I was sitting at one of these new Chinese restaurants, the kind that is huge with huge flat screens covering the walls on the ultra high ceilings. On the gigantic monitors was the repeat play of a glamorous wedding and an expensive banquet (marketing promotion of their restaurant and wedding consultant services). It’s all quite a feast (for the first time) then becoming a feat for the eyes, as it played ad nauseam while we were eating.
It caused me to muse my old neanderthal saying that, “It’s more demanding to get a driver’s license than it is to get a Marriage License.” Many pre-marriage couples are quite interested in having a great celebration and not really concerned about the God who designed Marriage. A closet fear of judgment and perfection? Maybe a topic for the future.
It seems there’s been a trend for couples to avoid a church wedding and, consequently, avoiding an ordained Christian pastor to officiate the service (not that it’s impossible to get an “ordained” pastor that meets almost any spiritual or ill-spiritual criteria you can hope for).
Well, that’s what is seems to me to be the trend here in the liberal bastion of culture in Silicon Valley.
What is more alarming is how many governments around the Western world are turning a blind eye to the criminal exploitation of young women. it is a sign of the non-Biblical psychology that is destroying a society where there is order and men protect women. Instead women are being sex trafficked and murdered as though life in itself is less than expendable. Well that’s not surprising with death cults and anti-Christian movements on the move. It’s an ever present sign that the world is ready for the rise of the Officer Wendell “Bud” White’s of the human race to protect the unprotected.
I am hopeful, with the re-educating of America (championed by leaders like the late Charlie Kirk), understanding how this country is strongly and foundational based on Christian principles and in light of the “Supreme Judge” (who is Jesus Christ) and with the Conservative movement making ripples in the younger generation, that couples are re-embracing the vital part God plays in every marriage (and in each person’s life) and are willing to take a honest and considered look at how a Marriage constructed in the light of God’s values and how it actually reaps a peace and purpose greater than anything the world can provide.
Like all things it’s centered around the Gospel. It’s very American, albeit not a very heralded point in the common parlance. If you wonder what the alternative is, you can observe any number of failing or oppressive countries, not to mention any society that has a abundance of religious idol worshipping zealots whose deeply held beliefs support slaughter and genocide.
One of my most spiritual Navy friends said, “Jesus Christ is the First American.” If you understand the actual foundation of the United States and the Constitution, you would tend to understand if not agree, Jesus Christ would be the epitome of a the American Idea, regardless of country. It just happens to be our Founders made it abundantly clear we were founded on Christian principles, guided strongly by the Bible and the God of the Bible who proclaims the Truth that all men are endowed with Rights that come directly from God and not an institutional government.
We live in a country that best operates with a people cultured in Biblical values. President John Adams is quoted as saying, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” I would clarify that a religious people today means it should be based on the Bible since the exclusivity of the Christianity is more distinct now than in the 1700s when Protestantism or in some States, Catholicism, were widespread. In other words, Colonists did not consist of bastions of Muslims, Buddhists or other religions that do not follow the moral law and did not worship the God of the Bible.
The Supreme Judge of the world, as mentioned in the Declaration of Independence is a specific God, the one the Founders understood as the God of the Bible. I would argue that it is inconceivable that adhering to a God who is in effect an object of idol worship and/or departs from Salvation through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, is destined to fail like every other man ordained government.
It is within this divinely inspired frame work that we should endeavor as Americans to live and grow with the intention of serving and glorifying God through Christ.
We can still enjoy life. God’s blessings surround us. I’m not against a fancy wedding if that’s what a couple decides, but what I am saying is, if the True Living God is given His due respect in this beginning of a long and challenging journey made by a man and a women in covenant relationship, then it will be more open to the blessings from God.
Here are some less travelled passages about Marriage which is the core of the family.
But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, 26 so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word... – Ephesians5:24-26
7 They *said to Him, “Why then did Moses command to give her a certificate of divorce and send her away?” 8 He *said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way. 9 And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.” – Matthew 19:7-9
13 “And this is a second thing you do: you cover the altar of Yahweh with tears, with weeping, and with groaning because He no longer regards the offering or receives it as acceptable from your hand. 14 But you say, ‘For what reason?’ Because Yahweh has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. 15 But not one has done so, even one who has a remnant of the Spirit. And what did that one do while he was seeking a godly seed? Be careful then to keep your spirit, and let no one deal treacherously against the wife of your youth. 16 For I hate divorce,” says Yahweh, the God of Israel, “and him who covers his garment with wrong,” says Yahweh of hosts. “Be careful then to keep your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously.” – Malachi 2:13-16
Those are God’s Words. The Bible is authoritative contrary to common worldly views based on “my perfect life”, “my needs”, or other borderline psychotic sociopathic self-interest that may very well have little to do with the sustaining of a God revering family and society, or the necessary submission to God’s will which would then yield joy and greater holiness of the husband and wife.
These passages ought to raise some basic questions for couples to work with before they get married. Here a just a few.
- What is Marriage and what does God intend that it symbolize?
- What is the main purpose of the family and what should be its key legacy?
- How does a Christ-centered family structure contribute to a stronger American society?
- What is the significance of believing and trust in Christ as Lord and Savior?
- As an American, why should one understand Christianity? Why should your children understand?
I promise you, I am not going to address these questions in depth, but, with what little time I have left before I want to publish this article, will offer some thoughts with these serious questions in mind,
The most important decision you’ll ever make (after faith in Christ) is to make commitment to get married and to build a family, it is through this bond of love and blood that make each person more independent of their worldly circumstances while drawing each person in greater trust and faith, in effect, greater dependency on God and His law, guidance, and blessings.
God IS Love and developing patterns of love based on God’s character is best.
At the core of each family is a husband and wife, whose relationship is intended to be patterned after the relationship Christ has with His Church and also a model for children to learn the fundamentals of a healthy relationship.
Granted, none of us have a perfect relationship and in many ways we have unhealthy attitudes and habits, which means, if we grow in humility to the greater objectives provided by God, we stand to be made wiser and stronger as we embark on a life of surrender to God.
Since I’ve surrendered my life to Christ, the confusions created by the liberal culture in the Church and how it corrupted my understanding and trust of the Bible have largely been corrected and I continue to work on my poor attitudes to make them more Christ like by staying close to the Scriptures.
Many ministers I knew growing up would avoid or criticize many parts of the Bible because it did not fit a growingly debased society and norms. These effectively non-Biblically based churches form substantial obstacles to understanding the Gospel and the true nature of sin vs God’s Holiness and Righteousness. A church that is not treating the Scripture as authoritative and inerrant is a church that is always deferring to a sin tainted definition of love. Personal sin, idolatry and self-righteousness are given a pass in the name of “compassion.”
Worldly models of marriage for most seem to based on a few qualities observed from parents and other mentors, but not many were seen through the lens of God’s order and the Gospel. That takes a level of trust that is unnatural to the worldly man and woman,
In Western society we usually point to ourselves (our sinful selves) as an authority of who we should marry and how to conduct marriage relationship. One of the most important decisions you’ll ever make and should rely on personal autonomous choice should, right?(I dare say not). Even in a culture where arranged marriages are more prominent, it’s still a matter of opinion and world views.
Placing upon a pedestal even the best people as a role model will fall short of the divine, eternal, and sustaining principles set forth by the One who created human beings and Marriage.
Many may think that the culture is in decline, but, no matter the state of the nation that is being judged by God, the Church is responsible to help spread God’s Word about the Gospel, Marriage and family.
To God’s Glory & In Christ
For a one minute explanation of the Gospel from the late Pastor John MacArthur, watch this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCP9UcC7BzE
For a review of the Ten Commandments: https://www.challenyee.com/the-ten-commandments/
ACT LIKE MEN a short talk given by John MacArthur (click on the link)
All quoted excerpts have footnotes removed, usually from Legacy Standard Bible (LSB), sometimes from New International Version (NIV), on rare occasion the Amplified Bible (AMP).
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7-25-24