Ok fine, you got me. When I was planning out blog posts two weeks ago, I forgot about Mother's Day, but at least I can sort of make this applicable, right?
I take offense with a part of the traditional marriage ceremony. It is in every wedding ceremony. It was in my sister's ceremony. Unfortunately, it will be in mine. It is simply a sentence or two spoken by the preacher officiating the wedding, and that sentence is as follows,
"By the power vested in me by the state of Ohio (this part admittedly does change), I now pronounce you husband and wife!"
Yes, I know it's odd to take offense of such a thing, but I may lean slightly more to the anarchist side of politics than I care to admit. From where I'm sitting though, marriage is an issue between man, woman, and God, and the state has no part in it whatsoever.
Few Christians would challenge the notion that marriage is indeed ordained by God. We hear about how marriage was first ordained in the book of Genesis with Adam and Eve. In fact, Jesus Himself supports this belief when He says in Mark 10:6-9,
"But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder."
Now before you just write me off as radical because I believe in the separation of marriage and state, I ask you simply, what reason has the state to be involved in marriage?
It's not as if the state is necessary to validate a union that God has established. And it's not as if they could put asunder what the Lord has joined together. The state's approval or rejection of a marriage doesn't change whether the Lord would accept it or reject it.
It certainly wouldn't have changed the Lord's acceptance of my older sister and her husband.
No comments:
Post a Comment