Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!rex!ukma!seismo!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: hall@vice.ico.tek.com (Hal Lillywhite) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: The Laws of the Old and New Covenants Message-ID: Date: 30 Mar 91 07:51:42 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Tektronix Inc., Beaverton, Or. Lines: 41 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article balistik@nevada.edu (SHAWN HICKS) writes: >When you or anyone says 'marriage' what do you mean? Are you referring to the >social/legal marriage where a Justice of the Peace declares you wed or are >you referring to a religious wedding? ... (The moderator comments) >[I don't know of any case where a church would do a marriage without >also registering it with the State, at least in the U.S. ... I believe the moderator is correct as far as the U.S. goes. However, this does not apply to all countries. When I was a missionary in Peru (over 25 years ago, can I really be that old?) the Peruvian government did not recognize church weddings. The custom among the people was to have 2 weddings, one in the church and one before the government authorities. Most Catholics I talked to regarded the church wedding as the important one and many of the poor people skipped the legal ceremony entirely since it was rather costly from their point of view. I don't know if this was an official Catholic position or if it was just the belief among the people. My own church (LDS) regarded the legal marriage as important and missionaries frequently assisted couples with the paperwork etc. so their church marriage could be legalized. I think the reasoning is that marriage should have legal protection and that since these marriages were for this life only anyway they should be sanctioned by the authorities of this life, namely the government of the country. In fact while I was there our church succeeded in arranging for marriages in our chapels in Lima to be recognized by the government. In answer to Shawn's question then, I suspect different churches would have different answers. The LDS church would insist that the marriage be recognized by the appropriate government. Other churches will likely feel differently. I'm sure you can guess my view that the marriage should be legally sanctioned by the government and enjoy the protection governments usually give to a marriage. Marriage is a covenant which ought to protect those involved, particularly wives and children. Without legal sanction this protection is usually missing.