Covenant Marriage.
In the beginning ... God created the heavens and the earth and everything that is in them.
And the final step, the crowning achievement of His creation, was to create the first man and the first woman whom He gave to the man to be his wife and 'soul-mate,' because, as God said:
"It is not good for a man to be alone."
It is extremely important to note that God's masterplan for the universe incorporated a design whereby the only way that mankind could populate and continue to exist on the earth was by a male and a female being joined together in a union of God's very specific design. By God's design, this union would give extraordinary pleasure to both the man and the woman, and it would cause the man and the woman to become, in God's own words: "one flesh." (cf Matthew 19:5)
Furthermore, in Matthew 19:6, God specifically stipulated:
"... and whatever God has put together, let no one separate."
Sadly, an ungodly, rebellious segment of mankind has, in many ways, utterly disregarded God's will and God's Word ... and has contrived and conjured up many, many man-made ideas which distort and dilute and degrade and diminish the sacred institution of marriage. One of the very worst of these distortions is the man-made notion of so-called "no-fault" divorce laws which make it easy for anybody to get a divorce, even without having any reason at all.
Well, God hates divorce, and no man-made laws can ever change that fact.
Counteracting Marriage Terrorism!
At last, after several decades of seeing "easy-divorce" laws facilitate the destruction of countless marriages and families, even destroying many people's basic understanding of right and wrong, a grass-roots movement has sprung up to counteract all of the foolish meddling with God's masterplan.
The remedy is spelled: C o v e n a n t M a r r i a g e.
What is a "Covenant Marriage?"
First and foremost and above all, a "Covenant Marriage" is something born in the hearts and minds of those who hold within themselves a tenacious commitment to remain faithful in their marriage, no matter what it costs and no matter what obstacles or adversity they may face.
A "Covenant Marriage" can be expressed in a simple statement that a husband and a wife makes to themselves, to Almighty God, and to their spouse:
"I will remain faithful to you
and I will stay with you
and I will never leave you nor forsake you,
no matter what obstacles or adversity we may face ..."
The only exceptions to that commitment, and they are entirely reasonable exceptions, are three specific provisions that are spelled out in the Bible.
Click here for a detailed explanation.
Legal recognition in several states.
In 1997, Louisiana became the first state to actually pass a "Covenant Marriage Law." In 1999, Arizona followed suit; and in 2001, Arkansas became the third state to pass a law which legally recognizes "Covenant Marriages." 20 other states now have proposed legislation in various stages of consideration. Since the law merely recognizes citizens' rights to voluntarily choose Covenant Marriage, it is, frankly, incomprehensible that any state would refuse to give their citizens that right.
In states that adopt a Covenant Marriage law, what the law does is simply to allow couples who voluntarily choose to do so, to officially declare a more serious commitment to each other than is the case without embracing the concept of Covenant Marriage.
The provisions of the laws vary slightly from state to state, but essentially a Covenant Marriage law simply gives couples the option to "Just say no" to the tragic concept of "no-fault" easy-divorce which eliminates any protection at all for a spouse who strongly disapproves of divorce.
Covenant Marriage laws stipulate that couples who voluntarily choose that option mutually agree to three things: (1) premarital counselling or instruction, (2) that neither of them will ever seek to divorce the other without a justifiable reason as spelled out in the law, and (3) that they mutually commit themselves in advance to be willing to participate in a period of marriage counselling and to a longer waiting period before a divorce might be sought and/or granted.
It is difficult to imagine how anyone who is serious about marriage would not want to enthusiastically embrace Covenant Marriage.
There are a number of advocacy groups involved in promoting Covenant Marriage. Some have established various guidelines and procedures which they recommend, including a certificate which they encourage couples to sign as a written declaration of their commitment to make theirs a Covenant Marriage. A written declaration along these lines is included in some of the state laws' procedures.
Do a search on the Internet for "Covenant Marriage" and you will find a lot of very worthwhile information, including contact information for various Covenant Marriage advocacy groups.
Following is one example of a Covenant Marriage commitment statement:
OUR COVENANT MARRIAGE COMMITMENT
We hereby acknowledge that we believe that marriage
was designed, intended, and instituted by Almighty God
to be a permanent, never-to-be-broken, covenant relationship
which God intends to bind a husband and wife together
for as long as they both shall live.
Therefore, we hereby vow to God and to each other
and also to our families and our community
to remain steadfast in our love, sexual purity,
and mutual commitment to each other for as long as we both shall live.
Furthermore, we hereby commit ourselves to continually endeavor
to nurture and grow our covenant marriage relationship
throughout all the days of our life together.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ (signatures/date) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
The Covenant Marriage movement certainly is a very positive step in the right direction in the fight against divorce. It should be given serious consideration by both couples preparing for marriage and by already married couples as well.
It is our objective to include additional information and example documents to this segment of the True Love Never Fails website, such as: pre-marriage letters of understanding, pre-marriage wills, living wills and health care power of attorney letters, and other key documents preparation. All who order the True Love Never Fails Guide will be notified when these important segments are added.
Click on any of the Table of Contents titles listed in the left margin
for further information on each topic ... or ...
Click here to order the
True Love Never Fails Guide.
| 
