This is the fruit of the heresy which teaches that marriage is a contract when it is actually a sacrament.
“This is the fruit of the heresy which teaches that marriage is a contract when it is actually a sacrament.”
Nailed it. To the state, it is simply a piece of paper denoting a contract that carries benefits and strictures that can be broken and resumed between any parties that judges, pols, or the majority decide should have them. And that’s it. Pope Leo XIII warned about it 130 years ago.
Freegards
Amen to that; however, while it is a sacrament in the Catholic church, it is merely a "covenant" in the Protestant realms. This shocking fact, along with several others, greatly weakened my loyalty to the Protestant church of my upbringing. Among Protties, there are only three sacraments: communion, baptism, and confirmation. It boggles the mind, really, that the ordination of pastors is not even considered, much less leaving out marriage, which Christ said is like unto His relationship to the Church.
Obviously I do not like being called a heretic, but I will resist the urge to attack Trent. I find this discussion interesting of how viewing marriage as something other than a sacrament may lead to devaluing it.
I'm not used to this line of argumentation. I'm listening, but I can't respond with intelligent comments to an argument that I don't think I fully appreciate.
I probably need to add that conservative Reformed churches have historically been very, very strict in their emphasis on marriage and family life, and have reacted with disgust and abhorrence toward the typical broad evangelical “easy believism” which leads to easy divorce and remarriage. Church discipline is not a minor issue in conservative Reformed circles. I know we can point to all kinds of abuses, but they are far less frequent in conservative Reformed circles than generic evangelical Protestantism where church discipline is rare or entirely unknown.
Excellent comment and completely correct. This also gives lie to the argument that homosexuals just want the same legal privileges and protections married people have. They've gotten civil unions which are legal and economic contracts/partnerships, but that's not enough.
Why the push for homosexual marriage? To try and get man to affirm what God has denied.
Marriage is a sacrament and cannot be consented to without the approval of God.