So what is “modern monogamy”? Well, apparently, it’s a new “relationship structure” that broadens the definition and shifts the timelines of traditional monogamy (biblical marriage). In other words, it’s yet another perversion of God’s very good design of one man for one woman for life (Genesis 2:24). It’s sinful man redefining what God defined.
According to a puff piece from USA Today, modern monogamy is a term sometimes used to:
Speak to a dynamic where an individual prefers an exclusive partnership with another person but understands relationships as impermanent or seasonal. They have released the notion that one person will be with whom they spend their entire life. Or that this one person will align with who they become in the future or remain compatible with time.
In other words, a person wants a relationship with just one person at a time but doesn’t want to commit their lives to that person. Each relationship is transient and dependent on the needs or season of life that person is in. What a sad perversion of God’s design!
The article states, “What you want in a partner at 20 may differ from what you want in a partner in your 40s,” and that may be true—but what the article fails to mention is that in marriage you grow together. Neither of you should be the same person at 40 years old as you were at 20, and if you’ve invested in each other and in your marriage, you should grow together, deepening and strengthening your relationship over the years and decades. It’s the amazing truth of God’s design of how a man and woman become “one flesh” in marriage.
I’ve been married to my wife, Mally, for 50 years. And I have to admit, we have always had a third “person” in our marriage—the person of Jesus Christ, the God-man. We made a vow before God that committed the two of us together for life. And we love each other now more than we ever have. And that’s how it should be. That’s marriage as God intended it to be.
Yes, so-called “modern monogamy” (which is really just fornication and promiscuity) is a perversion of God’s design for marriage, as described in Genesis 2:24: “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.”
What About the Kids?
It’s worth noting that in this “new” relationship structure (it’s really not new, just given a new name), children again come last—their needs sacrificed on the altar of adult desire. Children always do come last when it comes to perversions of God’s design!
Children need a loving, stable home with a mom and dad who are married to each other—study after study has shown that this relationship structure (the one God designed!) is the best for children’s well-being. “Modern monogamy” and perversions like it create unstable homes with adults coming and going, and any children born from those unions lose the wonderful blessing that marriage is for both their parents and for them. We shouldn’t sacrifice the well-being of children so adults can do whatever they want with their bodies. Instead, we should abide by God’s design and create stable, lasting families that honor him and are a blessing to children.
