Why Marriage? Because God Ordained It.

The cover of the current Time Magazine caught my attention the second I removed it from the mailbox. "Who Needs Marriage?," the editors of the popular news magazine asked. As someone who has been married to the same woman for over forty-one years, I was intrigued. I discovered the feature article focuses on a Time/Pew Research Center poll that relects our nation's ideas, expectations and realities of contemporary marriage. One obvious conclusion is, "We're more flexible about how the family is defined." The number of single parents, and unmarried couples raising children are proof of that.

A more defining issue for me is the way we view marriage. Consider the comments from Andrew Cherlin, sociologist at Johns Hopkins University: "Getting married is a way to show family and friends that you have a successful personal life." The Time article uses the engagement of Prince William, and recent marriage of Chelsea Clinton as examples, of couples who relect that. It's a reality that educated individuals are waiting longer to marry. Having an established career and being financial stable are viewed as being important. Those with only a high school education or less are much more likely to not view marriage as a prerequisite to starting a family.

It was an unrelated letter to the editor that appeared in the same issue that I feel identifies the root problem when it comes to marriage and other social issues. The letter was a reaction to an interview with physicist Stephen Hawking in which he made the statement that, "physics does not allow for the existence of God." "As I see it, the only handicap Hawking has is his ability to recognize a personal God who created the universe." note the author of the letter. The common factor is God's Word. It's the Bible that credits God as the creator of all things and as the one who ordained the union between male and female. Marriage, as defined by scripture, has two purposes: Companionship, "It is not good for a man to be along," )Genesis 2:18) and Procreation: "Be fruitful and mulitiply."(Genesis 1:22).

If the institution of marriage is to survive as God intended, it is our responsibility to defend and promote it as such. Our children need to be taught that marriage is part of God's plan. We need to remind those around us that God's plan for marriage is that it be the union of one male and one female. The only way that happens is if our kids are in God's Word, and that they see the same in us.