"Moral Marriage"
to Marriage changes in the wind?
Very interesting concept. It is very interesting that the church is able to do a legal work, (according to the state), especially with the so called "Separation of Church and State" ideas that are out there. I believe that the moral concept of the bonding of covenants at the altar should be more binding than the legal aspect anyway. With the sanction of gay and lesbian unions by our government, it will not be far away that for a minister to perform a legal marriage he will also be required to perform these unholy acts as well. If that is the case, what will be left but to do the "Moral Marriage". --Sam Stone
I'm actually sympathetic to part of the argument for separating the legal and moral/spiritual aspects of marriage. I am out of the business of marrying non-believers in the church as part of a worship service. I will perform a wedding for non-believers, but only a legal one, with no trappings of the church's involvement--I act only as an "agent of the state," hence there is no warranty, express or implied, that God will bless this union. Only believers in (so far as it is possible to discern) full fellowship with God get to be joined in a worship service in the church building. Now, as to whether I would marry a couple "morally, but not legally"--I'm not far enough gone with this world to ompletely severe the bond between the church and the state. I would only do if the state tried to use my licensing to control my ability to proclaim the gospel and act in what I believe to be a proper moral and ethical manner. --Jon White
For some time now I have thought that either the state or the church should get out of the marriage business. I appreciated Drury's historic perspective on it. "Sanctimonius shack-ups" might be a moral step up from what is going on now, in which what we do is confused with what the state does because we are forced by law to work hand in hand with a morally confused secular government. The church can be morally confused enough without joining in the state's moral confusion.
--Everett Wilson
I say "AMEN" to a "moral marriage." Taking vows before God has a much greater weight to me than before the courts, and knowing that my vows before God is what keeps me together during the hard times, and not my legal burdens and obligations, seems like a much freer and gracious way to live in that it places the responsibility for my marriage directly upon my choice under God. Actually, at first glance, I think this is a wonderful separation. (No pun intended!) God's judgement has a lot more bearing on my choices than a court judgement. Maybe we forget the implications of God's judgement because it's not as swift and the court judgement is so full of "red tape." The Moral Marriage seems to put the responsibility smack dab back where it belongs. I like it!! What should we be thinking about before we go down this road? The very fact that as ministers performing "moral marriages" we have a greater responsibility to deny the marriage ceremony to couples who will be unequally yoked, or who simply want the nicety of a church wedding. It puts a greater responsibility back on all parties involved. It also sends a clear message to the world that we believe that "what GOD has joined together, no MAN can put asunder." The message we send to the world these days seems to be that we as the church (God) "does" what the court (man) undoes. Perhaps the legal marriage has been yet another subtle ploy of the satan to undermine the testimony of COVENANT relationship in the kingdom of God. Covenant with God, covenant with our spouse and the living in balanced grace and responsibility that that implies. That has deeper and greater implications than any court system and allows the CHURCH to then also be responsible for the nurture and care of those marriages in cases where they "must" be disolved (i.e. abuse, unfaithfulness). I would rather be morally married than legally married any day. --Betty MacPherson
One thing we might consider about the "Moral Wedding" idea (one that is not state sanctioned but is by the church... The Homosexual community has been pulling this off in many churches for many years. It's the pattern your talking about, isn't it? They get the mainstream church to do ceremonies for them, and then the state eventually says, "well, if the churches are even allowing this then why don't we." And five minutes after midnight last night the first "spouse-spouse" legal wedding happened in Amsterdam between four gay couples (one lesbian, the others gay men)... putting into effect their law that removes all gender differentiations in all state documents and legal marriage stuff. It'll happen here before we know it... We've had gays in our churches before... but never "married spouses" who were legal bound together by the state. Like it or not, that carries more weight in todays culture... and even in today's church. Since we don't really believe or certainly don't act like we believe that marriages are bound by God's law. We're way past that. Marriage is a almost joke in today's church. --David Drury