Is Any Type of Marriage Acceptable Today?

            Just over ten years ago numerous states passed laws declaring that marriage is between one man and one woman. There was a great debate in the land. Those on the right were worried that legalizing same-sex marriage would open the flood gates to all kinds of “marriages.” Those on the left declared that no such thing was happening. Today we can see that those barring same-sex marriage were correct in their fears.


            Same-sex relationship advocates began their fight for legal recognition in the early 1970s. They insisted that they just wanted legal rights and benefits afforded to married couples, and some states passed such laws. They were not satisfied with the rights given to them, and they declared that they wanted the right to marry.

As their cries became louder, some states made same-sex marriage legal, and other states passed laws prohibiting same-sex marriage. In September 1996 Congress passed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), a federal law that was signed by President Bill Clinton. The law defined marriage in the eyes of the federal government as the union between one man and one woman, and it allowed states the right to refuse recognition of same-sex marriages performed under the laws of other states. This created a difficult situation, making same-sex couples married if they were in one state and not married if they were in a different state. In June 2013 the U.S. Supreme Court struck down DOMA, and on June 26, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down all state laws banning same-sex marriage. This made same-sex marriage legal in all fifty states.

Less than five years after same-sex marriage became legal nationwide, we see advocates for other types of “marriages” demanding their rights. Peter Hasson at The Heritage Foundation reports that “major media outlets” are in the process of “normalizing non-monogamous relationships. These relationships are known as “consensual non-monogamy.”

One such media outlet interviewed a researcher and a lawyer who are both pro-polyamory. One on-line dictionary defined polyamory as “the practice of engaging in multiple sexual relationships with the consent of all the people involved.” This means that several couples could form a work where the husbands would swap wives for sexual purposes. These types of relationships are sometimes called “open marriages.” 

Polygamy is another kind of relationship being advocated but not quite so openly. I find it interesting that my great-grandparents were persecuted and forced to leave the United States in order to practice polygamy in the mid-1800s. There were no legal laws against polygamy at the time, but Americans were appalled at the thought that men would have more than one wife. They were so upset that laws were passed and signed declaring polygamy to be illegal. One or more of my great-grandfathers went to prison for practicing polygamy.

Now the laws are changing again, and the Supreme Court decision allowing same-sex marriage has opened the floodgates to all kinds of marriages. As these different kinds of relationships become accepted and/or legal, the morals of our nation slide further down the slippery slope of immorality. 

Marriage between one man and one woman has been the norm since the time of Adam and Eve. Societies that encouraged or accepted other types of sexual relationships destroyed themselves or were destroyed. Once mankind chooses to go against the laws of God, they no longer receive His blessings. Even though the courts of the land decree that other types of relationships are “marriages,” the Lord’s law of marriage between one man and one woman has not changed. The new types of “marriages” are simply a continuation of the old acts of fornication and adultery.