not everyone can be trusted, that there are many who can put on a good act but are not reliable and honest and may even be a wolf in sheep’s clothing, so to speak. There are many considerations in human behavior involved with culture and cultural institutions like marriage, so it is not accurate to isolate one narrow aspect as the be-all and end-all of motivations in how cultural traditions come to be, but it is certainly the case that arranged marriages may confer a level of protection, provided that those doing the arranging do have the maturity and wisdom to discern when a prospective suitor is phony and perhaps dangerous. That is certainly not a given, but the fears and concerns are there for a tender, naive, young person wanting a love partner, but making a tragic mistake in putting their trust and giving their heart to someone not deserving, who turns out to be a ruthless exploiter. The basic problem here is that most people are flawed, so one’s parents might be no more qualified than the young person themselves in being able to judge who is a reliable person of quality and especially, in divine alignment, as we would say is the most important characteristic in a life partner—one would benefit from having a spouse with that makeup. The intention is there to try to address the vagaries of the dating scene and courtship, but we would say that the concerns there on the part of both families with a prospective marriage in the offing are important in helping the young couple stop and think about the lifelong consequences of their choice, and the decision to move forward with a legal contract to wed and all that might happen, especially with having children, if the marriage turns out to be a bad one. While there are certainly many examples of broken dreams from parental oversight condemning a young person’s attraction to someone, many young people can benefit from the wisdom and guidance of parents, especially when this is done in a gentle, nurturing, loving way to teach the importance of character and the key importance of genuine heartfelt love and caring as essential ingredients for a lifelong relationship with anyone.