Marriage Is Not A Game

I am sure many of you remember when FOX television network aired a two-hour special entitled "Who Wants To Marry A Multi-Millionaire?" The show involved fifty women from around the country who paraded across the stage in bathing suits while some bozo with a lot of money tried to figure out which one would best satisfy his urges. In the end, a 34-year-old nurse was chosen, and they got married right there on television.

Apparently, many Americans thought it was a romantic fantasy worthy to be envied. According to WORLD magazine (March 4, 2000), FOX enjoyed nearly twenty-three million viewers, most of them being women eighteen to thirty four years old.

Being a man, I am personally insulted that a man would be so foolish as to think that money could buy a marriage. I am also a little confused that women were not offended that a female was used to entice a man into a situation in which sex is the most likely endpoint.

What is wrong with this culture? The family is the basic unit of our society. Marriage is not a game; it is the relationship chosen by God to rear and protect our heritage in honor. Through marriage we learn what true love and commitment involves, and to reduce it down to a sex and money game is to pervert the basic virtues that made us a Christian society.

Well, the couple got married and went on an exotic honeymoon. In the meantime it was bright to light that million-dollar man was under a restraining order for assaulting and threatening a former fiancé. Apparently, rich toy-boy feels like he can do whatever he wants to women without being accountable to anyone. The new bride was shocked and filed for an annulment.

The whole incident was so dumb, but it does show how far we have drifted from our godly roots. Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge Hebrews 13:4. Marriage is not a game show where romance is sold to the highest bidder. Before you get married, you should take enough time to get to know whether or not you are willing to spend a lifetime of commitment with that person. At the very least, find out if they have a jail record. But to marry a total stranger simply because she is beautiful or he is rich is presumptive foolishness.

Have you noticed that modern day television is pathetic? The prime-time viewing schedule is full of sitcoms, which make light of pre-marital sex and treat homosexuality like something normal, even desirable.

It is impossible for our youth to involve themselves in a relationship that will prepare them for marital commitment when all they watch are shows glorifying beauty and money. In a marriage, romantic feelings will not always be high, but love and commitment will keep couples together.

Both men and women have a basic need for love and romance, but marrying a millionaire is not the way to find it. Youth must learn what true love and commitment involves, and to not substitute superficial romance for their real need.

Marriage is not a game, but a God ordained covenant through which God can bless and preserve mankind in the most honorable way possible.