66 Is marriage a sign of weakness? Or, What's love got to do with It?

A case of Genesis vs Paul again

The Old Testament Book of Genesis teaches:

That marriage is normal

But hold on!

 In the New Testament letter 1
             Corinthians, written by the apostle
             Paul, Paul teaches:
             That marriage is a sign of weakness!

In Genesis, God says that marriage is perfectly normal

Genesis 2:18 It is not good for the man to live alone. I will make a suitable companion to help him.

But in 1 Corinthians, Paul asks what's love got to do with it? In fact Paul steps up to preach that the sole purpose of marriage is to avoid immorality

1 Corinthians 7:1 It is good for a man not to marry. 2 But since there is so much immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband.

Paul even insinuates that spouse faithfulness is practically impossible in marriage

1 Corinthians 7:5 Do not deprive each other except by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

He preaches that it’s better to be single. He himself is single--my, that's a mighty big coincidence. In other words, Paul's better than married people are (cough)

1 Corinthians 7:7 I wish that all men were as I am [single]. But each man has his own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that.

He's not finished with the matter, yet. He also speaks out and says you widows and virgins shouldn't seek male companionship through marriage!

1 Corinthians 7:8 Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I am.

And says women who cannot control themselves are the ones that get married. He might just as well teach that romance isn’t good for the soul

1 Corinthians 7:9 [I]f they [the unmarried and widows] cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

Then he pointedly states that marriage is a lesser state

1 Corinthians 7:34 So then, he who marries the virgin does right, but he who does not marry her does even better.

Recap: Paul says marriage is a gift from God. But he turns around and runs marriage down. I say he certainly knows how to overstep his bounds. It would've been a whole lot better for him to mind his own bee's wax where marriage is concerned.

Further he appears to have monkeyed with Genesis.

Somehow I doubt that Christian wedding ceremonies ever read such teachings aloud. I doubt that the guests are admonished that marriage is a sign of weakness.