Posted by
Edmond Long on Monday, November 02, 2009 9:42:01 AM
Someone needs to come to my aid. I no longer know the meaning of marriage or family. For me, as with most people, family has always been understood as a group of persons related to one another by marriage, blood, or adoption. The concept of family has been rooted in the historical definition of marriage: one man and one woman joined in a life-long covenant relationship. Admittedly, variations of these forms of marriage and family can be found in human history (polygamy, various kinds of extended families). Yet, marriage and family has always been tied to the most fundamental element of both: a man and a woman joined in a life-long covenant relationship.
Such is not longer the case. In the U. S. and other western nations, for the most part, marriage now includes homosexual relationships. Further, the concept of family has been so diluted and distorted, any two people living together constitutes, for some, a family.
So, how do we define marriage and family in a defensible way? Upon what basis do we allow some to marry and others not to marry? Why do we grant to two women or two men the right to marry, yet, outlaw an historical form of marriage, polygamy? Why cannot three women and five men marry? Or, a man and his dog?
Someone needs to offer help on this matter to those of us who have accepted the traditional view of marriage. Never in human history has any culture condoned same-sex marriage. Why are we doing so now?
What does marriage mean?