An article recently came across my desk with an eye-catching title—Look Who’s Happily Unmarried by Rory Evans [1]. The opening sentence reads, “Get your grandma her fan and smelling salts: More and more couples are living in sin.”

The article goes on to state that just over half of the households in America are now led by unmarried people—50.3% to be exact. Also presented is a quote from the executive director of the Alternatives to Marriage Project who says that “these numbers suggest that couples living together can’t be scandalous…It’s hard to scandalize when you’re the majority.”

Does this mean what I think it means? Are half of America’s couples really in long-term “unmarriage”? That’s not entirely accurate. In fact, it’s totally off the mark. According to 2000 U.S. Census data, 5.2% of households identify themselves as living with an unmarried partner, including same-sex couples [2]. If math class has taught me anything, 5.2% is a long way from the majority. This is a ridiculous error! It is irresponsible for a journalist to be using statistics that are skewed such as these. Not to mention the fact that she’s giving coverage to a supposed public interest organization that misrepresents its constituents.

Let me give you an example of how far off base these statistics are. In our office, we have ten employees. Seven of them are married and are a household, together with their spouse. That means that 30% of our households are led by unmarried people. NONE of them are led by unmarried couples.

What are the news media and our friendly reporter trying to accomplish with this? In reading about the Alternatives to Marriage Project, it’s quickly evident that they have no interest in the Christian institution of marriage. Their focus is in bringing the alternatives to marriage, namely same-sex “marriage”, to the forefront. One of the ways they can do this is to make it seem like it’s more prevalent than it is.

It also doesn’t help when Hollywood is the culture that everyone so adores. Ms. Evans brings us their point of view in her quote of Brad Pitt which reads, “Angie (Angelina Jolie) and I will consider tying the knot when everyone else in the country who wants to be married is legally able.”

What these representatives of “modern society” are trying to do is something that’s been done before. In much the same way that early Christians redefined the Passover in an attempt to distance themselves from Judaism, secular society today is trying to redefine God’s institution of marriage to fit their needs and distance themselves from Christians at the same time.

As a Christian, one could say, “What effect does this have on me? Why does it matter to me if other people decide they want to ignore the laws of God?” And one would be right, it doesn’t matter to us. It’s not our position to judge someone else, we need to leave that to God.

However, we do have a right to defend the term, “marriage”. No matter how many people claim it is, this term is not one created by man or defined by society. Unlike some of the cultural problems that we encounter in the Epistles of Paul, marriage is something that doesn’t change in God’s book. It has been there from the beginning. Let’s check Genesis 2:23-24

Then the man said, "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man." Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

It is at this point that God designates His creation, of which there is male and female, to be fitly joined together as one flesh, i.e., marriage.

Lest we forget this, Paul reminds us in the letter to the Hebrews (13:4):

“Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.”

So please, brethren, don’t ignore this very real attack. As much as people in this world want to redefine marriage, don’t allow it. Keep this union of God’s ordination holy, so He can delight in it for generations to come.