Same-Sex Marriage Legal or NOT???

Now that California’s Prop 8 (the ban against same-sex marriage) is destined to head to the Supreme Court, many Conservatives are scared with the idea that same-sex marriages will become legalized. To me, the whole idea that any part of government has the authority to “legalize” any part of marriage seems abusive to the idea of religious freedom.

Let’s get a couple of things clear:

• The Black’s Law Dictionary defines “license” as, “The permission by competent authority to act which without such permission, would be illegal.”
• For many years the United States never had the authority to give permission for marriage
• Many of our Founders, like George Washington, never had a state-issued Marriage License
• God established marriage and only GOD has the authority to recognize its validity (Gen. 2:18-24)

When you read the Bible, you see that God intended for children to have their father’s blessing regarding whom they married. Daughters were to be given in marriage by their fathers (Dt. 22:16; Ex. 22:17; I Cor. 7:38). We have a vestige of this in our culture today in that the father takes his daughter to the front of the altar and the minister asks, "Who gives this woman to be married to this man?"

Historically, there was no requirement to obtain a marriage license in colonial America. For many years, Bibles kept birth and marriage licenses in them. When you read the laws of the colonies and then the states, you see only two requirements for marriage. First, you had to obtain your parent’s permission to marry, and second, you had to post public notice of the marriage 5-15 days before the ceremony. Notice you had to obtain your parent’s permission. Back then you saw Godly government displayed in that the State recognized the parent’s authority by demanding that the parent’s permission be obtained.

But that all changed when the states finally “allowed” interracial” marriage. All the states in America had laws outlawing the marriage of blacks and whites. In the mid-1800’s, certain states began allowing interracial marriages or miscegenation as long as those marrying received a license from the state. In other words they had to receive permission to do an act which without such permission would have been illegal. The slippery slope began….

Now, by issuing marriage licenses, the State is saying, "You don’t need your parent’s permission, you need our permission." If parents are opposed to their child’s marrying a certain person and refuse to give their permission, the child can do an end run around the parent’s authority by obtaining the State’s permission, and marry anyway. This is an invasion and removal of God-given parental authority by the State. Instead of a COVENET between wife, husband, and God…it is now a CONTRACT between Wife, Husband, and the State.

As a result, marriage isn’t seen as unbreakable. Marriages are entered into a contract and like all contracts marriage can be broken with lawyers. Since the enactment of marriage contract divorces have continued to climb.

If we place the authority back in the hands of GOD and the Parents, traditional marriage would be protected under the First Amendment because man and wife would be able to freely associate and administer their religious beliefs without any government authority. Yet, because government has taken over GOD’s role and have made marriage a legal matter, government has no right to administer marriage without prejudice on her citizens.