5 Reasons Why
Christians Should Not Obtain a State Marriage License
by Rev. 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 (Dt. 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 20 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.
If you would like an audio sermon regarding this
matter, just send a gift of at least five dollars in cash to: Mercy Seat
Christian Church 10240 W. National Ave. PMB #129 Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53227.
Pastor Matt Trewhella is the pastor of Mercy Seat
Christian Church in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and the founder of Missionaries to the
Preborn. He and his wife, Clara, have had four sons and five daughter since the
reversal.
http://www.mercyseat.net/