I love everybody, but have decided that I will no longer perform wedding ceremonies for couples who insist on living together until the ceremony. Sinful behavior should be abandoned rather than condoned.

Fornication is sin. We just don’t use the word much anymore. As the Lord’s people, we have a huge task facing us in attempting to counter culture’s heavy and pervasive sensual influence by teaching this bright, new generation how unholy fornication really is in God’s sight.

Funk & Wagnall’s Desk edition dictionary defines fornication as, "voluntary sexual intercourse between unmarried persons".

Need a scriptural reference on this? If so, try Matthew 5:32, 15:19, 19:9, Acts 15:20, Romans 1:29, 1st Corinthians 5:1, 6:9, 13, 18, 7:1, 10:8, 2nd Corinthians 12:21, Galatians 5:19, Ephesians 5:3, Colossians 3:5, 1st Thessalonians 4:3,Hebrews 12:16, 13:4, Jude 7, Revelation 2:14, 20, 21, 9:21, 14:8….. Ok, get the picture here?

I used to take the position that I was at least uniting in marriage a couple that was previously living in open sin. It sounded good on paper, anyway. One of the problems is, that simply marrying the couple doesn’t address the sin. It just sort of passes over it as if there was nothing to it.

My greatest concern was, “why involve the Lord’s church?”

If we are really thinking about this, why get married in a church building dedicated to worshiping God, by a preacher whose work is to spread the message of God’s, who will use God’s word in the ceremony itself, lead a prayer to God asking His blessings on the couple, pronounce them married by God’s authority, all while you choose to live up to that time in rebellion to the teachings of God?

Hey! Any couple living in sin that repents and commits to remain celibate (see dictionary – it means pure, chaste, holy, undefiled) from that point on until their wedding night…. I’m your man. For all others, there is the justice of the peace.

Call me crazy, It just seems that to do otherwise is hypocrisy.