The Internet is buzzing because President Barack Obama has come out in support of marriage equality. Today many Christians are saying that same sex marriage is not Biblical. For those who are claiming to know what a Christian marriage is, have they studied the history of the church and how marriage has evolved over time?

Below are some excerpts from “Introduction to Christian Worship” by James White. This book was used in my Introduction to Cooperate Worship class at Wesley Theological Seminary.

“The New Testament, though it frequently uses wedding imagery, tells us nothing about Christian weddings. We do have an account of the Jewish wedding feast Jesus attended at Cana (John 2:1-11) (White 276)” where Jesus performed one of the first of his miracles.

“Apparently the early church was content to allow local customs to persist. These included the Roman betrothal ceremony in which promises for the future wedding were made and a ring given. The Roman wedding rite contained the joining of hands, sacrifice at the family altar, the wedding banquet with the wedding cake, and marriage bed rites. The ceremony started at the home of the bride and concluded that the new home of the couple. The betrothal vows, joining of hands, and giving of a ring persists in Christian weddings today. The church’s role for many centuries seems to have been limited to influencing Christians to marry Christians (White 277).”

Other pagan rites accumulated into Christian weddings:
• Giving away of the bride
• bridesmaids dresses – used to ward off evil spirits
• wedding veils – used to ward off evil spirits

It wasn’t until this 12th-century that weddings moved to the church door (White 278).
Oh let’s not forget in the Bible women had no rights and marriages were arranged.

The question I posed to my class and to you is, “Who is influencing the way we view marriage, God or society because there are a ton of things in “Christian Weddings/Marriages that simply aren’t Biblical?” Did God give the ok to include pagan rituals in Christian weddings and marriages? I mean common the preachers bless the rings which are pagan symbols not Christian symbols.

Is God changing the hearts of men and women to accept marriage equality?

Works Cited
White, James F. Introduction To Christian Worship. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2000.