For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.
Isaiah 62:5
What does it mean to attend a wedding?
Have you ever read a wedding invitation? They are all different in some ways, but pretty much all of them say something on the order of ‘Join us in celebrating’. So, when you attend a wedding you might be doing lots of things. You might want to meet, or at least see, the bride or the groom, since you don’t know them. You might want to pig out at the reception, or talk to Uncle George who you haven’t seen in ten years.
But one thing you will be at least seen as doing is ‘celebrating’. Your attendance is a form of celebrating, rejoicing in, and congratulating the ‘happy couple’. Now, I can’t really figure out what makes them ‘happy’ nowadays. I mean, I used to know. The wedding night and all, and then living together (see ‘wedding night’) and having kids and all. But since everyone sleeps together for a few months (at least) before the wedding nowadays, and will be on birth control for the first few years… what is particularly happy.
Well, leave that aside. My point here is that if you go to a wedding, you aren’t protesting, you aren’t disapproving. You are approving, you are celebrating, you are rejoicing, you are calling them a ‘happy couple’ and enjoying their first kiss (with the hope of many more to come). That is the first and most obvious reason why a Christian cannot attend a modern perverted event that goes under the name ‘wedding’.
Rom 3:8 And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come? whose damnation is just.
Shall we do Evil?
Understand, then, that it would have healed her; but not to your joy or hers. The day would have come when both you and she would have looked back and said it would have been better to die in that illness.
CS Lewis, The Magician’s Nephew
Suppose that you were presented with a choice: deny Christ and live, or claim Him and die. Not a hyperbole, historically speaking. Could you not argue that, if you were to live you could, after the current crisis passed, preach the gospel? Peter denied Christ and went on to be someone pretty important in the church! Surely God wouldn’t mind if…
Well, yes, God would mind. But the premise itself is false. There is never a choice given us to ‘do evil that good may result’. All that results from evil is evil. The good that comes does not come from the evil, but from God.
Symbolism
God is really big on symbolism. One of the most important symbols in the scriptures is that of marriage. When we pervert marriage in anyway we bring open blasphemy against our Lord, His Word, and His Works.
What is it that marriage symbolises? Let us give a brief list:
Reproduction/Fruitfulness
And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
Genesis 1:28
And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
Genesis 2:22-25
And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.
Genesis 9:1
A Song of degrees for Solomon. Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh butin vain.
It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.
Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so arechildren of the youth.
Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.
A Song of degrees. Blessed is every one that feareth the LORD; that walketh in his ways.
For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee.
Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table.
Behold, that thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the LORD.
The LORD shall bless thee out of Zion: and thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy life.
Yea, thou shalt see thy children's children, andpeace upon Israel.
Psalm 127-128
Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the LORD hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant.
And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.
Malachi 2:14-15
Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.
I Timothy 2:15
That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,
To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.
Titus 2:4-5
Creation/God’s Divine Design
And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
Genesis 1:28
And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
Genesis 2:22-25
Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the LORD hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant.
And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.
Malachi 2:14-15
And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,
And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?
Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
Matthew 19:4-6
Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
Romans 1:24-27
Authority/Submission
And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
Genesis 1:28
Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing
Ephesians 5:22-24
That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,
To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.
Titus 2:4-5
Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives;
While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear.
Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;
But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.
For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands:
Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement.
I Peter 3:1-6
But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.
I Corinthians 11:3
Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law.
And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.
I Corinthians 14:34-35
God and Israel
For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.
Isaiah 62:5
Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more.
For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called.
For the LORD hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God.
Isaiah 54:4-6
They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man's, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the LORD.
Jeremiah 3:1
Christ and the church
To the chief Musician upon Shoshannim, for the sons of Korah, Maschil, A Song of loves. My heart is inditing a good matter: I speak of the things which I have made touching the king: my tongue is the pen of a ready writer.
Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into thy lips: therefore God hath blessed thee for ever.
Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty.
And in thy majesty ride prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness; and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things.
Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the king's enemies; whereby the people fall under thee.
Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre.
Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, andcassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad.
Kings' daughters were among thy honourable women: upon thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir.
Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father's house;
So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty: for he is thy Lord; and worship thou him.
And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift; even the rich among the people shall intreat thy favour.
The king's daughter is all glorious within: her clothing is of wrought gold.
She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework: the virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto thee.
With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought: they shall enter into the king's palace.
Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth.
I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations: therefore shall the people praise thee for ever and ever.
Psalm 45
Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.
Ephesians 5:22-28
For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
II Corinthians 11:2
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
Revelations 21:1-2
Every Reason to go
Does your grandson understand that your belief in Jesus makes it such that you can’t countenance in any affirming way the choices that he has made in life… [Well, then] your absence [from his ‘wedding’] will simply reinforce the fact that they said, ‘These people are what I always thought: judgmental, critical, unprepared to countenance anything.’
Alistair Begg
Every reason to go to a perverted ‘wedding’ is a reason, even more so, not to go. Let us examine the last word in this quote. The word ‘anything’. Not going will, indeed, reinforce that view… but what is the ‘anything’? I am reminded of the whiny child who says to his parents, “You don’t let me do… anything.”
What is there that we do not, indeed cannot, countenance? That we must not do?
Calling it a ‘wedding’. It is not a wedding. It is a perversion and an abomination.
Sodomy. The underlying act is an abomination
If you have made your disapproval clear enough, then your lack of attendance will not be confusing. It will be confirming. It will underline, in red, everything that you have said to him over the years.
What two males do can be called many things. What it is not called, nor can it be called, is a marriage. There are a few more direct blasphemies against the symbolism of the person and work of Jesus Christ then male-on-male ‘marriage’.
There is no middle ground here, there is no way and no time to be what the world would call to nice, polite, or kind. Our reaction the blasphemy that is ‘gay marriage’ needs to be similar in weight to Christ reaction to the moneychangers.
Which I suppose is the only reason left to go. If you bring a whip.
Rom 12:9 Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.
Introduction/conclusion
This post is written in response to an exchange I had on
substack. In it he said, and I recommend that you read his post, that there was no serious issue of orthodoxy in the advice that Alister Begg gave to some poor grandmother who was invited to attend her grandson's perversion of a ‘wedding’. You should read the entire controversy see, for example, Doug Wilson's response. Quick summary is that he advised her to attend, since ‘your grandson already knows you disapprove’. And then, after a bunch of flack, Mr Begg doubled down on his advice.I disagreed and said so in the comments. We had a brief exchange but my disagreement was far too profound for a comment thread and thus this post. Attending a perverted ‘wedding’, of whatever type, is not only a failure of orthopraxy, it is a massive failure of orthodoxy. In your attendance, you speak. And what you say, is false.
What do you say?
I am here to celebrate… when I should be mourning
There is something to celebrate here… when there is something that brings God’s Judgement
I am here to witness… that which should be neither seen nor heard in the land
Thank you for reading Von’s Substack. I would love it if you commented! I love hearing from readers, especially critical comments. I would love to start more letter exchanges, so if there’s a subject you’re interested in, get writing and tag me!
Being ‘restacked’ and mentioned in ‘notes’ is very important for lesser-known stacks so… feel free! I’m semi-retired and write as a ministry (and for fun) so you don’t need to feel guilty you aren’t paying for anything, but if you enjoy my writing (even if you dramatically disagree with it), then restack, please! Or mention me in one of your own posts.
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Thanks again, God Bless, Soli Deo gloria,
Von
Links
Alistair Begg Sparks Controversy for Encouraging Grandma to Attend Transgender Wedding
Alistair Beggs the Question
Marriage Discussion
I write a lot on the subject of marriage, and one of the most important threads has been a letter exchange with
. Our question in that thread was ‘What Is Marriage?”.Ryan Shortalso contributed.