If you don’t get married, it’s hard to get a divorce

This article If you don’t get married, it’s hard to get a divorce at The Washington Post highlights the very issues I've tried to raise in light of the concept of sacramental marriage recently practiced and promoted by emerging church ecclesiologist Dr. Tony Jones. As I argued before, and this article presents real life examples, that since he knows the fragility of the marriage relationship, the built in legalese of the marriage contract is a big help for the possible break up. Without the legal contract language of marriage, those in sacramental marriages could end up in awful situations like these after 20 years of unwedded bliss...

Luxenberg recalls one client who lived with her partner for 20 years. They’d had a child and built a home together. The woman’s income was about $50,000, Luxenberg says, and her boyfriend’s was “six or seven times that.” When the couple split, the woman hired Luxenberg to see what recourse she had. The answer: not much.

There would be child support, “but she didn’t get any of his pension benefits or any of his profit sharing. And she wasn’t going to get alimony,” Luxenberg says. “I don’t think people think about those kinds of issues.”

Who has the integrity to help someone after you dump them and give them half of your stuff when you don't love them anymore? No one, that's why the law is there to protect the weaker person in the marriage.

Hat tip to and further commentary at the Lutheran blog, Cyberbrethren.

Dr. Jones says his marriage is sacramental until gay marriage is legalized in his state. Hence he believes he is supporting gays while not supporting his "spouse." It's a classic disregard for the individual to support something bigger, which has been used for great evil in the church over it's history.