Years ago, in my youth, I would have answered this by claiming that those with a license are married.
That's is nothing more than a social/cultural construct. It's the paradigm we've all been raised with.
It wasn't until I began to read the word of God for what it says, and what it does NOT say, for the realization to set in that I was VERY wrong!
Genesis 2:23-24
23 And Adam said, This [is] now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
There are three elements by which the Lord defined marriage:
- leave (forsake) father and mother
- cleave (cling, keep close) unto his wife
- become one flesh with her.
Throughout all the rest of scripture, we see not one verse whereby the Lord added to that definition, nor did the Lord speak of His ever having relinquished to mankind and/or his governments the Lord's own sole authority over marriage and its definition. Marriage is one of the items the Lord did not want man to corrupt, as we see happening within governments when they allow perversions to be defined as legal "marriages."
We see, therefore, that marriage is not an emotional tie, or defined under the auspices of romance, handed over to the authority of any earthly government, not defined by pieces of paper from City Hall, lauded as a "Marriage License," nor does the word of God state that the strength of marriage is somehow bolstered by ceremony, vows, exchanges, acknowledgements nor declarations from anyone with a title, be it governmental and/or religious.
This is the one means by which the Lord has kept marriage pure and beautiful. Those couples with some silly piece of paper from City Hall or s state that says they are married, and have not fulfilled the three items from Genesis 2, they are living sexual sin, and many in adultery who were married before, divorced on unbiblical grounds, such as "incompatibility," and remarried...that is adultery, for the Lord does not recognize divorce on any other grounding that that which the Lord allowed.
This may seem harsh to some, and if it does, then please read your Bible, pray about it, and let the Lord give to you His wisdom, or we can discuss this here. I'm not here to analyze anyone's marriage, but rather to speak only what the word of the Lord says and does not say. Many men have abandoned their wives and children, leaving them to fend for themselves, and therefore failing to provide for his wife's raiment and food. The word of God says that a wife is therefore no longer bound, and owes nothing to the wayward husband.
There are thousands, perhaps millions of variations of stories behind failed marriages, and we can't cover them all here. Suffice it to say that some situations may rest solely upon the Lord's own Judgement, where there is no injustice.
MM
That's is nothing more than a social/cultural construct. It's the paradigm we've all been raised with.
It wasn't until I began to read the word of God for what it says, and what it does NOT say, for the realization to set in that I was VERY wrong!
Genesis 2:23-24
23 And Adam said, This [is] now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
There are three elements by which the Lord defined marriage:
- leave (forsake) father and mother
- cleave (cling, keep close) unto his wife
- become one flesh with her.
Throughout all the rest of scripture, we see not one verse whereby the Lord added to that definition, nor did the Lord speak of His ever having relinquished to mankind and/or his governments the Lord's own sole authority over marriage and its definition. Marriage is one of the items the Lord did not want man to corrupt, as we see happening within governments when they allow perversions to be defined as legal "marriages."
We see, therefore, that marriage is not an emotional tie, or defined under the auspices of romance, handed over to the authority of any earthly government, not defined by pieces of paper from City Hall, lauded as a "Marriage License," nor does the word of God state that the strength of marriage is somehow bolstered by ceremony, vows, exchanges, acknowledgements nor declarations from anyone with a title, be it governmental and/or religious.
This is the one means by which the Lord has kept marriage pure and beautiful. Those couples with some silly piece of paper from City Hall or s state that says they are married, and have not fulfilled the three items from Genesis 2, they are living sexual sin, and many in adultery who were married before, divorced on unbiblical grounds, such as "incompatibility," and remarried...that is adultery, for the Lord does not recognize divorce on any other grounding that that which the Lord allowed.
This may seem harsh to some, and if it does, then please read your Bible, pray about it, and let the Lord give to you His wisdom, or we can discuss this here. I'm not here to analyze anyone's marriage, but rather to speak only what the word of the Lord says and does not say. Many men have abandoned their wives and children, leaving them to fend for themselves, and therefore failing to provide for his wife's raiment and food. The word of God says that a wife is therefore no longer bound, and owes nothing to the wayward husband.
There are thousands, perhaps millions of variations of stories behind failed marriages, and we can't cover them all here. Suffice it to say that some situations may rest solely upon the Lord's own Judgement, where there is no injustice.
MM