Discussing
Why Christians shouldn't be so snooty about marriage contracts

Now that I'm slightly less stunned, I'll try to comment.

The idea of a limited term contract seems to make marriage much more like modern employment (with few provisions for the long term well-being of the employee).

I truly don't understand why someone wanting a limited term contract would bother getting married in the first place.

I share your disappointment with the "compromise" of a limited-term marriage arrangement. Because I believe that Genesis, read in light of Ephesians 5, represents the final word on what marriage is (and should be), I find it repugnant at a basic level to consider anything short of a lifetime covenant as the ideal.

Having said that, I must also confess that I can see where a limited-term marriage arrangement makes sense for the state in some cases. I'm one of those unpopular Christians (and a relatively conservative one at that) who resists the argument that the state should legislate the definition of marriage according to Christian standards.

Let me be clear: it's NOT that I think the Christian standard is just one of an array of equally valid concepts of marriage. Quite emphatically, I believe the Bible teaches the one and ONLY legitimate understanding of marriage.

But I think that what the Christian marriage symbolizes must be lived out in Christian community as a witness to a watching world that traditional, lifelong-covenant marriage is the godly way of doing things. It is, contrary to the "natural" order, the way of God's chosen people. It is, in a nutshell, a representation of what God-in-Christ did for us at Calvary. Inasmuch as Christians voluntarily take up this call to live in lifelong covenant commitment to one another in marriage--and do so IN SPITE OF state laws that offer "easier," less frightening alternatives--they make the biblical model for marriage both more attractive and more effective in building stronger families.

That's my two cents, for what it's worth. And speaking of weddings, my sister's getting married today. I guess marriage is just on my brain!