Can a couple get married by simply taking a personal vow between them and God?<\/a>” for additional details.<\/p>\nBasically, you are taking your intentions for getting married at a wedding in the future as being enough to make you husband and wife. Intentions do not make it a reality. On some level, you understand this. You are trying to avoid having children until after the wedding. Thus you show that you understand that you are not truly husband and wife at this time.<\/p>\n
Until you are formally married by making a covenant of marriage before witnesses (i.e. a wedding), you are only pretending to be married. Therefore, you are committing fornication at this time.<\/p>\n
Most countries have a way to form a civil marriage by making vows before a government official or a preacher with a few witnesses. In most places, you can be formally married within a few days. Make your marriage real and then you can celebrate it with your friends next year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: I would like to ask you a question: I have read your responses to other people. I am 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 do have safe sex together.…<\/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_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[1572,64],"class_list":["post-30722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-fornication","tag-marriage"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":49282,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-true-that-a-couple-who-commits-fornication-cannot-get-married\/","url_meta":{"origin":30722,"position":0},"title":"Is it true that a couple who commits fornication cannot get married?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 13, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have had sex with the girl I proposed to marry. Now we are very close to our wedding. Her pastor became aware that we have had sex by virtue of her confession. She was told that I am not her husband and as such, can not get married\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":52663,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/we-are-having-a-really-hard-time-not-having-sex-before-our-wedding\/","url_meta":{"origin":30722,"position":1},"title":"We are having a really hard time not having sex before our wedding","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 15, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I have a question concerning sex before marriage. My fianc\u00e9 and I are getting married in about four months, and we are having a really hard time with not having sex. Here's why we are struggling so much. We are so ready to commit fully to each other\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":53491,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-boyfriend-is-pushing-to-have-sex\/","url_meta":{"origin":30722,"position":2},"title":"My boyfriend is pushing to have sex","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 16, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day, Please, I have something bothering me about my relationship. I have been dating my spouse for a year and a half now, but he has been asking for sex recently, and I don't wish to engage in such activities. For now, we can't afford money for our\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":43578,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-all-right-to-stay-living-with-someone-until-we-get-married\/","url_meta":{"origin":30722,"position":3},"title":"Is it all right to stay living with someone until we get married?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 25, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Okay so on the subject of living together before marriage: I chose this before I knew God. Now, I am stuck in this situation. I have repented for having premarital sex. My boyfriend and I will be getting married soon. Will I go to hell if I die? I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32684,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/due-to-circumstances-we-never-had-sex-after-our-wedding-does-this-mean-we-are-not-married\/","url_meta":{"origin":30722,"position":4},"title":"Due to circumstances we never had sex after our wedding. Does this mean we are not married?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 27, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: After our wedding ceremony, we did not have had a chance to have sexual intercourse during our honeymoon due to some circumstances that could not be avoided. Also, we only had less than a week to be together during our honeymoon because he needed to go back home right\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39516,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-fornication-and-other-sexual-sins-cause-damage-later-in-marriage\/","url_meta":{"origin":30722,"position":5},"title":"Do fornication and other sexual sins cause damage later in marriage?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 29, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Do fornication and other sexual sins cause damage later in marriage? My girlfriend and I have grown up in Christian families, but we haven't followed our parents' teachings, and we ended up in sinful relationships. I had a long-term relationship with a girl and we have had sex. My\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","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\/30722","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=30722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30722\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}