The meaning of marriage evolves

Editor's note: This post was inspired by this week's Viewpoints question: What is marriage?

The human consciousness evolves and so, therefore, do relationships.

The whole idea of marriage was to ensure that a couple, man and woman, could procreate and thereby extend the size and power of a particular tribe or even religion. If I remember correctly, in the Orthodox Jewish tradition, the authenticity of being Jewish was set by the mother and marriage was the way in which she and her family were guaranteed support and social standing. This idea was spread throughout the world by the Christian tradition and we just naturally accept it as a given fact. There have been cultures where there have been multiple wives creating an extended family for mutual support and, at times, protection. This still exists in some parts of the world.

Today there are more humans on earth than have lived in all the history of humankind, and yet we still hold to ideas that are thousands of years old and, I believe, outdated. If two people, of legal age, love and honor each other, they should be able to live in marriage.

There is the argument that marriage means only one thing — a man and a woman sharing life. Why is it we should have to change thousands of laws throughout the country to give rights to couples that have sometimes lived together for decades and yet do not have many of the rights of married couples? The meanings of words change all the time reflecting the changing times and usage.

Then there is the idea that this will ruin society and even be the downfall of civilization. I can’t count how many times that argument has been used from pulpits throughout the world to continue all kinds of racism, bigotry, and hate.

If we were to boil down the teachings of Jesus the Christ, most of the New Testament is really the interpretation of others and direction from Paul. These would be:
Love thy neighbor as thyself.
Judge not lest thou be judged.
He without sin cast the first stone.

Nowhere does Jesus teach:
The neighbor has to believe like us.
Judgment is okay if we consider them odd or different.
Their sins are greater than ours so start throwing the boulders.

For this world to continue, we might consider accepting some new ideas and concepts. (Thank God I don’t think and act like I did at 20! It is called evolution of the human being.)