[[Image:Bride and groom signing the book.jpg|right|275px]]
<ref>Marriage is defined as "The the state of being united as spouses in a consensual and contractual relationship recognized by law."</ref> https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/marriage</ref>Though modern marriage is often done as adherence to religious faith, the origin of marriage predates many or all modern religions. Marriage was originally practiced as a sort of contractual binding or alliance between two families/clans/tribes.<ref>https://werdsmith.com/genesology/eIOCT11oJ#:~:text=The%20practice%20of%20marriage%20existed,and%20most%20all%20religious%20systems.&text=It's%20not%20a%20Christian%20religious,to%20the%20ancient%20Pagan%20cultures.</ref>
'''Marriage''' is the divinely ordained [[covenant]]<ref>Marriage between the sexes is a covenant, not a [[contract]]. Since time immemorial, some men disposed of a wife (woman) after her childbearing years to pursue a younger female consort. God, being a defender of women, ordained marriage by his perfect will to protect women's rights and not allow a man (male) to abandon them to homelessness and poverty with no marketable job skills other than homemaking or child rearing. This, however, is not the only reason the covenant of marriage evolved between the sexes.</ref> between one man and one woman, and is intended to be for life. (Genesis 2:24)<ref>See also [[Perfect will of God]] vs [[Permissive will of God]].</ref> This is recognized by the majority of churches.<ref>[http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p2s2c3a7.htm Article 7, "The sacrament of matrimony"]</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sbc.net/aboutus/basicbeliefs.asp|title="Basic Beliefs," Southern Baptist Convention|accessdate=March 11, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://ag.org/top/Beliefs/topics/relations_04_marriage.cfm|title="Marriage"}}</ref><ref>http://www.studylight.org/com/bnb/view.cgi?bk=39&ch=19 [[Albert Barnes]], Matthew 19]</ref><ref>[http://live.e-sword.net/app/ [[Matthew Henry]], Matthew 19]</ref>