Marriage As It Is

Recently Senator John Ensign from Nevada admitted to an affair with one of his employees. Kathryn Jean Lopez of NRO writes about the affair here. I love this point that she makes in the article:

The left-wing blogosphere went mad over the fact that Ensign was on record expressing a desire to protect the institution of marriage. He had written, “Marriage recognizes the ideal of a father and mother living together to raise their children,” in a statement in support of the Federal Marriage Amendment. He continued, “Marriage is the cornerstone on which our society was founded,” a sacred institution predating our Constitution and our government.

A politician’s failings do not render the beliefs to which he subscribes morally impotent. Facts remain. Marriage is a cornerstone. Under a bastardized and unfortunately widespread understanding of hypocrisy, it is “hypocritical” for someone who is not a perfect person to ever make a statement grounded in conscience, morality, or natural law. Presumably, then, all Christians should throw out their Book. The Bible is and always has been directed to sinners. And, save for the star of the show, the preaching comes from sinners, too. Christ warned Peter in Gethsemane, “Watch and pray that you may not undergo the test. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.” In Romans, Paul said: “What I do, I do not understand. For I do not do what I want, but I do what I hate.” Men (and women) believing something and falling short has a long history.

This was a common argument from some people I knew about same sex marriage - how can marriage be so sacred when heterosexual couples have so many failings? I remember seeing What Happens In Vegas in the theaters and the judge, played by Dennis Miller, said that it's not homosexual couples who are ruining marriage, but people like the couple in the film, to which many people in the theater yelled out in approval.

Nobody is pretending that marriage itself is a cure-all for societies ills, but when taken seriously by decent people who really try and make it work, the institution provides the best opportunity for success. It is by no means a guarantee, however. It requires a lot of sacrifice, patience, submission, and determination. Unfortunately, those virtues seem to be in short supply these days. It is because of that reason that marriages often fail, not because marriage as defined between one man and one woman is not the correct principle.