Letter: How about a real law on marriage

To the Editor:

Now that millions of dollars have been spent to pass and defeat the marriage amendment, get ready for the next step.

Matthew 19 in the New Testament is cited as the authority for declaring that marriage can only be between one man and one woman even though it doesn’t say “one man; one woman” in Matthew 19. It doesn’t say “one man one woman at a time” or “one woman one man at a time” either.

It does say “Any man who divorces his wife and marries another is committing adultery against his first wife.” In the Old Testament. it says “Thou shalt not commit adultery.”

We have several people in Minnesota that have divorced and married a different person. which is a violation of the words of Jesus in Matthew 19. If, as some people say, the state marriage law which “is a civil contract between a man and a woman” is based on Matthew 19, the law is not being enforced.

The Roman Catholic Church still does not recognize divorce as legitimate but does have a process called annulment, which means the marriage never existed, even if the people have been married for decades and have several children. Church representatives tell us that a marriage is a relationship and that when the relationship ends there is no marriage — even though that is contrary to Matthew 19.

Legislators supporting the marriage amendment should show their support of the words of Jesus in Matthew 19 by introducing legislation barring people in a second marriage from filing a joint tax return while a previous spouse is alive.

My guess is that legislators won’t take action to enforce the law because it could affect their personal lives. It seems that “Judge not least ye be judged.” (Matthew 7:1) which used to mean that you should make sure you are willing to be judged by the same standard of judgment by which you judge others (Matthew 7:2) has turned into “Do as I say, not as I do.”

Having any law or rule in place that is not or cannot be enforced weakens all laws.

Bruce Montplaisir

Altura, Minn.

Tags: opinion, letters