From MSNBC:
HYANNIS, Mass. – A newlywed Massachusetts couple spent their wedding night in separate jail cells after police said the bride tried to run over an old flame of the groom. Police said 22-year-old Hyannis resident Marissa Ann Putignano-Keene tried Monday to run over the other woman and the woman’s son in a parking lot. The intended victim later told police that she had previously been in an intimate relationship with the groom.
Oh my. How is our brave new world of post-modernism working for us?
I wonder if these two have any kind of relationship with God? At minimum, I wonder if these two have family or friends who love them enough to encourage them to get some much needed help. The groom is a convicted sex offender and while we are called to forgive, repentance must precede our forgiveness. Based on this story, this man shows no evidence that he has repented. Neither has the bride demonstrated real solid thinking based on her behavior in this saga. We don’t know if she was aware of her husband’s past or whether he has demonstrated any fruit of repentance for her. Regardless, the anger she displayed here is not a hopeful sign for the health and future of their marriage.
In the end, these two unfortunate souls are consenting adults and are free to live their lives the way they choose. Like the rest of us, they are free to make good and bad decisions (and at first blush, getting married does not seem to qualify as the former). They are also free to reject the advise and counsel of loving friends and family, if any was (or is or will be) forthcoming.
But I have to wonder if anyone who loves them invited them to slow down and consider the commitment they were getting into. When I was in my mid 20s, I know I ignored the advice of my family and friends before my first marriage and paid a heavy price in doing so. That marriage ended in divorce after only 13 months. Even though I was stupid enough to ignore their advice (or too proud to heed it), at least I had family and friends who loved me enough to warn me to slow down, even at the risk of incurring my wrath, which they did. That’s real love. I hope this couple has someone who loves them like I had. Maybe they could tell this couple that it would be a good thing to start working on a relationship with the One who loves them and can redeem them.