September 29, 2014 (Monday)
I had a wedding Saturday evening for the grand daughter of Harilyn Tipton. The minister who had planned on performing the wedding could not be present, so Harilyn suggested me as a substitute. When I found out that Harilyn was cooking for the rehearsal dinner and for the wedding, too, I jumped at the chance to share in two of her delicious meals. It was held at a pavillion at the Rockport Beach; wind and rain drove us to shelter. With the event fresh on my mind, I’m thinking about marriage this morning.
Each Texas county has its own Marriage License form. This one was from Harris County, and was one of the prettiest I’ve ever seen.
In 1991, Donald Brown wrote “Human Universals,” in which he listed 67 items common to all human cultures. Marriage was listed among them.
The existence of the marriage license, issued by the state, indicates that marriage is a legal contract, no matter what other factors may be involved. This fact is a vitally important consideration in our culture for many reasons.
While marriage itself is a universal phenomenon, specifics vary widely from one culture to another. For instance, bigamy and polygamy are illegal in the United States, but not in several other countries. The rules for divorce vary from state to state. In some cultures the male can simply say to the female, “I divorce you,” three times, and it is done. In some places in this world, fidelity is demanded of the woman, but not of the man. And so it goes. Cultures vary.
For many Christians, marriage is considered a sacred contract involving a man, a woman, and God. Most Christians see the creation of Adam and Eve as a revelation of God’s will for marriage to be a union of one man and one woman. Many still believe that they should reserve sexual union for marriage.
Experience has shown us that the more a couple has in common, the greater the possibility of permanence for the marriage. In our changing world, the roles of men and women are changing also, and a couple must be alert to detrimental influences and be willing to work together to assure a maturing relationship, making adjustments for the sake of their marriage. Love makes this possible.