{"id":27483,"date":"2020-11-13T16:34:58","date_gmt":"2020-11-13T22:34:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=27483"},"modified":"2020-11-13T16:34:58","modified_gmt":"2020-11-13T22:34:58","slug":"can-6-year-olds-form-a-marriage-covenant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-6-year-olds-form-a-marriage-covenant\/","title":{"rendered":"Can 6-year-olds form a marriage covenant?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<h2>Question:<\/h2>\n<p>If God takes every word I say into judgment &#8230; This is going to seem silly but when I was around 6 years old I got &#8220;married&#8221; to a boy on the playground. As a kid I took it as seriously as a 6-year-old could, I suppose. I know it shouldn&#8217;t make a marriage covenant but would us being in front of friends at that age and agreeing to make a covenant? It&#8217;s probably the silliest thing I&#8217;ve thought of in a <b>long <\/b>time. But I&#8217;m due to get married and I&#8217;ll admit after seeing <b>tons <\/b>of videos on divorce and remarriage, my anxiety spiked and came back to this childhood ceremony.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you, minister.<\/p>\n\t<h2>Answer:<\/h2>\n<p>In secular law, we recognize that people have to mature to a certain point before they are allowed to make binding contracts or enter into a marriage. In the Bible, children were not held responsible for the decisions of their parents because they did not possess a knowledge of good and evil (Deuteronomy 1:39). It is then this lack of accountability that caused provisions in the law to have parents oversee the decisions of their children. For example, vows made by children could be overridden by parents. &#8220;<em>Also if a woman makes a vow to the LORD, and binds herself by an obligation in her father&#8217;s house in her youth, and her father hears her vow and her obligation by which she has bound herself, and her father says nothing to her, then all her vows shall stand and every obligation by which she has bound herself shall stand. But if her father should forbid her on the day he hears of it, none of her vows or her obligations by which she has bound herself shall stand; and the LORD will forgive her because her father had forbidden her<\/em>&#8221; (Numbers 30:3-5). By the way, this is where we get the tradition that a man is to ask the woman&#8217;s father for permission to marry her.<\/p>\n<p>You pretended to marry someone when you were 6 years old. It was another game, just like many of the other games you played when you were young. But that game did not form a true covenant.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Question: If God takes every word I say into judgment &#8230; This is going to seem silly but when I was around 6 years old I got &#8220;married&#8221; to a boy on the playground. As a kid I took it as seriously as a 6-year-old could, I suppose. I know it shouldn&#8217;t make a marriage&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[434,489],"class_list":["post-27483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-age-of-accountability","tag-covenants"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":19260,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-is-a-marriage-covenant-broken\/","url_meta":{"origin":27483,"position":0},"title":"When is a marriage covenant broken?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 29, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: When is the marriage covenant broken? When a married person actually commits the sexual act outside of marriage or when his spouse divorces him? Answer: Covenants are vows that last for the lifetime of the parties entering into the covenant. \"For the married woman is bound by law to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":30722,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/we-prayed-together-and-made-vows-to-god-but-our-wedding-is-not-until-next-year-are-we-committing-fornication-as-we-have-sex\/","url_meta":{"origin":27483,"position":1},"title":"We prayed together and made vows to God, but our wedding is not until next year. Are we committing fornication as we have sex?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 23, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I would like to ask you a question: I have read\u00a0your responses\u00a0to other people. I\u00a0am in a relationship. Both of us are Christians and we love God. We prayed together and vowed to God about our lives for our marriage. We are preparing for our wedding next year. We\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20146,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/weve-been-living-together-for-five-years-and-dont-need-a-paper-to-prove-our-love-but-i-want-to-make-it-right-with-god-what-should-i-do\/","url_meta":{"origin":27483,"position":2},"title":"We&#8217;ve been living together for five years and don&#8217;t need a paper to prove our love, but I want to make it right with God. What should I do?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 12, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My boyfriend and I have been together for almost 7 years. We have lived together for 5. We are not ready for marriage. He and I think we don't need a piece of paper to prove our love, but I want to make it right with God. Is there\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":42599,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-adultery-to-marry-a-guy-who-has-a-child-but-was-never-married\/","url_meta":{"origin":27483,"position":3},"title":"Is it adultery to marry a guy who has a child but was never married?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 20, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I am talking to a guy who has never been married but is a single father, having a child from a previous relationship. Would it be considered the sin of adultery if I were to ever marry him? I ask because the Scriptures talk about two joining together\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17392,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-god-allow-common-law-marriages\/","url_meta":{"origin":27483,"position":4},"title":"Does God allow common-law marriages?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 26, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I am a newborn Christian, baptized into Christ two years ago. I would like to ask: because fornication is a big deal for God, at what point is it considered marriage in the Bible? Forgive me please if I'm wrong, but it seems the Bible does not talk\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":45386,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-the-biblical-definition-of-marriage\/","url_meta":{"origin":27483,"position":5},"title":"What is the biblical definition of marriage?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 28, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What is the biblical definition of marriage according to both the Old and New Testaments? Answer: Marriage is a special covenant entered into between a man and a woman for the purpose of establishing a new family. \"For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27483\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}