The institution of marriage declares the goodness of commitment, love, and fidelity. What happens when society stops valuing it?
Recent statistics out of the UK indicate that, for the first time in human history, fewer than half of British adults are married. “It is one of the oldest institutions known to humanity. … Now, more than four millennia later, marriage could be on the verge of dying out.”
Make no mistake: The end of marriage would be a kind of apocalypse. The Greek root of apocalypse means “revelation” or “disclosure,” and the end of marriage would be the revelation of a brave new world.
Some realities are so fundamental to human life and society that a world without them can hardly be pictured, except in nightmarish visions of dystopian novels at the fringes of our imagination. These realities include the mother who cradles her baby in her arms, the friends who keep shadows at bay through laughter and song, and the soldier who takes a bullet to save his comrades.
A world without these simple realities loses an irreplaceable element of the human experience.
Even this scattering of examples falls short of the importance of one reality that forms the pillar of civilization since before civilization even had a name: marriage. That’s when a man and a woman proclaim to one another in front of the community, “I love you and I will stay with you forever.” This fundamental commitment makes all other commitments possible; it’s the contract that undergirds all other contracts.
Marriage brings stability to a society because each man and woman plants the tree of their marriage within the larger community, and in due time it bears fruit. Marriage has long been the means of perpetuating society through giving it new members, who can be raised in stable, loving homes established on the vow of commitment made between husband and wife. If marriage solemnizes love and brings new life into the community, then it’s only because of marriage that the mother holds the baby, the friends sing and rejoice, the soldier lays down his life, and the traveler comes home. It’s the lifeblood of society, its foundation, and its future.
