How Marriage Can Survive the 21 Century

My panel will discuss Marriage in the 21st century. I comes in all shapes, sizes, colors and flavors. But it wasn’t always so. Just as our societies are undergoing a general transformation, so people’s ideas about marriage are being reshaped, leaving them wondering what type of union will survive.

Many have come to the view that fundamental aspects of our society are deficient and need improvement. Marriage, long considered a building block of society, has understandably been caught up in this desire for change. But in the quest to reshape and improve marriage, are people becoming more enlightened or are they reinventing a very old wheel?

Before we overturn long-established ideas about marriage, we need to understand the transformations that have already taken place. From a historical perspective, many of our defining beliefs concerning this ancient institution are rooted in traditional Christianity. Unfortunately, the institutionalized churches have largely forgotten their own roots, often placing tradition and philosophy above the authority of the Scriptures they call holy. The institution of marriage has suffered substantially from this approach.