Inside: We cannot allow the institution of marriage, created by God Himself, to be hijacked and made into something pretended to be equal to marriage.

It was a hot, June day in Idaho.  RaShell was beautiful in her wedding dress.  After the reception, she and I walked out together with our friends and family lined up on each side throwing birdseed.  One particular person went a little overboard with the birdseed but I won’t use this forum to throw my brother under the bus by name (my older brother…  my only older brother… you know who you are!) 😊.  Like any wedding day, not everything had gone perfect.  The biggest problem was the air conditioning was not working at the church – wow, it was hot!  None of that mattered, however, as it was a beautiful ceremony and RaShell and I had stated our goal early to each other, “When it’s over, we want to be married.”  As long as we accomplished that objective, we were calling it a success!

 After we made it through the birdseed, and other obstacles recently installed in the car, RaShell and I drove into the city and checked in at the hotel where we would be staying.  We had not eaten much at the reception – or any other time that day – and we were both STARVING!  We decided to order a pizza.  I grabbed the yellow pages, found a number and called a nearby pizza restaurant (because that’s how we had to do it back then).  When they answered, I emphasized, “My WIFE and I, would like to order a pizza…”  We still laugh about that.  I have often thought the pizza guy must have thought we were weird!  It was the first time I had ever ordered a pizza with my wife – it was an exciting moment! 

Jason & RaShell Southerland June 8, 1996. Off to order pizza!

so official

 “My wife” – Wow, that sounded official…  it was official!  I was so excited to be able to use that special word – reserved for one person.  That word that everyone knew defined our relationship and would define it for the rest of our lives.  There was no doubt about what that meant and I was so excited to use it – even in such a mundane task like ordering a pizza.  It is a beautiful and special word.  She is a beautiful and special lady.  I was excited – as I still am – to be married to RaShell and to be able to call her my wife. 

 I am writing this article on January 9, 2025.  President Jimmy Carter passed away several days ago, December 29, 2024, at age 100.  Today, his funeral is being held at the National Cathedral in Washington.  Honestly, I don’t remember much about the Carter Presidency, and haven’t followed him much since that time.  I was born in 1971, so Nixon was President when I was born, and I guess Ford came and went before I ever started paying attention to Presidents!  About the only thing I remember about President Carter’s administration is seeing the news late in his Presidency that reported how many days the American hostages had been held in Iran.  Every day, multiple times a day, that seemed to be on TV.  That is all I remember from President Carter and as a result, I guess I never liked his Presidency much.  There is one thing about him, though, that is remarkable, and that was his marriage with his wife Rosalynn.

 Jimmy and Rosalynn were married on July 7, 1946.  When Rosalynn passed away in November, 2023, they had been married over 77 years.  That is longer than any other President and First Lady in history.  In a C-Span interview in August, 2015, President Carter said, “The best thing I ever did was marrying Rosalynn. That’s the pinnacle of my life.”

 Sadly, when our current President and First Lady, Joe and Jill Biden, put out a statement about the death of President Carter, they say, “We will always cherish seeing him and Rosalynn together. The love shared between Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter is the definition of partnership…” 

Personally, when I read that, I reacted, “That’s not a partnership – that’s a MARRIAGE!!”  I know they probably said that to try to claim some kind of equivalency in human relationships, however they may be put together, including distortions of marriage that they have been advocating while in office, but a “partnership” is not the same thing as a “marriage”. 

marriage is different than a partnership

Webster’s 1828 Dictionary defines each of these terms as:

Partnership – The association of two or more persons for the purpose of undertaking and prosecuting any business, particularly trade or manufactures, at their joint expense. 

Marriage – The act of uniting a man and woman for life; wedlock; the legal union of a man and woman for life. marriage is a contract both civil and religious, by which the parties engage to live together in mutual affection and fidelity, till death shall separate them. marriage was instituted by God himself for the purpose of preventing the promiscuous intercourse of the sexes, for promoting domestic felicity, and for securing the maintenance and education of children.

differences between Partnership and Marriage

Wow, yes, that sums up the differences between Partnership and Marriage…  Honestly, I do not know how Jimmy Carter would have felt about it, or whether he would have agreed or disagreed with his marriage being cheapened into something more like a business arrangement, in order to sound more accommodating to distortions of marriage.  Again, I don’t really know much about him.    But I believe we, as Christians, cannot allow the institution of marriage – created by God Himself as Webster reminds us in his 1828 Dictionary – to be hijacked and lessened to make it quasi-equal to distorted, sinful relationships that our current Presidential administration would like to pretend are equal to marriages.

 RaShell and I were married on June 8, 1996.  That means in June of this year, many pizzas and 6 children later, we will celebrate 29 years of marriage – by God’s definition – the only definition that matters.  I love you Baby, thank you for being my wife! 

More blog posts on marriage:

• Being a Faithful Steward within the Family
• Broken Promises