law – 11:3 Restoration

Marriage Laws – A Brief Survey of Changes in Modern America

From the colonial period to the second decade of the twenty-first century in the United States of America, marriage has been the subject of legislation and court decisions. Specifically, the question that I am exploring herein is how statutes and court decisions define or permit “who can marry whom?” The following is not intended to be a detailed overview of more than four centuries of history. Undoubtedly, there exist monographs and books written on this topic and the interested reader can search them out. I did a search through DuckDuckGo on “history American marriage laws”, which returned several hits. The first sites, including Wikipedia, contained some information about the changes in American law since the colonial period and several things jumped out at me and that’s what I want to discuss. The reader is warned that this might be “getting into the weeds” somewhat, but the overall trend addressing “who can marry whom?” is what I’m interested in sharing with you.

Marriage Laws – God or Caesar?

When people put forth arguments against the polygyny laws of the Old Testament, one of them is that if there are laws on the books that make polygyny illegal, then even if it’s legal in the Old Testament, it’s not legal in the present day, and the secular law is the controlling authority and should be obeyed.

The “perfect” Torah…

The Torah has never been done away with or even diminished. It stands in perfect fullness today as the revealed path of righteousness that preceeded Creation. Selah.

The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.
Psalms 19:7 NASB

http://bible.com/100/psa.19.7.NASB

Why is the earth judged by fire? (Short)

Scripture is very clear. The EARTH and ALL its inhabitants are judged for breaking Torah. Christendom teaches the earth is judged because of sin. Well, if sin is breaking Torah (1 Jn 3:4), the wise will learn to keep Torah.

Simple.

The will of God in the New Year…

Many want to know the will of God. Like several other places, the psalmist clearly says His will is the Torah. What will you do in the new year?

http://bible.com/100/psa.40.8.NASB

Tales from the Bus. Mercy.

Jackson*, a fourth grade student on my bus, has been a bit of a handful lately. More than a few times in recent weeks I have had to talk to his school principal for various infractions on the bus, from wrestling and punching to using inappropriate language, etc. He is fairly new to the school having moved into the area about eight weeks ago.

Today was a banner day… As one student exited the bus, he related that Jackson had punched him in the gut. Another relayed that Jackson had used the ‘s’ word. I had enough and stopped the bus.

After calling Jackson to the front seat, I moved everyone else back a couple of rows to create a buffer zone and effectively isolate him. He fell right to sleep.

I drove on, dropping students and pondering what to do. I really wanted to drop the hammer on him, but my bus is brand spanking new and no camera has been installed yet. It would be his word against his accusers. He is my last stop each afternoon so I had time to think.

As I rolled away from my next to last stop a still small Voice said, ‘Encourage him.’

‘What?’ Continue reading “Tales from the Bus. Mercy.”