Marriage: Faithfulness Matters

Amidst the debate over Same Sex Marriage - one that has featured on this blog fairly heavily of late - its great to see real discussion over what marriage is and how it can be defended. By defended, I don't mean in a changing the definition way - today's post is not about that - but instead about marriages that already exist.


I recently blogged on 'The Meaning of Marriage', after reading Tim and Kathy Keller's book of the same name, and so I'm trying to articulate in a positive way what I believe marriage to be. I was encouraged to read in a recent issue of Catalyst - the magazine of Christian charity Care - about the 'Faithfulness Matters' campaign. This campaign - website here - is a worthwhile one, aiming to challenge a rather unpleasant trend amongst dating websites. This trend is for websites that encourage married people to have affairs. This is a real attack on marriage - taking it so lightly that adultery is desired. This is something that people who have a genuine interest in marriage should get behind, should support. It's good to see Christians taking the lead on this sort of thing - and challenging some of the nastier expressions of internet capitalism.


One thing I like particularly about this campaign is the statement behind it, which can be found here. I quote here, and enthusiastically so, Care Executive Chairman Lyndon Bowring's observation: 

"It is clear that there is an urgent need to affirm and strengthen marriage in our society"

Absolutely.


It's why I was encouraged to see partial government funding on the back of the "Marriage Preparation Course" booklet I and my fiancee worked our way through at Church recently. Marriage should be taken seriously - it is a profound mystery, as Paul wrote in Ephesians, and its essential for society.


In a climate where marriage is often said to be 'under threat', Christians need to be careful not to focus too much on the redefinition of marriage - which is a big issue - and remember the marriages already in existence and under threat from those who would exploit adultery for financial gain. We need to demonstrate what some statistics show - that Christians CAN do marriage better - as I blogged a while ago. We need to confidently articulate with Grace what marriage is - and jump on board initiatives such as "Faithfulness Matters", and offer marriage preparation courses to all who are engaged. Marriage is a serious commitment, a serious thing - it needs thinking about!


EDIT: I've just been informed about an Early Day Motion in Parliament about this - will be interesting to see how it pans out, and probably worth praying for! Info here.