Posted on 09/22/2014 2:46:43 AM PDT by SoFloFreeper
In the past few decades, the option of living together, rather than moving into a formal marriage contract, has proliferated in our culture. Christians must be careful not to establish their precepts of marriage (or any other ethical dimension of life) on the basis of contemporary community standards. The Christian’s conscience is to be governed not merely by what is socially acceptable or even by what is legal according to the law of the land, but rather by what God sanctions.
Unfortunately, some Christians have rejected the legal and formal aspects of marriage, arguing that marriage is a matter of private and individual commitment between two people and has no legal or formal requirements. These view marriage as a matter of individual private decision apart from external ceremony. The question most frequently asked of clergymen on this matter reflects the so-called freedom in Christ: “Why do we have to sign a piece of paper to make it legal?”
The signing of a piece of paper is not a matter of affixing one’s signature in ink to a meaningless document. The signing of a marriage certificate is an integral part of what the Bible calls a covenant. A covenant is made publicly before witnesses and with formal legal commitments that are taken seriously by the community. The protection of both partners is at stake; there is legal recourse should one of the partners act in a way that is destructive to the other.
Contracts are signed out of the necessity spawned by the presence of sin in our fallen nature. Because we have an enormous capacity to wound each other, sanctions have to be imposed by legal contracts. Contracts not only restrain sin, but also protect the innocent in the case of legal and moral violation. With every commitment I make to another human being, there is a sense in which a part of me becomes vulnerable, exposed to the response of the other person. No human enterprise renders a person more vulnerable to hurt than does the estate of marriage.
God ordained certain rules regulating marriage in order to protect people. His law was born of love, concern, and compassion for His fallen creatures. The sanctions God imposed on sexual activity outside marriage do not mean that God is a spoilsport or a prude. Sex is an enjoyment He Himself created and gave to the human race. God, in His infinite wisdom, understands that there is no time that human beings are more vulnerable than when they are engaged in this most intimate activity. Thus, He cloaks this special act of intimacy with certain safeguards. He is saying to both the man and the woman that it is safe to give oneself to the other only when there is a certain knowledge of a lifelong commitment behind it. There is a vast difference between a commitment sealed with a formal document and declared in the presence of witnesses, including family, friends, and authorities of church and state, and a whispered, hollow promise breathed in the back seat of a car.
This excerpt is from R.C. Sproul’s Crucial Questions booklet Can I Know God’s Will? Download this ebook and the rest of the series for free here.
No it is an oath before God you know like the one 0 toke to uphold the Constitution.
“Is Marriage “Just a Piece of Paper”?”
Of course it is NOT...When a man is required by law(s) to forfeit real estate and pay his former spouse alimony, child support, lose custody of children, etc., plus legal fees involved in divorce or be sent to jail, how can it be just a piece of paper???
In every long-term cohabitation situation I’ve personally known, it boils down to the man being unwilling to legally commit. Eventually, the woman decides to stay with him anyway and she’s the one who’s saying, “oh, it’s just a piece of paper.” But in the beginning, she’s the one who wanted the commitment. She settles when he won’t.
I would suggest that marriage be strictly a church covenant. You would get married in the church, synagog or whatever of your choice. At the same time you fill out your government partnership paperwork for taxes , benefits from SS and inherentance and responsibility of any children.
You can do the partnership without the ‘marriage’, but not the reverse.
This takes government out of that aspect of our lives.
Once the liberals get conservatives to equate marriage with Big Government, they will have succeeded in finally DESTROYING marriage, once and for all. Since once it’s church-only, who really cares, just switch churches when it’s time to switch spouses.
...and they are getting close.
What good is the contract (or covenant)? If I had left my wife and run off with another woman, my wife would take me for all I have. Too bad here in Virginia it doesn’t work the other way around. My wife DID leave me for another man and according to VA law, she should get half of my assets, including my Navy pension.
Where is the justice in that? The Bible says that adulterers should be executed (Old Testament Law) not rewarded.
When God sent my wife to be a part of my life, he knew exactly what I wanted. Well he ignored all that and instead gave me what I needed.
He sent one of his most favorite angels just for me. He obviously loved her alot more than I did, although I don’t see how thats possible, because on July 15 he called his favorite angel back home.
I curse Him for taking her at the same time thank Him for letting such a perfect angel be a part of my life.
No, marriage is not a piece of paper.
The government side of marriage is definitely just a piece of paper. The church side is so very, wonderfully, much more.
If we got government out of the marriage business, none of that would have necessarily happened to you. Let people marry in church or synogogue and separately draw up legal contracts that fit their mutual interests.
That’s all it will ever be to the state in the modern era. A piece of paper that denotes a contract with benefits and strictures between any parties the state deems acceptable, and can be broken and resumed at the state’s discretion. The nature of the contracting party is based on whoever judges, pols, or the voting majority want to accept as being married at any one time. And that’s it.
Freegards
Although time largely cures the acute emotional pain, I don't know if a person who honestly loves and truly gives themselves to their mate in marriage ever really gets over having their marriage ripped from them. I will not even begin to discuss the way a broken marriage hurts children; it has created several problems for my sons, although I have tried mightily to mitigate the damage to them.
It is my opinion and experience that diminishing the expectation of permanence of marriage is a terrible evil against mankind. Every day I live I become more appalled and frightened by the arrogance of man in flippantly disparaging the wisdom and order given to us by God. There are many mountains of evidence that His way is the better way.
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