Hi,<\/p>\n
I can’t even believe I am asking this, but I’ve been anxious about doing the right thing lately and have been reading your page a lot. When my husband was a child, his parents held a joke wedding ceremony between him and another little girl. They were no more than 5 or 6 years old. I only know about this because I saw pictures. I don’t think anyone considered this a real wedding ceremony, and I don’t know what kind of “vows” were exchanged. Due to the age of the children, and the fact that this was considered a joke, can I be assured that this “marriage” was not valid in the eyes of God?<\/p>\n\t
The children were not of an age to be able to enter into a covenant. They are not old enough to know what they are committing to, so cannot enter a vow. This is one reason minors in most countries cannot enter into a contract.<\/p>\n
A real wedding ceremony would have violated the laws of the country because they were below the legal age, and Christians are to obey those laws when they are not in conflict with God’s laws (Romans 13:1-2). Therefore another aspect of covenants, a witnessed record of the event, could not have taken place.<\/p>\n
However you look at it, no marriage took place.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Hi, I can’t even believe I am asking this, but I’ve been anxious about doing the right thing lately and have been reading your page a lot. When my husband was a child, his parents held a joke wedding ceremony between him and another little girl. They were no more than 5 or 6…<\/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,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[825,64,648],"class_list":["post-40006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-convenants","tag-marriage","tag-promises"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":20966,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-do-we-do-our-wedding-was-delayed\/","url_meta":{"origin":40006,"position":0},"title":"What do we do? Our wedding was delayed","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 18, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a question about getting married. My fianc\u00e9 and I have been engaged for two years now. We have finally gone down to the courthouse, have filled out an application, and have obtained our marriage license. We had an appointment with the Justice of the Peace today. 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":27894,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-promises-the-same-as-marriage-covenant\/","url_meta":{"origin":40006,"position":1},"title":"Are promises the same as marriage covenant?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 21, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear minister, I have been feeling torn, confused, really unsure of what to do at times, I have prayed, trying to trust God to help. In the context of understanding marriage, I have searched about promises compared to covenants, including some answers on your site, and from other sources.\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":21597,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-a-child-bride-really-married\/","url_meta":{"origin":40006,"position":2},"title":"Is a child bride really married?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 5, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Recently I was participating in a discussion with several Christians regarding biblical divorce. One of the group members brought up the marriage of young girls in Third World cultures, such as Afghanistan or Pakistan. From what we have read these girls are sold into marriage by their fathers or\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":33253,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-a-marriage-still-valid-if-it-was-done-by-a-woman\/","url_meta":{"origin":40006,"position":3},"title":"Is a marriage still valid if it was done by a woman?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 15, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good evening brother. I would again like to commend you for the wonderful work you and the brethren are doing on your website on behalf of the Lord and His church. My question:\u00a0 A friend of mine recently got married.\u00a0 She and her husband were wed in a denominational\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":44548,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-a-shotgun-wedding-or-a-wedding-involving-a-lie-valid\/","url_meta":{"origin":40006,"position":4},"title":"Is a shotgun wedding or a wedding involving a lie valid?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 12, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: God bless brother. I have questions about marriage. If someone lies in order to get married does God acknowledges that marriage? A young man married a woman after three weeks of knowing each other. He has a severe ambivalent attachment disorder. She lied to him about her child from\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":43326,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-handle-marrying-a-hindu\/","url_meta":{"origin":40006,"position":5},"title":"How do I handle marrying a Hindu?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 14, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am a Christian, baptized when I was 16 years old. I used to live with my parents and I never used to eat anything offered to idols or entered temples. 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