What Is This Document?
“A Marriage Vow: A Declaration of Dependence on Marriage and Family” drafted by Iowa’s Bob Vander Plaats, who heads the IFPC. Basically it has around fourteen bullet points and other revolution era jargon aimed at defending marriage and family.
Why Do You Call It Silly?
Oooo, let me count the ways…for starters, bullet points like this:
Slavery had a disastrous impact on African-American families, yet sadly a child born into slavery in 1860 was more likely to be raised by his mother and father in a two-parent household than was an African-American baby born after the election of the USA‟s first African-American President.
Anytime someone has to bring up slavery to make a point about marriage…they’ve crossed the silly line. His source is invalid since it is widely known that black folks were treated as property back in the day and the colonists were not very good record keepers in regards to marriage and family of their slaves.
Even FoxNews finds this clause a bit silly…
Another Example…
Humane protection of women and the innocent fruit of conjugal intimacy – our next generation of American children – from human trafficking, sexual slavery, seduction into promiscuity, and all forms of pornography and prostitution, infanticide, abortion and other types of coercion or stolen innocence
This statement, in conjunction with others in the document, show that its author, in my humble opinion, goes beyond biblical bounds in regards to women being the weaker sex. It goes beyond the scope of this post, but women even in biblical times held high and respected positions of authority.
Specifically the line “seduction into promiscuity”…sex, unless you are raped, is always a choice, and this line seems to remove all responsibility from the female in the situation.
And really, you are going to ban all forms of porn? I am not pro porn, but trust me it will never ever be banned. It simply is too widespread for that to even be considered a logical possibility…but it is a silly one, that I must say.
More Examples..?
Recognition of the overwhelming statistical evidence that married people enjoy better health, better sex, longer lives, greater financial stability, and that children raised by a mother and a father together experience better learning, less addiction, less legal trouble, and less extramarital pregnancy
ehhh….I know plenty of unmarried folk who have all kinds of the good sexy sex. And I know married folks not havin’ any special bedroom time…
Yes, I do believe that those involved in a healthy marriage which fosters an environment of trust, love, mutual respect and open communication will indeed have better sex, but broad blanket statements and silly phrases like those above nullify any real point the author has.
I am not nor will I ever promote premarital sex, but to say that sin isn’t fun for a season is both denying God’s word and just a bit sil….
(you knew where I was going with it, because if you read the discourse, you are not a silly person)
And let us not forget the silliest line of all…
So help us God.
* NOTE: Or, “solemnly attest”. Each signatory signs only in his or her individual capacity as an American citizen and current or potential leader; affiliations herein are for identification purposes only and do not necessarily imply formal embrace of this vow or the sentiments herein by any institution or organization.
…just in case God might offend someone who would actually read, let alone sign this document…
Soo…Is It Silly?
Honestly, you can read the document for yourself, it is filled with silliness. Once again this goes to prove my point that methods and intent are just as important as the message itself. I do believe marriage is important and I do believe we need to be educating our young people about the mental, emotional and physical perils of premarital sex, porn, and the such.
What we don’t need is a headline hungry, Christian right, power seeking silly person writing silly documents for sillier people to sign so that the silliest people of all will sign their ballots with their silly name on election day.
It’s just silly…and sad.
