June is meant to be a sacred month for Marriage
June 10th, 2009 by Dave
If you’re an Obot, you might be thinking that June is meant to be LGBT Pride Month.
But for thousands of years, it has been celebrated as a time that signifies the special nature of the union between male and female. Even beyond our Judeo-Christian traditions, the ancient peoples of the earth recognized this time of the year based upon the Summer Solstice as the calendar opposite of the Winter Solstice – in the same sense that male and female genders exist as natural complements to one another. It is for this reason that Celtic people referred to this day as “the wedding of Heaven and Earth”, and the ancient stone circle at Stonehenge is oriented to mark the position of the rising sun at the midsummer solstice.
Nordic people have long celebrated this day as Midsummer Eve, a holiday whose popular appeal rivals even that of Christmas Day and is strongly associated with romance and fertility. The name we now give to a married couple’s traditional vacation getaway, the “honeymoon”, actually originates with the ancient significance of the Midsummer moon during weddings performed at the solstice and celebrated by drinking mead made from fermented honey – hence the name “Honey Moon”.
The Chinese likewise recognized this “ying-yang” principle of complementary opposites within a greater whole. In this culture, the solstice is associated with the goddess “Li” who represents light and femininity, and is considered a patron of brides.
Roman tradition dedicated this calendar month to the goddess “Juno”, believed to be the wife of the chief deity “Jupiter”, and ruling as queen of heaven and guardian of women. In that culture she was the patron goddess of marriage. The month of June as we know now it draws its name from this aspect of Roman mythology.
It is not surprising that ancient peoples, who had not received the Bible message, would nevertheless be able to recognize the truth of God’s natural order.
“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” (Romans 1: 20)
We are all children of God’s creation, and as Christ so aptly reminded us of the Genesis story:
“In the beginning God ‘made them male and female.’ … ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate” (Matthew 19: 4-6).
Let’s try to remember the sacred purpose of marriage, rather than let it be corrupted.
Very interesting post, Dave. As you wrote,
“… ancient peoples, who had not received the Bible message, would nevertheless be able to recognize the truth of God’s natural order.”
It surely is disgusting that PBO would defile all this by declaring the month of June as “Gay Pride Month!”
But then again, he defiles, defies, apologizes for, or trashes just about everything that is good and right about our nation, especially its *Founding Principles!*
Sadly (and kind of ironically), about the ONLY thing BO has done which I find admirable is that he is married to a woman and appears to be a loving, faithful husband and father.
Tricia,
That’s a good choice of words … “appears to be” … because as has been shown so many times with politicians on either side of the aisle, appearances can be deceiving. Anyway if that’s the only thing you find admirable – well, that says a lot in itself, doesn’t it? We should be able to discern the qualifications of our leaders by their established track record, through what they have said when speaking in public, the actions they have taken, how they have voted, etc.
At this point, it is so easy to feel powerless about the many things that were good and right about our nation which are now being trampled upon. Yet we can certainly pray for God to heal this broken land, and bring about a change of heart in the people – even those we might currently consider as enemies. Personally, I do find this teaching very difficult to accept, and I think this is because it runs against our natural human nature. But we are clearly taught in the Bible to pray for our enemies, and there are even some examples like the apostle Paul who turned from a persecuter of the early Christians into a great messenger of the faith. We should of course stand firm for what is good and right, but the ultimate path to victory is in the hands of God … and He may have a few surprises in store for us along the way.