Ronald Stringer
03/25/09
There will soon be a new "reality" television show coming out. It will be different than most of the other "reality" shows because the audience will play a huge role in the outcome. The name of this show is "Married By America" and it will air on Fox beginning in March 2003. The following information was revealed on the new show’s website:
"With the help of relationship experts, potential mates will be hand-picked for each selected participant. Their friends and family will have the chance to meet these potential mates and winnow them down to two. Meanwhile, the home audience will be given the opportunity to weigh in and make the final decision as to which of these partners is the perfect match."
I do not understand why anyone would want to participate in, write, or produce a show like this one! The whole concept of the show is that two people who hardly know one another will commit their lives to each another. This demonstrates how flippantly people today take marriage and marriage vows. The idea is that if the two people who are forced to get married because the audience picked them do not like one another, they can always get divorced.
I have already seen advertisements for this show and one of them tells us that we better not mess up because "divorce is expensive!" I agree completely. Divorce is expensive. Divorce can destroy people’s lives. It can also destroy families. But, most importantly, divorce can ultimately destroy an individual’s soul. God intended for one man and one woman to marry once, and therefore stay together until death (Matthew 19:1-9; Romans 7:2-3). The only exception is if one of the spouses commits adultery (Matthew 19:9). If this is the case, then the innocent party can remarry but the guilty party must stay unmarried.
"Married By America" is not only experimenting with people’s lives, they are also experimenting with people’s souls. The show does not seem to care what God’s law says about divorce and remarriage. Someone might say that the show expects the couple that is picked to be compatible and they will therefore stay together. However, they also know that there is the possibility that the new couple will want to divorce. The show, in reality, is promoting a marriage relationship that is based on facts and figures rather than trust and love! A marriage where the partners do not love and respect one another (Ephesians 5:22) is bound to fail, and it will not be America who will be responsible. The ones who divorce will have to answer to God themselves!
We need to understand the importance of finding a spouse whom we love, trust, respect, and with whom we want to spend the rest of our lives. Once we do marry, we need to realize that divorce is not an option if we want to obey the commandments of God. Remember, divorce is expensive. It can cost us our souls.