Essential and Beautiful

Ever since the year after the Roe vs. Wade decision opened the door for more legal protections for abortions, the March for Life has been held in Washington, DC, as people gather to stand up for life.

With threats to marriage as we know it now increasing, a March for Marriage is being held, recently having held its 2nd annual March event last Thursday, June 19, 2014.

I am very pleased to see people gathering to stand up for marriage as a sacred institution given by God to human society as a channel for the special, intimate love experienced between a man and a woman, and which fosters the life and growth of people, namely, the children the husband and wife have and raise together.

Marriage is suffering from strains in recent years, as activists are seeking to redefine it to suit the desires of homosexuals.  But there have been other issues plaguing marriage, like a rise in divorce rates, and the lack of motivation on the part of many married couples to steer away from divorce.

This is why it's more important than ever to stand up for marriage as God gave it to humanity and intended for us to experience in all its beauty.

To put it in some perspective, I think back to the final moments of the very last episode of the 80's sitcom The Cosby Show.  Theo, who had been a troublesome son growing up, has graduated from college.  It's the evening after the graduation ceremony and the family and other guests have departed, leaving Cliff and Claire alone in the living room.  In the course of their conversation, Cliff tells Claire the doorbell has been fixed, which had been broken all throughout the last season, as a running side plot line.  She laughs it off, but Cliff persists in insisting that, once again, it's working.

To those who want to redefine marriage, I declare that marriage works--it works!

I've seen it work in the example of my own Mom and Dad who have lived happily married for over 30 years, despite the challenges they've faced together, and that I have been brought up well because of their commitment.  And I've seen it work in the example of other couples, especially as I think about my cousins Greg and Melissa, whose relationship I have seen grow into a joyful marriage, and into the even more abundant joy with their young daughter Ava.

Indeed, marriage is a fundamental to human society, and it has persisted through centuries of it as such.  Furthermore, only by the union of one man and one woman can humanity reproduce new offspring, and thus makes sense that such a union would be the way human beings are properly raised.  If we tamper with the institution of marriage, we not only alter the raising of children, but may very well jeopardize the existence of humanity, because we affect how it comes into existence.

So marriage between one man and one woman is important, and it works, so long as we work at it, trusting unto God our marital relationships, like all others, which are a great gift from Him, and reveal the love He has shown for us in giving of Himself that we may live to His praise.