Why Marriage Is More Than Just a Piece of Paper
“Marriage has a unique place because it speaks of an absolute faithfulness, a covenant between radically different persons, male and female; and so it echoes the absolute covenant of God with his chosen, a covenant between radically different partners.”
Imagine a couple that has been a relationship and living together for 20 years but not married. If one of them gets sick and only the immediate family can visit him/her in the hospital, the partner would not be allowed to irrespective of the fact that they live in the same household. I’ve heard a lot of reasons (excuses) about why people do not think it’s necessary to get married and the most common is that “marriage is just a piece of paper” that doesn’t change how they feel about the other party. Come to think of it, if you are going into marriage thinking it’s just a piece of people, then you most definitely should not be getting married. Some people say marriage is just for tax benefits. Others say they don’t need marriage to show that they are in a committed relationship.
Marriage as a covenant
Marriage was created by God, not by man for tax purposes. “For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let not man separate” (Matthew 19:4-6). Marriage is a covenant not just between a man and a woman but God. What is a covenant?
‘The term "covenant" is of Latin origin (con venire), meaning a coming together. It presupposes two or more parties who come together to make a contract, agreeing on promises, stipulations, privileges, and responsibilities. In religious and theological circles there has not been agreement on precisely what is to be understood by the biblical term. It is used variously in biblical contexts. In political situations, it can be translated treaty; in a social setting, it means a lifelong friendship agreement; or it can refer to a marriage” (Gerard Van Groningen, Covenant).
When two people come together and say, “I do”, they are making a vow to each other and to God that they will stay together until death do them part. In one of his sermons on relationships, Pastor Mike Todd said that every time a couple wants to divorce, they should bring together everyone that they invited to their wedding and say, “Oops, we lied to all of you guys; we are not staying together until death do us part” LOL. Can you imagine how life would be like if that was a requirement for divorce?
Besides marriage being a covenant between a man, woman and God, it is more than just a piece of people for several other reasons:
It joins two families together – whether or not you like your spouse’s family, once the two of you are married, they are now part of your family.
You can’t just walk away – it’s so easy to walk away from a relationship when you are just dating. Once you are married, there are so many things that have to be accounted for if you are looking to leave each other. You have to divide up all your assets and come to an agreement on how you co-parent (if you have kids).
It’s a different level of commitment – whether you like it or not, marriage is whole different level of commitment that you make to someone that is completely different from being just a boyfriend/girlfriend. It means entrusting someone with your life by taking a step that promises that you will spend the rest of your life with them – through the good and the bad.
Life changing decisions – sometimes difficult situations come up where the spouse will have to make medical decisions on the other person if he/she is incapable of doing so. You don’t have that legal right as someone’s partner who’s not married to them. If anything, the legal system recognizes you as a ‘nobody’ to the other person.
Next time you hear someone say, “marriage is just a piece of paper”, let them know that they are entitled to their opinion (even if it’s wrong) lol!!
ABOUT MY DRESS:
Disclaimer: This outfit is sponsored but all opinions are my own.
Similar to a little black dress, a white dress is one of those classic looks that will never go out of style. I just looked at my last two looks and realized that I’ve been wearing a lot of white lately. I guess it’s because of the hellish heat that we’ve been having in New York. When it’s hot outside you wear white because it deflects the heat instead of absorbing it like dark colors (welcome to science 101).
This midi dress is another one of my choices from Femme Luxe Finery. The dress is a bit on the sheer side, but I absolutely love the slightly puff sleeves and the little belt in the front that you can tie into a bow. You can purchase it directly from here.
Thank you for stopping by! See you tomorrow :-).
