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Showing posts from January, 2013

Licensed to Marry

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Recently I came close to getting hitched.   For personal reasons, my then-fiancée and I talked about having a minister oversee a private exchange of wedding vows and later get the marriage license.   Fortunately we didn’t follow through on that idea.   Unresolved issues eventually surfaced that prompted me to cancel our marriage plans.   Two cannot walk together unless they are agreed (Amos 3:3). Years ago I knew a man who secretly exchanged vows with a woman and moved in with her but had a public wedding ceremony a few weeks later.   Although that marriage lasted, similar unions haven’t.   I knew a woman that  “married” a man who quickly withdrew his affection after their exchange of vows.   That relationship fell apart without them ever getting a marriage license. Until the 16 th Century, Christian churches accepted the validity of a marriage based on the couple’s declarations.   Nowadays, a person’s word isn’t valued as much anymore. That’s why contracts a