{"id":23842,"date":"2010-08-29T04:45:10","date_gmt":"2010-08-29T04:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/baonline.cog7engage.net\/?p=23842"},"modified":"2023-08-29T11:18:59","modified_gmt":"2023-08-29T17:18:59","slug":"does-scripture-support-getting-married-by-the-laws-of-the-land","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baonline.cog7engage.net\/does-scripture-support-getting-married-by-the-laws-of-the-land\/","title":{"rendered":"Does Scripture Support Getting Married by the Laws of the Land?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>My daughter and her boyfriend say they are married because they made a covenant with God. If I can show her in the Bible that a person has to get a license to be married, then she will get one. Does Scripture support getting married by the laws of the land? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Beginning a marriage requires formality. In both Old and New Testaments a woman was \u201cgiven in marriage\u201d by her father or relatives. This was a public matter, not a private arrangement to live with one\u2019s intended mate. The concepts of marriage covenant, dowry, and certificate of divorce show that both marriage and divorce were formally done (see Mal. 2:14; Gen. 30:20; Deut. 24:1-3).<\/p>\n<p><em>Marriage<\/em>, <em>being married<\/em>, or to <em>marry <\/em>are mentioned over 100 times in the Bible. At least 30 texts speak of being \u201cgiven,\u201d or to \u201cgive,\u201d in marriage. In the New Testament, we find the law of marriage (Rom. 7:1-3) and that it should be regarded with honor (Heb. 13:4). God obviously considers the formality of marriage to be important (see Rev. 19:9).<\/p>\n<p>If your daughter is living with the guy, can she face the fact that their logic may be mostly an excuse to live together without stigma or guilt? Most such \u201crelationships\u201d end quick\u00adly. Will she call that a \u201cdivorce\u201d if and when it happens?<\/p>\n<p>The Bible commands us to respect the laws of our land (Rom. 13:1-7; 1 Peter 2:13-16), and our government requires a license and an \u201cofficial\u201d ceremony for a legal marriage.<\/p>\n<p>If your daughter is a Christian, what about her boyfriend? Is either of them growing in relationship with Christ, or are they slipping in faith and zeal for Him? This is your best clue to the sincerity of her \u201cexcuse.\u201d It is possible that she and he want to be fully honest with God about this and intend to spend life together as a genuinely married couple, until death parts them.<\/p>\n<p>The last paragraph is to suggest that you use wisdom and grace in counseling your daughter. It sounds as if they are determined to be together, regardless of what you might say. There comes a time when parents must release their youth to learn the lessons beyond their lectures. If this is that time for you, please don\u2019t burn the bridges over which you and your daughter will certainly want to cross again sooner or later.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u2014 Elders Calvin Burrell and Roy Marrs<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Have a question you&#8217;d like answered? Submit it here:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>[contact-form-7 id=&#8221;23927&#8243; title=&#8221;Submit a Question&#8221;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My daughter and her boyfriend say they are married because they made a covenant with God. If I can show her in the Bible that a person has to get a license to be married, then she will get one. Does Scripture support getting married by the laws of the land? Beginning a marriage requires [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":287,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","castos_file_data":"","podmotor_file_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Does Scripture Support Getting Married by the Laws of the Land? - Bible Advocate<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/baonline.cog7engage.net\/does-scripture-support-getting-married-by-the-laws-of-the-land\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Does Scripture Support Getting Married by the Laws of the Land? - Bible Advocate\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"My daughter and her boyfriend say they are married because they made a covenant with God. 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