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The
Divergence of Legal Marriage
Certainly, a non-Christian society can be expected to pass laws and undertake activities which are not Christian. In the past, the church's and christian's understanding of marriage has been pretty much in agreement with the Government's definition of marriage. In recent years, however, there has been a widening rift between the two. Christian marriage has always meant a lifetime commitment between one adult man and one adult woman. The Government's view has in recent years been a commitment between one man and one woman for as long as the two of them wish to remain in a marriage bond. Now the Government's definition looks certain to widen to being a commitment between two adults of any gender for as long as they wish to remain in such a life arrangement. Most of us believe that this is the not-so-thin edge of the wedge. There are bound to be future redefinitions of legally-sanctioned "marriage", possibly to allow unions of more than two adults, and possibly unions between minors and/or adults and minors. Christians must accept that they don't own the copyright on the word "marriage" or the concept of marriage. We believe that marriage is God-ordained, and we define our meaning of marriage by the teaching of the Bible on the subject. The lost world believes there is no God and man should determine for himself what constitutes “marriage”. And so, it is becoming obvious that Christians' understanding of "marriage" and the Government's and society's concept of "marriage" are diverging. This should come as no surprise to us, neither does it have to be a disaster for Christians. After all, we have always had a different worldview to that of non-Christians. We must recognise that, exercising the free will given by God, they are free to evolve their own understanding of marriage based on their belief that there is no God, and therefore no absolute standard of what is right and what is wrong. Sadly, this will undoubtedly result in a slide to disaster, but we have always known that the world which has rejected God will end in disaster — for them. The Bible makes that quite clear. Thus the world will have it's legally-recognised marriage, but it is not "Holy Matrimony". The world does not have the power to make anything holy - only God can do that. It will be necessary for the Christian church to specify that when we talk about marriage, we are talking about the Christian concept of marriage, as stipulated by God in His Word; rather than our secular Government's humanistic concept of marriage. It is that simple. The world will go to Town Hall to be legally married, whilst Christians will go to their church to enter into Holy Matrimony or Christian Marriage as defined in the Bible. And with that distinction made, we are free to serve God in obedience to His Word. I call on born-again Christian ministers to commit themselves to celebrating only “Christian Marriage”. I call on born-again Christians to enter into “Christian Marriage”. And I call on Christians already married to reconfirm, between themselves, their vows of “Christian Marriage”, and to live up to that commitment with their life partner. Let us seek to speak God's Word, to live by God's Word, to serve God, and to be a witness to the lost world around us of the beauty of “Christian Marriage” and the love of God. © Kerry Green (HermitWare) 2004. FREE DOWNLOADS Ebook: The Arguments for God Ebook: Rene Descartes philosophical writings on the existance of God. (Descartes was the guy who said "I think, therefore I am") |