Are you okay with common law marriage?

Yes, it is still marriage.

No amount of rationalizing can remove that fact.
They are married until death or divorce, regardless of feelings, opinions, or other reasons for continuing being together. The fact remains a fact - they are married.

 

Very true abc.

 

That is not marriage according to the common law. The intent required is not "we will get married one day" it is "we are married".

If and when the marriage is ever disputed in court (and many never are), of course things like whether after they agreed to be married they lived together as husband and wife are taken as proof of the marriage. The judge does not rule, "you are now married", he rules "you have been married from the moment you contracted the marriage."

 

I did not say "living together for one year" was biblical, but it is legal in Ontario.

I did say the publishing of banns in church and coming together in marriage was biblical.

In Canada, the requirements for marriage is a provincial legal matter, and not up to the church. Ministers are ordained by the government, or at least ordained to perform weddings, under the government. The ordination service is conducted by the local church or denomination.

Cheers,

Jim

 

God's definition of marriage:
Genesis 2:24-25
(24) Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
(25) And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

 

I voted yes with this caveat:

in our state, it is not necessary to cohabit, to fornicate, or to have sex to establish a common law marriage. It is only necessary to meet the stipulations in the law that would allow the two people to be married and to present yourselves as married. That can be as involved as a ceremony jumping the broom, publicly declaring yourselves married, or as simple as going to rent an apartment and signing the lease as Mr. and Mrs. or calling your car insurance to add your wife or husband to the policy.

At that point the couple is married. Legally binding. Divorce required to split up. No previous hanky panky required.

Nothing there inherently any more sinful than getting a license and going to see clergy or a judge. And in our state, you can also get the license and publicly state your vows without an officiant and are legally wed.

I see nothing wrong with making a provision in the law for people to be legally and morally wed without hierarchical intrusion. I do not see this as any more sinful than any other civil marriage proceeding.

Now, in a jurisdiction where fornication and cohabitation are required, of course that would be a different matter.

What astounds me is that so many other wise sane people can read the statutes a dozen times, understand that no premarital coupling need take place, and still jump up and down labelling those legally wed folks as fornicating sinners.

Talk about log in the eye.

 

I agree with you 100%.
That is exactly what I was trying to say.. but was failing miserably to do so! Thank you. :thumbsup:

In states where a person is legally married by just "taking a wife"... and no license is required.. it is a biblical marriage.. and meets the def. of marriage God gave Adam and Eve.

A man took a woman to be his wife... left mother and father and started living their lives together...

NO need for a priest, preacher, judge, ship captain, etc. to be a part of the marriage...

Simply being a husband and wife.

(This of course is in states that allow it to be called a marriage).

 

What constituted the marriage there at Cana?
What were the vows.
Did the Bride walk the aisle?
What about the best man?

What did the rabbi say?

The Bible is silent on all of this because every culture has differing wedding customs.. some elaborate, some just a man taking a woman to be his wife...

God has made it easy for men to get married..:laugh:

When Sarah gave Hagar to Abraham to be his wife.. who presided over that wedding? What Rabbi? What priest?

What constituted the wedding?

Sarah gave Hagar to Abraham to be his wife, and he slept with her.. nothing else.. no priest, no ceremony, no marriage license from the county clerk.. but God recognized it as a valid marriage, recorded it in His word, and even protected Hagar when Abraham abandoned her.

 

*sigh*

The phrase "common law" is the adjective. It is modifying a thing. In this case it is modifying marriage, which indeed is established by the "universal consent and immemorial practice of the people." That makes marriage a matter of common law.

Common law does not derive its force and effect from statute or political boundaries. It derives its force from "the universal consent and immemorial practice of the people," which is another way of saying that it is the law of nature, i.e. nature's God. Paul cited common law, or the universal consent and immemorial practice of the Gentiles to show that the law of God was written on their hearts. He said they do by nature the things contained in the law.

Common law is law, and all marriages are a matter of common law.

The only thing statute does is describe the state's attitude toward marriage. Some states will recognize a marriage it hasn't authorized after it's met certain criteria, but statutory sanction neither gives nor abates the force of common law.

Statute does NOT define common law.
Cohabitation is NOT common law marriage.
Common law does NOT require lying.
Homosexuals canNOT marry under common law.

Now you ladies, and Allan, you can't claim to have studied common law and then continue to assert the fanciful premises above.

 

Maybe we should "MARRY" these two threads together!...

I'll volunteer to officiate, so it wouldn't be a common law thread marriage!!!

ROFLMBO!!!!!

 

Simply put, I am not OK with common law marriage. I will not recognize such a "union" as married, no matter what a state defines it as. Call me old fashioned or whatever, but I do not condone or support such stuff.

What's the difference between this and prostitution? None, really. There is no marriage, nothing binding them together. It is two people who decide to play house and continue to do so... a one-night stand that decided to move in.

If anyone is actually serious about commitment to one another then actual marriage should not be a problem to them. If they have a problem with being married or getting married they should remain single and at least be honest about their fornication.

 

I see your point now... (about the catholic church)

But God did consider it a marriage.

He called Hagar a wife of Abrahams.. IN his word. God wrote the book.. he chose to call her Abraham's wife. He recognized it... even protected her, and Ishmael.

 

Oh yes, Rhode Island is very western, and very very rural. So is the District of Columbia. In their sparsely populated frontier expanses, one would have to ride for days to get to the nearest parson or justice of the peace.

 

Just curious, and want to clarify...

If someone came to your church to join from a state, and in that state they are legally married by common law.. have been for yrs.. They move to WV.. .WV does acknowledge their marriage to be legal... would your church ask them to go through a wedding ceremony before they would be allowed to join?

IF so.. why? Their marriage is just as legal as mine. If they split up, they have to get a divorce. What biblical scripture would you use to enforce a wedding ceremony as proof of a marriage (especially since they are considered legally married already)

Another angle.. What if someone got married at a courthouse? No preacher (representative of God) was there.. It wasn't a "Christian" marriage.
What if someone got married at sea by a captain/?
What if a person from another culture got married by another means?

Would you be consistent by enforcing a proper wedding ceremony in front of a preacher in order for it to be a proper wedding?

Again, I am not for shacking up. But I have no scripture saying a couple must get a license, stand before a priest or preacher, or have a certain specific Western Christian ceremony in order to be married..

But I do have an example from scripture (Abraham and Hagar) where God considered them married without any of that.