5 Reasons Why Christians Should
Not Obtain a State
Marriage License by Matthew Trewhella
Every
year thousands of Christians amble down to their local
county courthouse and obtain a marriage license from the
State in order to marry their future spouse. They do this
unquestioningly. They do it because their pastor has told
them to go get one, and besides, "everybody else
gets one." This pamphlet attempts to answer the
question - why should we not get one?
1.
The definition of a "license" demands that we
not obtain one to marry. Black’s Law Dictionary
defines "license" as, "The permission
by competent authority to do an act which without such
permission, would be illegal." We need to ask
ourselves- why should it be illegal to marry without the
State’s permission? More importantly, why should we
need the State’s permission to participate in
something which God instituted (Gen. 2:18-24)? We should not
need the State’s permission to marry nor should we
grovel before state officials to seek it. What if you
apply and the State says "no"? You must
understand that the authority to license implies the
power to prohibit. A license by definition "confers
a right" to do something. The State cannot grant the
right to marry. It is a God-given right.
2.
When you marry with a marriage license, you grant the
State jurisdiction over your marriage. When you marry
with a marriage license, your marriage is a creature of
the State. It is a corporation of the State! Therefore,
they have jurisdiction over your marriage including the
fruit of your marriage. What is the fruit of your
marriage? Your children and every piece of property you
own. There is plenty of case law in American
jurisprudence which declares this to be true.
In 1993, parents were upset here in Wisconsin because a
test was being administered to their children in the
government schools which was very invasive of the
family’s privacy. When parents complained, they were
shocked by the school bureaucrats who informed them that
their children were required to take the test by law and
that they would have to take the test because they
(the government school) had jurisdiction over their
children. When parents asked the bureaucrats what gave
them jurisdiction, the bureaucrats answered, "your
marriage license and their birth certificates."
Judicially, and in increasing fashion, practically, your
state marriage license has far-reaching implications.
3.
When you marry with a marriage license, you place
yourself under a body of law which is immoral. By obtaining a
marriage license, you place yourself under the
jurisdiction of Family Court which is governed by
unbiblical and immoral laws. Under these laws, you can
divorce for any reason. Often, the courts side with
the spouse who is in rebellion to God, and castigates the
spouse who remains faithful by ordering him or her not to
speak about the Bible or other matters of faith when
present with the children.
As a minister, I cannot in good conscience perform a
marriage which would place people under this immoral body
of laws. I also cannot marry someone with a marriage
license because to do so I have to act as an agent of the
State! I would have to sign the marriage license, and I
would have to mail it into the State. Given the
State’s demand to usurp the place of God and family
regarding marriage, and given it’s unbiblical,
immoral laws to govern marriage, it would be an act of
treason for me to do so.
4.
The marriage license invades and removes God-given
parental authority. When you read the Bible, you see
that God intended for children to have their
father’s blessing regarding whom they married.
Daughters were to be given in marriage by their fathers (Deut. 22:16; Ex.
22:17; I Cor. 7:38). We have a vestige of this in our
culture today in that the father takes his daughter to
the front of the altar and the minister asks, "Who
gives this woman to be married to this man?"
Historically, there was no requirement to obtain a
marriage license in colonial America. When you read the
laws of the colonies and then the states, you see only
two requirements for marriage. First, you had to obtain
your parents permission to marry, and second, you had to
post public notice of the marriage 5-15 days before the
ceremony.
Notice you had to obtain your parents permission.
Back then you saw godly government displayed in that the
State recognized the parents authority by demanding that
the parents permission be obtained. Today, the
all-encompassing ungodly State demands that their
permission be obtained to marry.
By issuing marriage licenses, the State is saying,
"You don’t need your parents permission, you
need our permission." If parents are
opposed to their child’s marrying a certain person
and refuse to give their permission, the child can do an
end run around the parents authority by obtaining the
State’s permission, and marry anyway. This is an
invasion and removal of God-given parental authority by
the State.
5.
When you marry with a marriage license, you are like a
polygamist. From the State’s point of view, when
you marry with a marriage license, you are not just
marrying your spouse, but you are also marrying the
State.
The most blatant declaration of this fact that I have
ever found is a brochure entitled "With This Ring I
Thee Wed." It is found in county courthouses across
Ohio where people go to obtain their marriage licenses.
It is published by the Ohio State Bar Association. The
opening paragraph under the subtitle "Marriage
Vows" states, "Actually, when you repeat
your marriage vows you enter into a legal contract. There
are three parties to that contract. 1.You; 2. Your
husband or wife, as the case may be; and 3. the State of
Ohio."
See, the State and the lawyers know that when you marry
with a marriage license, you are not just marrying your
spouse, you are marrying the State! You are like a
polygamist! You are not just making a vow to your spouse,
but you are making a vow to the State and your spouse.
You are also giving undue jurisdiction to the State.
When Does the State Have
Jurisdiction Over a Marriage?
God intended the State to have jurisdiction over a
marriage for two reasons -
1). in the case of divorce, and
2). when crimes are committed i.e.,
adultery, bigamy. etc.
Unfortunately, the State now allows
divorce for any reason, and it does not prosecute for
adultery.
In either case, divorce or crime, a marriage license is not
necessary for the courts to determine whether a marriage
existed or not. What is needed are witnesses. This is why
you have a best man and a maid of honor. They should sign
the marriage certificate in your family Bible, and the
wedding day guest book should be kept
Marriage was instituted by God, therefore it is a
God-given right. According to Scripture, it is to be
governed by the family, and the State only has
jurisdiction in the cases of divorce or crime.
History of Marriage Licenses
in America
George Washington was married without a marriage
license. So, how did we come to this place in America
where marriage licenses are issued?
Historically, all the states in America had laws
outlawing the marriage of blacks and whites. In the
mid-1800’s, certain states began allowing
interracial marriages or miscegenation as long as those
marrying received a license from the state. In other
words they had to receive permission to do an act
which without such permission would have been illegal.
Blacks Law Dictionary points to this historical fact when
it defines "marriage license" as, "A
license or permission granted by public authority to
persons who intend to intermarry."
"Intermarry" is defined in Black’s Law
Dictionary as, "Miscegenation; mixed or
interracial marriages."
Give the State an inch and they will take a 100 miles (or
as one elderly woman once said to me "10,000
miles.") Not long after these licenses were issued,
some states began requiring all people who marry
to obtain a marriage license. In 1923, the Federal
Government established the Uniform Marriage and Marriage
License Act (they later established the Uniform Marriage
and Divorce Act). By 1929, every state in the Union had
adopted marriage license laws.
What
Should We Do?
Christian couples should not
be marrying with State marriage licenses, nor should
ministers be marrying people with State marriage
licenses. Some have said to me, "If someone is
married without a marriage license, then they aren’t
really married." Given the fact that states may soon
legalize same-sex marriages, we need to ask ourselves,
"If a man and a man marry with a State
marriage license, and a man and woman marry without
a State marriage license - who’s really married? Is
it the two men with a marriage license, or the man and
woman without a marriage license? In reality, this
contention that people are not really married unless they
obtain a marriage license simply reveals how Statist we
are in our thinking. We need to think biblically. (As for
homosexuals marrying, outlaw sodomy as God's law demands,
and there will be no threat of sodomites marrying.)
You should not have to obtain a license from the State to
marry someone anymore than you should have to obtain a
license from the State to be a parent, which some in
academic and legislative circles are currently pushing to
be made law.
When I marry a couple, I always buy them a Family Bible
which contains birth and death records, and a marriage
certificate. We record the marriage in the Family Bible.
What’s recorded in a Family Bible will stand up as
legal evidence in any court of law in America. Early
Americans were married without a marriage license. They
simply recorded their marriages in their Family Bibles.
So should we.
(Pastor Trewhella has been marrying couples without
marriage licenses for ten years. Many other pastors also
refuse to marry couples with State marriage licenses.)
This pamphlet is not comprehensive in scope. Rather, the
purpose of this pamphlet is to make you think and give
you a starting point to do further study of your own.
[Matthew Trewhella is the Pastor of
Mercy Seat Christian Church in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin]
