{"id":744,"date":"2021-10-20T14:55:56","date_gmt":"2021-10-20T14:55:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mbcclc.org\/?page_id=744"},"modified":"2021-10-20T14:59:33","modified_gmt":"2021-10-20T14:59:33","slug":"marriage","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/mbcclc.org\/marriage","title":{"rendered":"Marriage"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The Bible clearly teaches the enduring truth that marriage consists of one man and one woman. From Genesis to Revelation, the authority of Scripture witnesses to the nature of biblical marriage as uniquely bound to the complementarity of man and woman. This truth is not negotiable. Jesus Himself said that marriage is defined this way from the beginning (Matt. 19:4-6), so no human institution has the authority to redefine marriage any more than a human institution has the authority to redefine the gospel. Marriage is a precious gift from God, so He alone defines and regulates marriage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In spite of changing cultural and legal interpretations about marriage, churches must be faithful to the biblical witness and definition of marriage. From its earliest beginnings, whether on the margins of society or in a place of influence, the church is defined by the gospel. The gospel brings good news to all people, regardless of whether the culture considers the news good or not. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>The gospel directs our approach to public witness. God offers reconciliation through the life, death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus, as the gospel clearly proclaims. Because of that good news we commit to:<\/li><li>Respect and pray for our governing authorities even as we work through the democratic process<br>to rebuild a culture of marriage (Rom. 13:1-7);<\/li><li>Teach the truth about biblical marriage in a way that brings healing to a sexually broken culture;<\/li><li>Affirm the biblical mandate that all persons are created in the image of God and deserve dignity<br>and respect;<\/li><li>Love our neighbors regardless of whatever disagreements arise as a result of conflicting beliefs<br>about marriage;<\/li><li>Live respectfully and civilly alongside those who may disagree with us for the sake of the<br>common good;<\/li><li>Cultivate a common culture of religious liberty that allows the freedom to live and believe<br>differently to prosper.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>God has clearly ordained marriage as the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime. It is God\u2019s unique gift to reveal the union between Christ and His church and to provide for the man and the woman in marriage the framework for intimate companionship, the means of sexual expression according to biblical standards, and the means for the continuation of the human race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Husbands and wives are of equal worth before God, since both are created in God\u2019s image. A husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the church. He is to provide for, to protect and to lead his family. A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ. She is to respect her husband and to serve as his helper in managing the home and nurturing the next generation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Bible clearly teaches the enduring truth that marriage consists of one man and one woman. From Genesis to Revelation, the authority of Scripture witnesses to the nature of biblical marriage as uniquely bound to the complementarity of man and woman. This truth is not negotiable. Jesus Himself said that marriage is defined this way [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbcclc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/744"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbcclc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbcclc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbcclc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbcclc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=744"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mbcclc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/744\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":748,"href":"https:\/\/mbcclc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/744\/revisions\/748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbcclc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}