Marriage

[Mongo]

I FINALLY realized what is wrong with those people on that forum.

I feel amazingly stupid (maybe its ignorant, then stupid).

They are Christian Universalists. They actually believe that you don't have to be saved to go to heaven and that everyone goes to heaven unless they are 'really, really evil and don't change'.

Someone shoot me. Just shoot me now and save me the headaches! Where's Nebula, I bet she'll do it if I ask her to. Neb, shoot me! Please!

[Guest sallystrothers]

I think from the teachings of Christ Himself we see that marriage is required for a man and women to form a family, and of course sex would be a part of that. Sex outside of that context is called fornication, something else Christ spoke directly about, as did Paul.

Bingo!

Woe to any Christians who think marriage is not necessary! On a side note, I was at a wedding last year and the pastor said that the wedding vows spoke in front him and the other witnesses was as legally binding as any paper contract has ever been!

[Mongo]

All I know is that it is vitally important to share your views, beliefs, and thoughts with your beloved often. Talk about yours and listen to hears and actually think about what she says. Don't just let it slide in and ignore it. You have to REALLY hear her, fellas. Hey, some of them quiz you!

Treat her views with respect and when a difference of opinion arises, seek a compromise that is within acceptable terms to you both.

And never, ever go to bed angry at each other. If nothing else, apologize to her in earnest. Even if you are wrong, it is your job to bring peace back into the home and not to let pride jump in there and ruin it.

I know its easy for us to get carried away here on the net, but we have to treat those close to us with higher tolerence and give them lots more love.

[Keith]

Remember the WEDDING where Jesus turned water into wine? It was a ceremony.

I admit to not having done any research on the topic but I have to believe the paperwork is required. The Bible says (paraphrased) to obey the laws of man unless they interfere with God's laws. The laws of man state that to be married, you need the paperwork. I highly doubt God has any objections to that.

If you want to consider yourself married to someone, why not have a small ceremony in front of a justice of the peace or even elope? To me, it smells fishy when someone wants to "be married" but doesn't want the ceremony. It sounds to me to me like they are keeping an "easy out" available. "Hey, this isn't working out and we're not really married, so...." That or it's an excuse to have sex without having to get married.

Sorry, I calls 'em likes I sees 'em.

I just want to clear up the fact that I believe in marriage and wedding vows. All I was saying is the Government's piece of paper is meaningless except as a tax benefit.

Actually, WSB, I agree with your principles here. The government appears to have made that little piece of paper virtually meaningless haven't they? However, please see my post above.

[nebula]

Someone shoot me. Just shoot me now and save me the headaches! Where's Nebula, I bet she'll do it if I ask her to. Neb, shoot me! Please!

Will this do?

[Mongo]

Thank you, Nebula.

[Iryssa]

First of all, I just wanted to say that I've never understood supposedly Christian universalists...I mean, really, what's the point of calling yourself a Christian, if that's what you believe?

But anyway...

Now, I would dearly like to know why someone would NOT want to have a marriage ceremony and a marriage certificate. Seriously. If you love this person, and you want to be with them your whole life, why not do it? Let the world know you love them! I would seriously be ticked off if my boyfriend was like "I want to be with you my whole life, but I don't actually want to get married."

"Huh?! What? Are you afraid of the committment involved in saying "I do" and signing your names in the presence of witnesses?!"

Most women would feel the same, I'm sure.

Apart from that, the point of a marriage ceremony is to have your committment witnessed by others, so that they may uphold you in that comittment and keep you accountable. Again I say, why would you NOT want that?

The marriage license:

To obtain a marriage license, you usually have to prove that you are not closely related (I know, a non-issue for a lot of people, but you would be suprised what kind of weird scenarios this prevents). And again, why would you not want to? Tax benefits, come on! There's reason to get one right there! Besides, even if a vow spoken before a minister is legally binding, what happens if you do not have a record of your marriage and the guy dies? *shrug* Just a thought.

Anyway, my whole point is that it is really senseless to not go through all the "official" steps in getting married...those things (ceremony and paper) are all beneficial for both of you, and for others. Besides, we're supposed to avoid even the appearance of evil, and I think a lot of people would look on it as sin if you were living together and had not done those things.

[kodischild]

I believe it is important to get married in the eyes of God and the church. And I think having a pastor there to do the ceremony is a good idea. My reason for including the pastor is so that he can tell everyone that the people had the ceremony. Otherwise every teenagers out there would come back with "it's ok, we made vows to each other in the back of the car just before........"

I can see where sometimes it is better not to get a government license. I had a couple friends of mine who were married in the eyes of the church but not by government standards. They were retired, or on SSI, or she was getting surviving spouse benefits.....something. Anyway, they would have lost most of their income if they had gotten married legally, so they were just married in front of the church.

I realize that brings up the idea of taking money from the government by not being completely honest. So whoever is thinking about saying something like that, I agree in theory that they should have been honest with the government. In real life they couldn't afford their meds and take the pay cut at the same time. Until the day I have to choose between medication and food I'm not going to tell anyone else they should have to make that choice.

[Mongo]

I'd love to be married again, but the women who are bitter rarely give good men a chance. And you don't know they are so bitter until after you start liking them.

[nebula]

Mawage . Mawage is wot bwings us togeder tooday. Mawage, that bwessed awangment, that dweam wifin a dweam...

And wuv, tru wuv, will fowow you foweva...

So tweasure your wuv.