IMHO, what we really need to do is change the world, one heart at a time, rather than to try changing the laws. If we change enough hearts, the laws will naturally follow. (Of course, only God can change a person's heart, but He uses us to proclaim the Truth that He will work with to bring about that change.)
The state-licensed marriage system is nothing but a scam, and Dr. Allen has done far more research on that than I have. So I will speak only to the Church's oxymoronic teaching about "marriage."
Traditionally, the Church has, in the past dozen or so decades, taught that a happy couple is "living in sin" unless they have a piece of paper from the State authorizing them to be "married," they have stood before a State-authorized official and said some "shoobie-doos," everyone involved has signed on the proper dotted line, and the piece of paper is filed with the County Clerk.
If you don't do that, but just move in together, the Church teaches that you are "living in sin."
Show me where the Bible says that! In fact, try telling that to Isaac and Rebekah!
The oxymoronic part comes in here...
If the Church buys into the lie that a couple is not "living in sin" if and only if they have permission from the State to be "married," then it follows that any couple who has that permission is not "living in sin."
But no. Even if New York says that Billy-Bob and Brucie are married, the Church says no, they aren't.
But the State says yes, they are. And the happy couple, Billy-Bob and Brucie, have the piece of paper to prove it. All properly signed, witnessed, and filed with the County Clerk.
It's two sides of the same coin! Try going to a store and spending only the "heads" side of a quarter...
The State-licensed marriage system belongs to the world, not the Bible. When deciding on what is or is not sin, we should look to the Bible, not the world's system.
When someone picks and chooses which parts of the Bible to live by, based on their personal desires, the Church accuses them of practicing "smorgasbord Christianity." But apparently, it's OK to pick-and-choose which parts of one specific law will be observed.
What does the Bible say? To summarize it, if both the man and the woman are eligible to enter into a Union, both have the approval of their respective patriarchs (the man might be patriarch of his own family, and the woman might not have a real patriarch in our society and so can make the decision herself,) and if they promise each other and Got to stay together for life, then as soon as they consummate the union, they are One Flesh in a Biblical Covenant Union. For life, not until she burns the toast or he leaves his dirty underwear on the floor. Regardless of what the State or the Church might say.
What God (not the State, not the Church) has joined together, let not man (the State, the Church) put asunder.
Having said all that, and very slightly encroaching on what I said above to be Dr. Allen's territory, there might be some valid, but purely secular, reasons for a couple to get "legally married." That biggest-ever Ponzi scheme, Social Security, might be one reason (especially for those of us approaching retirement age,) and there might also be others. But, of course, if a man has two or more women, only one can be his "legal wife" for those legal secular purposes.
The Church should not care one way or the other if a man and a woman have permission from the Government to be "married." What should matter is what God has said in His Word.
