Let’s go back to the beginning, shall we, by asking ourselves a few questions.
First, Who instituted marriage?
True Christians believe God instituted marriage, when in verse 18, Chapter Two of Genesis, He said: “… It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.” And (continuing) in verses 19-24 we read: “And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh”
A careful reading of the above text and we can deduce several very important facts:
1. God instituted marriage, NOT the state.
2. God, Himself has defined marriage as being between one man and one woman.
3. It is a God-given individual right to marry.
Secondly, Who rightly has the authority to give permission to marry?
When we read the Bible, we see that God intended for children to have their father's blessing regarding whom they married. Daughters were to be given in marriage by their fathers (Please see Deuteronomy 22:16; Exodus 22:17; and I Corinthians 7:38).
Even today, we yet have a faint vestige of this displayed in our culture when during the wedding ceremony the father escorts his daughter to the altar and the pastor asks, "Who gives this woman to be married to this man?"
Thirdly, What exactly is a ‘license’?
Blacks Law Dictionary – (First Edition) defines ‘license’ as:
“A permission accorded by a competent authority, conferring the right to do some act which without such authorization would be illegal… Also the written evidence of such permission.”
Here, I would pose three questions for the reader to carefully consider:
1. How can the State rightly by issuing a ‘marriage license’, “confer the right” for a man and a woman to marry, when ‘to marry’ is a God-given right, subject only to the God-given authority or prohibitions and the permission of the parents; NOT a right given (conferred) to the marrying couple by the State?
2. How can something God instituted and blessed ever be considered legitimately “illegal” in the hearts and minds of God-fearing Christians?
3. What if the State says ‘NO’ to the application for their permission (‘license’)?
It needs to be understood that the ‘authority’ to license (whether said ‘authority’ is legitimate or not) implies the power to prohibit. ‘Power’ to do something, does not automatically imply the “rightful authority” to do it.
Again, a ‘license’ by definition “confers a right” to do something.
The State cannot grant or withhold the right to marry. It is a natural God-given right.
Historically, there was no requirement to obtain a ‘marriage license’ in colonial America.
If we read through the laws of the colonies (and subsequently, the states), we see only two requirements for marriage. 1) Parental permission and 2) Public notice of the marriage was to be posted 5-15 days before the ceremony.
We should take special notice of the requirement that the couple had to obtain their parent’s permission to marry. In those days the attribute of a godly government was yet manifested in the State, at least in this; it recognized the parent’s God-given authority by demanding that the parent’s permission be obtained. Today, the all-encompassing nanny-State demands that the permission of the State be obtained to marry.
So, why did the State start requiring a marriage “license”?
Historically, all the states had laws that forbade the marriage of blacks and whites.
In the mid-1800’s, certain states began allowing interracial marriages or ‘miscegenation’ as long as those marrying received a license from the state. In other words they had to receive permission to do an act which without such permission would have been illegal.
Blacks Law Dictionary points to this historical fact when it defines “marriage license” as, “A license or permission granted by public authority to persons who intend to intermarry.” “Intermarry” is defined in Black’s Law Dictionary as, “Miscegenation; mixed or interracial marriages.”
At this point, it’s not very difficult to see that the requirement of a ‘marriage license’ was simply the means by which the State forced its ungodly (and rather bigoted) political and social agenda on the unsuspecting populace.
Not long after these licenses to ‘intermarry” began to be issued, some states began requiring all people who desired to marry to obtain a marriage license. In 1923, the Federal Government established the Uniform Marriage and Marriage License Act (they later established the Uniform Marriage and Divorce Act). And by 1929, every state in the Union had adopted marriage license laws. Was there any resistance to these laws? If there were, they were silenced. The fact remains, it was complacency on the part of The people and the churches in relinquishing their proper authority over marriage to the state that has brought us to this point in history.
What does getting married with a ‘marriage license’ now mean?
When you marry with a ‘marriage license’, you have granted the State jurisdiction over your marriage. Your marriage is subject to the changing dictates of the State. It is, in fact, a corporation of the State! Therefore, the state has jurisdiction over your marriage relationship – including the “fruit” of your marriage. And just what is the fruit of your marriage? The fruit of your marriage is your children and every piece of property you own. This is why the State can “legally” remove your children from your home without due process for what any reason it deems is “best for the child”, whether it be education, medical care, or otherwise. There is plenty of case law in American jurisprudence, which declares this to be true. (i.e. See Van Koten v. Van Koten. 154 N.E. 146 – “Marriage is a civil contract to which there are three parties – the husband, the wife and the state.”)
For Christians such state control at times may well be in serious conflict with God’s Law and the State therein presumes to replace God’s Law with man’s law.
Did God intend the State to have any jurisdiction in marriage?
God instituted marriage, therefore it is a God-given natural right. As we have shown, according to Scripture, it is to be governed by the family. The state is to have jurisdiction over marriage in only two situations:
1). In the case of divorce; (where assets and liabilities must be divided, physical custody of any children needs to be adjudicated and to ensure the divorce is lawfully recorded for public record, and 2). When a crime has been committed (i.e., adultery, bigamy. Etc.).
It is unfortunate, but in the case of former, the State now grants divorce for any reason whatsoever and in the case of the latter, it no longer prosecutes anyone for what once was considered a crime – the crime of adultery. In my opinion, given the current push to legitimize homosexual ‘marriage’, the State may one-day decriminalize and ‘license’ bigamy (or something even worse) as a legitimate form of marriage in these United States as well.
Regardless, the fact remains whether in the case of divorce or crime, a ‘marriage license’ is not necessary for the courts to properly determine whether a marriage existed or not.
What is needed are witnesses. This is why you have a best man and a maid of honor present as witnesses to the public solemnization of your marriage. They should sign the marriage certificate, record their names with signatures attesting to your marriage in the appropriate place for “witnesses” in your family Bible, and the wedding-day guest book (if there is one) should be retained as well. A Family Bible is a considered legal documentation and is admissible in court as verification of the facts recorded in it. When a marriage is solemnized and witnessed in public and the marriage is recorded in a legally competent way, the state will recognize the marriage.
Now, Why don’t I support the “Marriage Amendment”?
1. The State does not have God-given authority to redefine “marriage” according to its ungodly dictates.
Don’t kid yourself, this is after all, the real purpose of the amendment.
God has already “defined marriage” in His Word and Christians need nothing more than that. Let the world do what it may. My concern is whether God will find ten yet faithful.
2. Neither does the State have God-given authority to give to anyone ‘permission’ or require a ‘license’ to do that which God has instituted and created as a blessing to the Family.
The legitimate God-given authority belongs to the Family. Our own history tells us the State’s so-called ‘authority’ was usurped as a means to force upon the people the ungodly regulatory instrument wherewith the State (initially) forbade people of differing races to intermarry and now presumes to hold the authority to grant or withhold permission of any that would marry from doing simply as a means of additional control over the populace.
We wouldn’t be in this “amendment predicament” if The People hadn’t abdicated their responsibility by willful ignorance and complacency. The right and authority is yet ours!
3. We don’t need more man-made ‘laws’ (a.k.a. ‘U.S. Inc. Policy Regulations’). What we need is to vote the State out of the business of presuming to have the authority to grant We, The People, “permission” to act on this (and the many other) natural, God-given rights. We need to take back what is rightfully ours and return over-sight of the estate of God-instituted marriage of our children to the rightful party– their parents. (Absent the parents, it ought to fall upon the elders in the church community to oversee a God-pleasing marriage.) Would we not see a marked decrease in the incidence of divorce among true Christians if this truism were applied?
4. Some have said, "If someone gets married without obtaining a marriage license, then they aren't really married."
OK… I admit it. As I get older, I’m becoming a little bit more of a “rebel” or perhaps I'm simply more liberty-minded the older I get.
But, given the fact that many states are well on their way to legalizing same-sex marriages, we need to ask ourselves, “If a man and a man (or a woman and a woman) marry after having obtained a state ‘marriage license’, and a man and woman marry without a State ‘marriage license’ – who is really married in the sight of God? Is it the two men (or two women) with a marriage license, or is it the man and woman without a marriage license?
In reality, this contention that people are “not really married” unless they obtain a marriage license simply reveals how Statist we are in our thinking. We need to think Biblically.
Bottom line? You should not have to obtain a license from the state to marry the one you love anymore than you should have to obtain a license from the state to be a parent. (Believe it or not, this is another ungodly proposal, which some in what the world touts as highly regarded academic and legislative circles are currently pushing to be made into law… but that’s a topic for another blog…)
5. And Finally,
The State is NOT your Daddy!