Hello,<\/p>\n
I have been married to my wonderful wife for a number of years. We have a beautiful family! Before I met my wife she was in a proxy marriage. This proxy marriage was done so she could gain citizenship. She was a illegal citizen at the time. The young man she did the proxy marriage with was incarcerated at the time. Because of this her mother stood in at a lawyer’s office in place of the groom. Her mother and herself exchanged wedding vows. The individual never was physically present. They never lived together as a married couple. The Immigration Department rejected the proxy marriage, and she still could not obtain citizenship. Years later she is now a Christian wife and I am a Christian husband. We are raising our kids in a church of Christ, but we never knew about the proxy marriage stance with Scripture. We spoke with other ministers, and they stated that it didn’t count as marriage. Is this true? One last thing: she couldn’t obtain citizenship with the proxy marriage but still had to pay for an actual divorce.<\/p>\n\t
I’m wondering how many preachers you will ask before you finally believe one of us.<\/p>\n
It wasn’t a legitimate marriage. There were no witnesses to his vows because he never made them in presence of those at the so-called wedding. One person cannot stand in for another person in making a covenant. See:<\/p>\n
Even though the state recognized proxy marriages at that time, its rules don’t make a legitimate marriage according to God’s laws. Your wife had to get a divorce to meet the state’s laws. It had nothing to do with God’s laws.<\/p>\n
For Christians, God’s laws always exceed government laws. This is why states that grant homosexual marriages are not legitimate to Christians. The government’s laws in that case break God’s laws. The same is true in a proxy marriage. While they might have good intentions, it does not meet the criteria of a marriage covenant found in God’s laws.<\/p>\n\t
Brother Hamilton,<\/p>\n
Thank you very much! I am extremely happy that God’s laws are above all<\/strong>. You have really clarified this situation for me using God’s words.<\/p>\n You are very knowledgeable and I enjoy your website. Your Q&As are exceptional and every time I need clarification I first ask God to help with opening my heart to understand and then I visit your website.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Hello, I have been married to my wonderful wife for a number of years. We have a beautiful family! Before I met my wife she was in a proxy marriage. This proxy marriage was done so she could gain citizenship. She was a illegal citizen at the time. The young man she did the…<\/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":[64],"class_list":["post-47618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-marriage"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":14974,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-husband-was-previously-involved-in-a-marriage-scam-is-my-marriage-legitimate\/","url_meta":{"origin":47618,"position":0},"title":"My husband was previously involved in a marriage scam. Is my marriage legitimate?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 9, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Thank you for reading and responding. I have found your articles and answers to be very helpful and I\u2019m happy a platform as such exists.\u00a0 I met my husband the same day he filed for divorce and things between us moved fast. We were married in less than a\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":29698,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-recently-found-out-my-ex-wife-was-married-before-we-married-is-my-second-marriage-proper\/","url_meta":{"origin":47618,"position":1},"title":"I recently found out my ex-wife was married before we married. 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My boyfriend and I were in love, we loved God and wanted to be married, but he was married before. He married this woman, she cheated on him, he wanted a divorce but could not find her. They had been separated for seven years,\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":35277,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-i-dream-a-woman-wanted-me-does-it-not-mean-we-are-married\/","url_meta":{"origin":47618,"position":4},"title":"If I dream a woman wanted me, does it not mean we are married?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 13, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was in a dream one night and saw a lady in my church trying to sleep with me. I ran away from her but she was desperate. Her younger brother, with her in that dream, was asking me why I don't want to marry his sister. Physically, she\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":17100,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-i-need-to-renew-my-vows-with-my-current-husband-since-my-former-husband-has-died\/","url_meta":{"origin":47618,"position":5},"title":"Do I need to renew my vows with my current husband since my former husband has died?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 28, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have spoken to several sound brethren who are elders and ministers in churches of Christ in regard to marriage, divorce, and remarriage. This is the situation that I addressed to them concerning myself: I was in a previous marriage with a man for twelve years. 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