marriage woes the problem with marriage is semantic. the term is overloaded. it means at least two different things. there's a divine marriage and a legal marriage. a divine marriage is god's blessing of a union of two people. as far as i'm concerned a church can define a marriage any way it wants. restricted to man/woman. fine. same race. fine. if you start a church that let's you marry a dog or cow. fine by me. erm i mean a canine and bovine. not an ugly or fat chick. anywho. polygamous divine marriages. stand in it. 51 year old man 13 year old girl. great! though it'd be illegal for them to engage in intercourse. now, on the other hand a legal marriage is a binding contract which gives gives each party certain rights and responsibilities. a person is responsible for their spouse's debts. they are each other's next of kin. they cannot testify against each other in a court of law. they have the married tax status. which makes them eligible for certain tax breaks. and certain tax penalties. basically, in the eyes of the law they are the same person. now obviously a legal marriage must be restricted to people who can actually enter a legally binding contract. that immediately eliminates minors, dogs, cows, and people not of sound mind. most divine marriages are also legal marriages. but not all. i think that's okay. as long as it's clear there's a difference. preferably by using different terms. some divine marriages can become legal marriages. eventually, our aforementioned 13 year old reaches the age of majority. at which point if she doesn't do anything to terminate her divine marriage it becomes a legal marriage. note that my definition of legal marriage allows gays and relatives to enter the marriage contract.  ¶ 8:00 AM