by wmfinck » Sun Oct 25, 2015 8:36 am
While Christ performed His first (recorded) miracle at a wedding feast (not a formal wedding ceremony) which celebrated a marriage, satisfying the legal requirements of any particular government is another matter entirely.
While many people find comfort in a wedding celebration, or think it is necessary (because of modern tradition), there is nothing wrong with such a celebration if they desire to have one. But the celebration of a marriage and the marriage itself are two different things.
There is absolutely no Scriptural necessity to have a wedding celebration to commemorate a marriage, and the vast majority of our people throughout our history never had and could never even afford such a celebration.
But even if a couple has a celebration, that does not necessarily fulfill legal requirements by which a government recognizes a marriage, and those requirements have nothing to do with the law of God. For example, in the U.S. in order to be legally "married" a couple must obtain a government license and then have a ceremony conducted by a government-registered agent of the State.
The idea is repulsive to many Identity Christians, but we should not despise a couple who decided that it was necessary for their government's legal purposes. To do so would be just like despising someone for having a driver's license or a birth certificate.
The marriage happens in a bed. Celebrations of the marriage, rituals held by a minister or priest, and government licenses are all separate things entirely. When getting married (which is, having a sexual relationship under commitment to a person of a different sex but of the same flesh and blood) we must seek to please God and not men.
It is possible to find alternate legal means to ensure property rights to a spouse, rather than getting married according to government regulations. However these may be out of reach for some people, and may not satisfy the needs of every couple.
If a man and his wife desired to ensure to one another certain legal entitlements according to the laws of a particular government, because that assurance may benefit one spouse or the other in cases such as inheritance or other property rights, then getting "married" according to the procedures of that government is an economic decision between that man and his wife which in reality has nothing to do with the fact that the couple may already be married in the eyes of God.
The man and his wife should therefore understand that the marriage commitment which they have is governed by God and not man (What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. ). It is God, and man's love and fear of God, which makes and keeps a marriage. The government and the churches do not have a good record in that area as they attempt to replace God.
So any government license, or any wedding feast, is superfluous to the substance of the marriage itself.
If a jew is moving his lips, he's lying. If you see a rabbi, there has already been a crime!