christian marriage, not state marriage

As usual, Vox Day is dead on. His latest column discusses the state's boundless control over the institution of marriage. At least the secular institution anyway, or what's left of it. It's worth reiterating here that any man who marries a woman on the career path who shows even the slightest signs of being a feminazi is so dumb he almost deserves whatever he gets. And anyone who wishes to include the government as a third party in their marriage would be well advised to add provisions in the contract that make divorce next to impossible. Go read his blog and, well, just look around for plenty of examples of what could happen if you don't.

He ends with an excellent point:

"But is it possible for a Christian couple to avoid the state's machinery of control and still marry before God? Yes, according to pastor Matt Trewhella. 'What's recorded in a family Bible will stand up as legal evidence in any court of law in America. Early Americans were married without a marriage license. They simply recorded their marriages in their family Bibles. So should we.'"

Which raises the question, since when did the state actually have any God-given authority whatsoever over marriage? Off-hand I can't think of any Scripture that would imply such a thing. After all, marriage is an institution ordained by God and entered into before God, right? So another obvious question is, why bother with a state marriage license anyway? As Pastor Trewhella points out, a notation in the family Bible should do the legal trick. And between two Christians, legality shouldn't be an issue. Their first allegiance is to the Lord and His law, and when it comes to marriage I think God laid a solid framework that any couple should live by. In fact, it's perfect--the state can't add anything to it and shouldn't try to. A license takes away rights and has no obvious benefits that a will can't grant. So I fail to see the logic in getting one.

That being said, anyone who's about to enter into said covenant had better be pretty damn sure they're with someone God-fearing and trustworthy. Who would buy a house, change jobs, or even purchase stock without touching all the bases and finding out everything they could first? So why treat differently what will, for better or for worse, be the biggest move of your life? But that seems lost on so many people these days.

All of this reminds me of an article Vox had written about some time ago. European working women were lamenting the lack of available men with any interest in marriage. Gee, I wonder why.