Marriage was necessary to protect the offspring between a man and a woman, to declare the child's lineage as a legal heir, to acquire their father's name. It is a legal contract. Children born out of wedlock were not entitled to any claim or title. I have no idea how God "really" sees it. I trust that God guides us through life with his laws, so, in the first known laws, the Ten Commandments, adultery is a direct refusal of his laws. Have either of you been married before, or still married to another? If not, how could you be seen as committing adultery? If you are preventing conception, how do you feel about using birth control? Some Conservatives think that all birth control outside of the rhythm method is sinful, some do not. God blesses marriage but does not command it, is the general rule of thought. It is a ritual, a legal bond, and it protects the offspring, all good reasons to comply, but in God's eyes? As far as I understand, he condemns lust, fornication, and adultery. abortion and homosexuality. I do not get why two people cannot commit themselves to each other in the eyes of God outside of ritual, but I would pray on it.