What's The Big Deal About Marriage?

What’s The Big Deal About Marriage?

One upon a time men and women got married before they were living together. Society frowned on such premarital behavior. Men and women were attracted to each other, and those young male hormones, and hers too, were sometimes difficult to control. Inevitably some young lady would get into a “family way” and there would be a rush to the altar before it became apparent or widely known. The newly married couple would move into their new home thinking that no one was any wiser. If a young couple did get married without this need to cover up their immoral act the neighborhood gossips would soon make certain that all the other gossips were aware of the pregnancy even though it wasn’t so. That’s just the way “know it all” gossips are, but those marriages were lasting marriages. They lasted because of societies mores which were rooted in decency and natural law.

Who started all this marriage business anyway? I suppose if you’re an atheist it doesn’t really matter, to you, that is. If you were raised in a Judeo-Christian faith it started back in Genesis 2:24 when God said, Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”

This idea is not confined to Judeo-Christian faith. All societies accept this as normal and moral behavior. Even outside of any religious doctrine it was the accepted moral behavior and necessary to a proper and orderly society. No matter what continent, or what nation, men and women are united in matrimony. It is the oldest institution on our planet.

This nation was built by strong families. Good families are the strength of any nation. Men and women took a vow regarding their union, and it was a sacred vow. Families were built on a deep and abiding faith.

When faith is abandoned or lost or no longer important something terrible happens. The quickest way to destroy a nation is to destroy the family. No faith, no belief, and along comes no-fault divorce and suddenly you can be divorced before the ink is dry on your marriage license. Have a little “tiff” and he or she is “outa here” because they can’t take it any longer. “What vow? Did I take a Vow for better or for worse?” What do you mean take a look at the problem? He/she is the problem! I’m gone! Sacred vows are forgotten, by men and women, but I doubt they are forgotten by God. This is not limited to people of faith. When the values we hold dear are abandoned all of society suffers the damage. We have become a self centered society, the me-me people.

In the fifties we had the Ten Commandments conspicuously posted in every classroom in our town. Teen pregnancy was very rare and juvenile delinquency was not a problem. Divorce was practically unheard of. Later, one person complained and in sixties the Ten Commandments were taken down in classrooms nationwide. Today teen pregnancy is common and divorce is rampant and cohabitation has replaced marriage for several reasons. One is lack of commitment. Commitment implies responsibility and people do not want to be responsible for their actions. Of course there are many exceptions to this, but the rate of this irresponsible attitude is accelerating.

What’s wrong with virtue? Modern day social engineers tell us it is not realistic. It was realistic in the 50’s and everyone was happy. The 9^th circuit court of appeals in California would call virtue irrational, but it is the court itself that is irrational. Oh yes, California. It should tell everyone nationwide that your vote can be overturned on a whim by a judge whose job it is to see to the peoples vote but have determined that they will legislate instead of enforce the peoples legislation. The 9^th circuit court says that virtue is illegal. In Romans 1 the truth is told and in 2^nd Peter 2:6 the penalty, “And in turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;” or Jude 1:7 “Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.” There is more, but you get the message, God will not be mocked.

So what’s the big deal about marriage, and why is the lack of virtue taking away our God given freedoms?

Do you know your spouse?