Marriage is a legal and moral contract. It involves promises and commitments. It should control a married person’s behavior.
I'd like to chime in with some observations regarding this debate and then hand it to get back to SP's sitch.
Yes, marriage is a legal contract between two consenting adults exercising their free-will to enter in a covenant that binds the R in a formal manner from a legal standpoint (i.e. taxes, etc).
When it comes to the 'moral contract'...it becomes murky. How do you define moral? Based on who's definition? Moral for your own personal comfort? Moral based on your personal values? What about the other individual's feelings and thoughts in relation to moral contract?
This is where self-righteous indignation trips up most people in the early stages of DBing when there's OP is in the picture. We don't have to like the fact that there's an OW/OM in the picture, but we DO need to check our pride at the door and keep our eyes on the MAIN prize. It isn't a restored M..it is a better, improved YOU. Restoring the M is an added bonus to this journey.
