Can You Marry Yourself?

Sadly, in our culture today the answer is yes. In Fargo, North Dakota, a woman married herself. She stated, “I was waiting for someone to come along and make me happy. At some point, a friend said, ‘Why do you need someone to marry you to be happy? Marry yourself.’” In talking about the one-sided nuptials she said, “I’m just a unique, awesome person who doesn’t fit anyone’s mold or idea, and I hope you’re OK with that. And if you’re not, that’s OK, too.”

As I read this woman’s story, it brought to mind this verse: “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25). This reflects our society today that has abandoned the authority of God and His Word and defines “right” as what makes people happy but essentially nothing as wrong.

Over and over in our culture we see marriage being redefined because our society’s starting point is man’s authority and not God’s authority. Even President Obama recently joined the ranks of redefining marriage. He stated, “I’ve been going through an evolution on this issue. . . . At a certain point I’ve just concluded that, for me personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married.”

This clearly shows that evolution causes deterioration and not improvement! President Obama goes on to say,

[Michelle and I are] both practicing Christians. And obviously this position may be considered to put us at odds with the views of others. But, you know, when we think about our faith, the thing at root that we think about is not only Christ sacrificing himself on our behalf, but it’s also the Golden Rule, you know? Treat others the way you would want to be treated. And I think that’s what we try to impart to our kids.

But what about Genesis 1:27–28; 2:24; Matthew 19:4–6; and Romans 1:26-27 that clearly define marriage as between a man and a woman and homosexual behavior as sin? It seems that President Obama wants to impart to his kids that you can ignore certain parts of Scripture and twist others to justify whatever society thinks is good and makes people happy.

Of course, the line of reasoning by both President Obama and the woman who married herself leads to absurdity. Watch Rick Santorum, former presidential candidate, show this very clearly in regard to the issue of marriage during a question-and-answer session at New England College earlier this year.

Santorum showed the audience the absurdity of defining marriage according to man because then there is no objective standard and really anything goes! When we don’t start with God’s Word as the absolute authority, there is no foundation for determining how marriage should be defined. (See “Morality and the Irrationality of an Evolutionary Worldview” for more information).

That is why more than ever we need to call the church back to the authority of God’s Word and equip ourselves and our children to effectively defend the trustworthiness of the Bible. Be sure to check out our new apologetics-based Sunday school curriculum, Answers Bible Curriculum, available this fall. A great way to equip the whole family!

Keep fighting the good fight of the faith!