The Highway Forums General Discussion Open Forum What is Marriage to Evangelical Millennials?

Let me iterate, just so there is no confusion or misunderstanding of my position.

1. From Genesis 2:18:24 God said it was not good for man to be alone, thus He created Eve as Adam's helpmeet. Thus, from the first, there was designed to be a relationship between man a woman. This was the primary reason for God creating Eve for the man.

2. Once that relationship was formed, sex and procreation resulted from it. Therefore, although they are fundamental aspects of marriage, they were designed to be ancillary to a loving relationship between a man and a woman.

3. Therefore, I believe companionship, grounded in holy love, is the primary design of marriage and the other two elements that flow from it are most natural and an inseparable part of what marriage was designed to be.

4. Cranmer's statement is not unexpected since there are other areas of the Anglican church which are very similar to that of the Roman State Church, e.g., baptism, sarcedotalism, etc., which unfortunately should have been cast off.

Lastly, let me comment on your reason for wanting to make procreation as the primary reason for marriage, that being as a defense against same sex marriage/unions. a) We should not formulate doctrine based upon any worldly opposition or threat to God's truth. One other such mistake comes to mind in regard to the doctrine of creation where the world's 'science' claimed to hold irrefutable 'proof' that the world was millions, perhaps billions of years old. Some otherwise very biblical and wise men unfortunately gave in to the pressure of these theories and compromised their views of creation thus formulating an 'old age' doctrine vs. a young age doctrine (6 literal 24-hour days). The consequences of their compromise was far reaching. For example, in the OPC, according to their "Hermeneutic of Trust" (whatever the experts say must be true), various incompatible and contradictory views of creation are deemed acceptable. b) The argument(s) from the gay-rights movement and their followers has caused many in the broad Christian community to be led astray, i.e., they have abandoned the WHOLE truth concerning marriage and happily gone down the conceived 'rabbit trail' of those arguments. What I'm trying to convey is that the companionship I propose as being the primary reason for marriage was designed to be an intimate union between one man and one woman, within which sex and and offspring typically follow. In short, it isn't just ANY type of companionship that marriage was instituted but rather it was a heterosexual union. Anything other than a heterosexual union is aberrant and an abominable sin. Therefore, the fundamental issue is not marriage itself but homosexuality and all other deviant 'unions'. Since homosexuality is fundamentally that which is against nature itself, i.e., it is contrary to all that God designed for man, then any union/marriage between same sex couples or any other type of union other than a heterosexual one is automatically wrong. Notice that Scripture does not directly address same-sex marriage, but rather it focuses upon the deviant sexual behavior of fallen mankind and summarily condemns it. And, there are other benefits to be derived from dealing with the fundamental issue of deviant sexual behavior which directly affects such things are adoption, membership in churches, employment positions, etc., etc.

So, it isn't that I totally disagree with your view... only the order of the three elements of marriage. On those three elements, we are of one accord.