Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Morality

Let me begin this post with a caveat: I am not speaking to or about anyone in particular, but I believe these things so strongly that I feel a certain obligation to share them. My comments are about the world in general, and are not to be construed as directed at specific individuals.

Now that we’ve come to the 21st Century, it appears that many people are abandoning the strong morals that were prevalent when our nation was founded. In short, we no longer understand the full import of the sanctity of marriage. Couples are enjoying the trappings of marriage without the marriage covenant itself. And these live-in relationships are on the rise. It seems people would rather have the benefits of the marriage relationship without all that difficult responsibility.

But boyfriends and girlfriends who “play house” invite for themselves a host of problems which, although also present among traditional marriages, exist in to a greater extent among couples who either cohabit or were married after having cohabited. What has happened to us? I see that we’ve lost our way, and the problem is that we fail to take the Bible seriously.

The Bible says, “And the Lord God said, It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him an help[er suitable] for him.” (Genesis 2:18) As the story unfolds, God proceeds to form Eve out of one of Adam's ribs, presents her to him, and officiates at the first wedding ceremony. What, you don’t believe me? Verse 24: “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.”

That the becoming one flesh comes after the cleaving to the wife is evident from this New Testament passage: “Honorable be marriage among all people, and the bed unsullied; but immoral persons and adulterers God will judge.” (Hebrews 13:4, my own translation) The message is very clear: Ring before fling. God doesn’t want us to have trouble; because He loves us, He wants our ultimate marriage to succeed.

Some of you may be in this identical situation. My advice to you is to separate from each other physically until you’re ready to be married. Even if you’ve done it with no one else but your partner, this have long-term benefits for you: it will build trust, character, respect, and purity. But above all, God is able to forgive past failures if we commit to doing it the right way.