Holy Matrimony vs. Marriage

Q and A Holy Matrimony vs. Marriage

Question: Hi, thank you very much for the information. I do have some questions. Since my husband and I got married with a marriage license were we even really married?

Answer: Men and women marry each other. If you and your husband were sincere in your vows before God then you are married in my humble opinion. Some people might call a marriage with a state license a matter of adultery because there is a third party entering into the relationship. This of course was not your intent but done by ignorance or mistake or possibly even deception on the part of others. God is Judge.

The addition of records to the contrary of that original error are created to counter the effect that might be assumed by others.

Many people feel better if they renew their vows in a purer or more pious setting to void in misunderstanding by the state that believes it has a right to enter into the relationship between you and your spouse.

Question: And do we need to get remarried or just get new Holy Matrimony Certificate?

Answer: The certificate requires some witnesses and they should witness the exchange of vows between you we also encourage a marriage contract between spouses. Right to contract is a powerful right given by God. We provide a Marriage contract and instructions [a retro contract for after the fact].1

Question: If we sign these contract through your church are we in any obligation to rules or are we just under God’s holy word?

Answer: The Church provides forms or sample contracts. No obligation to the Church is created by these contracts. The Church is forbidden by Christ to exercise authority. The Church does not stand between you and God but between others and that relationship with God. The Church is only a servant, never a master. See ARTICLE X.2

Question: When we fill out new marriage license and birth certificates, do they make the old ones void or we still have the old certificates, along with the new ones? And if so how does this over ride the old ones?

Answer: Some people send the old ones back and state that we obtain them by mistake. It is a maxim of law that, "It is natural for a thing to be unbound in the same way in which it was bound" (Naturale est quidlibet dissolvi eo modo quo ligatur). If you make a will and wish to change it, you write a new one if all the parties agree. Some may not want to release you. That is where the Church comes in to ask what interest they have in your marriage, bringing in the new contract.3

Question: I wanted to know why we could not just sign our family Bible's marriage and birth certificates with new witnesses that were at the wedding?

Answer: We highly recommend entering this record in your bible. But Christ appointed the Church to serve the congregation of the people and to aid them. The early Christian community did not apply to Rome or Herod for help like social security or other benefits. One was called Quarban by the Romans and Corban by the Jews.4 The same is true of keeping public records.

Question: Why are there two witnesses?

Answer: All things are established as true before witnesses but the nature of what they are establishing is often dependent upon the form of the solemnization. It is the Churches duty and the duty of the congregation of the People to establish that two souls are united in wedlock under God.

Question: Is Holy Matrimony a legal marriage?

Answer: If two parties un-encumbered and free to marry agree to marry before God, openly exchange vows with the intent to marry and do so before witnesses they are legally bound upon consummation of the marriage.

Question: Where did State marriage licenses come from?

Answer: State marriage has been around since the codes of Justinian, Hamarabi and Nimrod. Church marriages have also been around from ancient times. In both cases the individuals are married, bound by contract. Three party State marriages5 have become during the last century but Holy Matrimony has a long and accepted history as a valid marriage.6

Question: Will the State recognize our marriage?

Answer: Civil governments all over the world recognize marriage between the parties if there is verifiable documentation as to the marriage. Different countries have different standards and documentation requirements which they look for. The Church tries to meet these standards or exceed them.

Question: What is the difference between those State marriage and marriage before the Church?

Answer: The Church does not marry the couple, but they marry each other. Cannon laws clearly state in many denominations over the centuries that the Church gains no exercising authority over the marriage. In Civil marriages the states is a party and may gain an additional jurisdiction and control as a dominant party to the agreement to marry depending on the rites7 of that each state.

Question: I was married in a Church. Was that a Church marriage?

Answer: There is a legal distinction between a civil and ecclesiastical marriage. If your minister was performing a civil marriage by the license of the state, both for himself and the couple, then it was not an ecclesiastical ceremony. Since, there is separation of Church and State he can only act as agent for one institution, either civil or Church.

Question: Why do I need Church documents?

Answer: In the eyes of God you do not. But it is important to understand that marriage is not only based on trust, it is a trust. If you do not have a third party standing as overseer different countries or agencies may assume jurisdiction over what has traditionally been a holy and sanctified Domestic Relation, established by God and promoted by the Church.

Question: How does the Church license differ from the governments license?

Answer: License is permission and permission to marry by custom and tradition can only be granted by the family from which you come. The parents or guardians usually grant permission from a Biblical and legal point of view. If the State grants permission this is evidence that the state stands in position of the Father, as In Parentis Loci, and parens patriae.8

Question: What is wrong with a State marriage?

Answer: Performing the ceremony of matrimony has been traditionally done by the Church and for good reason. Marriage by some governments penetrates the sanctity of the Family. It is a grant of additional authority to a central State, a waiver of rights by civil contract. This was opposed by Christ, forbidden by Moses and refused by Paul. It is often a pre-nuptial agreement that gives the state an unequal authority over what has been traditionally God’s venue through the free hearts and minds of the people. The predominance of these authoritarian civil marriages is an aberration.

Question: How do Church documents work to keep my marriage free under God?

Answer: Church documentation works very much the same as any certification without waiving rights. The contracts and licenses and certificates offered by the Church only bear witness to the supremacy of the Family and the intent of the couple. If the family breaks down the Church has no exercising authority. Church documents and testimony may prevent unwarranted usurpations by over zealous agencies of different governments.

Question: Has it been tested under fire?

Answer: The system of Matrimony as we lay it out is based on law, custom, judicial precedent, biblical precepts and an examination of modern laws at all levels in many countries. One real problem comes with children and our greatest concerns is in the event of the death or incapacity of the parents. The state may take the children if there is no a previous arrangement for the placement of the children in accordance with the Family. Holy Matrimony is just one step in that process.9

Question: Is Holy Matrimony only a religious marriage and ceremony?

Answer: Holy Matrimony, as almost all marriages, is both a “religious” and “civil” ceremony.

Question: How is Holy Matrimony also a civil contract?

Answer: The Church is not a civil authority. The Church serves the people in congregation who hold the civil authority, the right of citizens. In God’s plan the People individually hold the imperium10 of the State and are represented by the elders of each family. There is no centralization of charity or any civil power in the hands of a few, in the kingdom if God. Just as an individual or group of individuals may make a citizen’s arrest they may also establish a civil marriage by way of the free congregation of the people. So, yes, Holy Matrimony Solemnized and recorded before a bona fide11 congregation is a civil marriage by, of and for that body of citizens.

Question: Can the government or anyone take our children away because we also have a birth certificate and SSN or is it just with the marriage license?

Answer: The forms and records we offer are in hopes of intervening in the case where families are being violated. Like the Israelites of old each of us by ourselves would be vulnerable to attack from others. We must gather together in free congregations, bound only by faith, hope and charity under the perfect law of liberty. In this union love we become a peculiar people.

The family is God's sacred institution.

Le 25:41 And [then] shall he depart from thee, [both] he and his children with him, and shall return unto his own family, and unto the possession of his fathers shall he return. [see also Le 25:10 ]