"PASTORAL THEOLOGY & PRACTICE" PROF. HAROLD SENKBEIL & DR. RICHARD WARNECK CAPTIONING PROVIDED BY: CAPTION FIRST, INC. P.O. BOX 1924 Lombard, IL 60148 1-800-825-7234 * * * * * This is being provided in a rough-draft format. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) is provided in Order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings * * * * >> JOSH: Professor Senkbeil, what are some of the legal issues involved in wedding procedures? Are there some things I need to know about the law when it comes to a wedding? >> PROF. HAROLD SENKBEIL: Great question, Josh. You know, when it comes to weddings and marriages, you, as a pastor, are a minister of the Gospel in God's kingdom, the right hand. But God's kingdom the left hand is also involved, since this involves matters of the state and matters of law in terms of public order and society. And so a conscientious pastor will want to be apprised of the laws governing marriage in his state. So that would be one of the first things that you'd want to do is to explore that. You can go to your local County Clerk's office and understand what are the requirements for those who are intending to marry. Ordinarily that would include obtaining a license to marry, which certifies that the person is not already married or any previous marriages have been legally dissolved and that they're entitled to marry. There are certain laws in most states governing close relationships. For example, most states would not allow cousins to marry even though Holy Scripture seems to indicate that that's possible. Now, in a case like that, a pastor would, of course, go by the laws of the land, the laws of the state in which he resides and we would then defer to these governing authorities. In some cases, of course, in current contexts, marriages are proposed between people who really ought not to be married, in the case of gays, for example, homosexuals, and so we are not going to obey those kinds of laws but, rather, the higher law of God's own word. But directly to your question, one would want to understand that the couple coming to you for marriage is indeed entitled to marry, that they have the proper license for such a marriage, and then that once that marriage is conducted, the ceremony is completed, that you know how to file the appropriate documents with the legal authorities, ordinarily the clerk of the court's office and the local courthouse. So these are some of the issues that you'd want to be aware of when it comes to legal matters and weddings. It would be important that you'd know the proper procedures of filing these documents so that that wedding is properly recorded. Ordinarily, there would also be a copy of that certificate that you would, at that time of the wedding, give to the couple. My practice always was to give it to the best man, because the couple themselves have a lot to think about on that day. I hope this helps. * * * * * This is being provided in a rough-draft format. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) is provided in Order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings * * * *