Marriage a Thing of the Past?
Recently, I watched a segment on CNN about how more and more couples are choosing to live together instead of getting married. The segment included two radio host who frequently talk about modern day relationship issues as advice gurus.
The gist of the conversation ended that marriage is just a sheet of paper and many people in today's culture see no need to go through the legal and financial rigmarole of getting married.
The glaring omission from the entire story is the lack of moral conviction. Think about it. If there is nothing wrong with having sex before, outside, or after marriage and if there is nothing wrong with having children outside of wedlock, then what is marriage? A legal contract between 2 people who are dedicated to one another and have decided to make it known to everyone including the state. It is basically a sheet of paper that gives you tax breaks. If that is true, then why bother?
Last night, I watched in horror and dismay the Charlie Sheen interview on 20/20. After 3 ex-wives and 5 children, he has 2 live-in girlfriends. These girlfriends do everything a wife would do. The only difference is they don't have a sheet of paper on the wall declaring that they are married.
I submit this is modern day polygamy. If he was married to them then it would be illegal in most states, but the law says nothing about living with two women, nor should it (that's another post altogether).
I think the ladies in the story got it wrong. The reason why more and more Americans are choosing to live together and not get married is because they do not have the moral conviction to know that sex outside of marriage is wrong.
In God's eyes once a man lays with a woman they are married. This is why we say the marriage is consummated the night of the wedding. This is when it becomes official before God and man.
So is marriage a thing of the past? No, as long as we can show the lost the narrow road, the road to Jesus, marriage will continue to stay strong and maybe even make a comeback
Bottom line: people need Jesus. We don't need to condemn people who choose to live together, nor the people who choose to have sex outside of marriage that would only serve to alienate them. We simply need to love them like Jesus and have the Holy Spirit do his work in their lives.
.
The gist of the conversation ended that marriage is just a sheet of paper and many people in today's culture see no need to go through the legal and financial rigmarole of getting married.
The glaring omission from the entire story is the lack of moral conviction. Think about it. If there is nothing wrong with having sex before, outside, or after marriage and if there is nothing wrong with having children outside of wedlock, then what is marriage? A legal contract between 2 people who are dedicated to one another and have decided to make it known to everyone including the state. It is basically a sheet of paper that gives you tax breaks. If that is true, then why bother?
Last night, I watched in horror and dismay the Charlie Sheen interview on 20/20. After 3 ex-wives and 5 children, he has 2 live-in girlfriends. These girlfriends do everything a wife would do. The only difference is they don't have a sheet of paper on the wall declaring that they are married.
I submit this is modern day polygamy. If he was married to them then it would be illegal in most states, but the law says nothing about living with two women, nor should it (that's another post altogether).
I think the ladies in the story got it wrong. The reason why more and more Americans are choosing to live together and not get married is because they do not have the moral conviction to know that sex outside of marriage is wrong.
In God's eyes once a man lays with a woman they are married. This is why we say the marriage is consummated the night of the wedding. This is when it becomes official before God and man.
So is marriage a thing of the past? No, as long as we can show the lost the narrow road, the road to Jesus, marriage will continue to stay strong and maybe even make a comeback
Bottom line: people need Jesus. We don't need to condemn people who choose to live together, nor the people who choose to have sex outside of marriage that would only serve to alienate them. We simply need to love them like Jesus and have the Holy Spirit do his work in their lives.
.