Comments on: Who should we marry? http://www.dougmurren.com/2008/08/08/who-should-we-marry/ Thoughts from the pen of Doug Murren Fri, 10 Sep 2010 07:00:33 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 hourly 1 By: Kevin Bell http://www.dougmurren.com/2008/08/08/who-should-we-marry/comment-page-1/#comment-56233 Kevin Bell Fri, 08 Aug 2008 22:34:50 +0000 http://www.dougmurren.com/2008/08/08/who-should-we-marry/#comment-56233 Doug, I feel pretty smug when the bigshots like Tony and you begin to echo the sentiments that get us little guys (figuratively, not literally as you well know) branded as crackpots. Marriage in principle has never been the realm of the government. Marriage is a covenant between parties and God. I remember I was ripped up one side and down the other a few years back when I agreed to marry an elderly Christian couple without a license. The point being that the governments view of marriage is a legal contract to grant remedy in the event one of the parties defaults on the agreement. Christian marriage is nothing of the kind, where "till death do us part" is the understanding from the beginning and is the expectation of the witnessing community who help both parties to keep their covenant with God. The unintended consequence of the church going down this road is that we relinquish our say in governmental decision making, and like it or not it is the Christian influence that keeps our jurisdictions pointed toward higher morals rather than defaulting to anarchy. Another unintended consequence is that it brings polygamy out of the realm of the cults and it becomes a real issue in the mainstream church. If, for example, marriage is the realm of the church and legal unions are the realm of the state, then what is to prevent the church from starting down the path of sanctifying polygamist unions? I happen to have the unpopular belief that properly observed and applied it could be a good thing in the church and a loving thing, but that is a long discussion. I also think that you are using statistics in a way that does not adequately reflect reality. Jesus said that we were cities set upon hills. The key sense is visual. Witnessing is a visual process more than a verbal/ audio process. When the world isn't seeing anything of value to be drawn toward there is likely an absence of Christian/ Kingdom living rather than an absence of ability to recite the story. Another side point is that the story, His Story, is that Keys to the Kingdom thing we keep talking about. The story is the key that opens the door called believing that leads to a life in another kingdom. I think our use of the Story almost always ends at the opening of the door and fails to lead people through it into Kingdom living. That's just my opinion, Doug.... PS. I am praying about coming back into the FM story. Would you write me a recommendation? Kevin Doug,
I feel pretty smug when the bigshots like Tony and you begin to echo the sentiments that get us little guys (figuratively, not literally as you well know) branded as crackpots. Marriage in principle has never been the realm of the government. Marriage is a covenant between parties and God. I remember I was ripped up one side and down the other a few years back when I agreed to marry an elderly Christian couple without a license. The point being that the governments view of marriage is a legal contract to grant remedy in the event one of the parties defaults on the agreement. Christian marriage is nothing of the kind, where “till death do us part” is the understanding from the beginning and is the expectation of the witnessing community who help both parties to keep their covenant with God.

The unintended consequence of the church going down this road is that we relinquish our say in governmental decision making, and like it or not it is the Christian influence that keeps our jurisdictions pointed toward higher morals rather than defaulting to anarchy.

Another unintended consequence is that it brings polygamy out of the realm of the cults and it becomes a real issue in the mainstream church. If, for example, marriage is the realm of the church and legal unions are the realm of the state, then what is to prevent the church from starting down the path of sanctifying polygamist unions? I happen to have the unpopular belief that properly observed and applied it could be a good thing in the church and a loving thing, but that is a long discussion.

I also think that you are using statistics in a way that does not adequately reflect reality. Jesus said that we were cities set upon hills. The key sense is visual. Witnessing is a visual process more than a verbal/ audio process. When the world isn’t seeing anything of value to be drawn toward there is likely an absence of Christian/ Kingdom living rather than an absence of ability to recite the story.

Another side point is that the story, His Story, is that Keys to the Kingdom thing we keep talking about. The story is the key that opens the door called believing that leads to a life in another kingdom. I think our use of the Story almost always ends at the opening of the door and fails to lead people through it into Kingdom living.

That’s just my opinion, Doug….

PS. I am praying about coming back into the FM story. Would you write me a recommendation?

Kevin

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