THE BIBLE GOD GIVES NO DIRECTIONS OR GUIDANCE FOR HAVING A VALID MARRIAGE

Many civil and religious systems hold that marriage has to satisfy certain criteria in order to be binding.  If a marriage is not binding then you can get it annulled and are free to marry again.

The Bible, the so-called word of God, gives no prescriptions for contracting a valid marriage. It is possible that it regards marriages where there was no ceremony or witnesses at all but the woman just went to live with the man on the wedding day as valid (Genesis 24:67, Isaiah 61:10, Matthew 1:24). This suggests that fewer marriages may be annulled validly than the Church would like to think. Its rules and conditions are certainly against the Bible.

Adam and Eve were married without wedding vows at all. God made him a partner from his rib and that was enough. The Virgin Mary and St Joseph were married though they never had sex according to Roman Catholic tradition. Yet both marriages would have no trouble being annulled or declared to be non-marriages at all in the annulment tribunals of the Catholic Church today!

The Bible God said that compulsion does not invalidate marriage. In Deuteronomy, God said that a single man who had sex with a virgin or raped her must marry her and stay married to her as long as he lives (22:29). It also decreed that he has to pay her father fifty shekels. The price was a fine as well as a moher or dowry and the father was the only person God worried about! The fine should have been paid to the girl and the moher to the father if he needed it. God obviously hated fornication more than inflicting the misery of a compulsory marriage and having no concern for the woman. The man was better off for he could take more wives if he wanted to.

The Bible God also said that marriage is valid without the woman’s consent for it is known that in those days the man said the vows and the woman said nothing (page 138, MARRIAGE Biblical Dictionary and Concordance, New American Bible).

The Bible God also said that marriage is valid when the husband cannot really care about his wife because he supports the status quo that has men only punished if they commit adultery and women punished for every sexual sin (ibid).

The Bible rules out marriages being annulled on the grounds that one or both partners was only a child or too immature. The Virgin Mary’s marriage to Joseph was regarded as valid despite her being underage by today’s standards not even being fifteen! The Bible considers marriages between men and children as valid.

The Bible, in the Gospel of Matthew, has Jesus saying that a man and woman may separate if pornea or uncleanness has taken place. Remarriage is not mentioned. But some say that pornea or uncleanness refers to the man and woman having had sex thinking they were married when they were not. Others say it refers to adultery. If so, the Catholic practice of granting annulments is immoral. An annulment then would only be considered if a man or woman has cheated on the person they thought was their spouse.

It is only because society cannot accept and has not accepted for centuries that such weddings are binding that the Church says they are not. The Church courts false credibility. We read in the Biblical Dictionary and Concordance that God did not violently disrupt the social attitudes and practices of the time but worked on improving things bit by bit so he tolerated the evil laws and ratified them to stop things getting any worse. He didn’t mind violently disrupting the pagans the Hebrews fought with to eliminate homosexuality and idols. That is just an excuse. The Law says the Hebrews were terrified of God so they could have been changed. The Law prescribes a lot of butchering for Hebrews who disobeyed and are we to believe that they wanted that and that that was not shoved on them?



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