This week's dual-covers of the Time, flaunting two men and two women kissing with a headline "Gay Marriage Already Won." The Time is challenging an institution that has time on its side; well over two thousand years and counting. On the contrary, Time's verdict, particularly around social issues, inverts well within a lifetime.

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Here are your choice s: flay, frown, fume or feel any number of positive emotions about Time Magazine's covers, but don't make decisions based on them. 

Time Magazine Gay Marriage issue by Time

Take for example, this week's dual-covers of the Time, flaunting two men and two women kissing with a headline "Gay Marriage Already Won." Knowing how millions of opponents of same-sex marriage might react to such images, Time's Managing Editor, Rick Stengel, preemptively coaxed them towards a decision by writing this in the Politico's Playbook , "Some thought they were sensationalist and too in-your-face. Others felt the images were beautiful and symbolized the love that is at the heart of the idea of marriage. I agree with the latter, and I hope you do too."

You sure don't believe in subtlety Mr. Stengel, do you?

And then came Time's full story by David von Drehle, touting a "seismic social shift" in American public opinion, effectively selling the idea that same sex marriage is here to stay.  

That may be the case. But this seismic social shift lie along the American family's fault lines, so decide carefully, just like the Supreme Court. Don't let a fleeting, sensational image sway you.

The Time is challenging an institution that has time on its side; well over two thousand years and counting. On the contrary, Time's verdict, particularly around social issues, inverts well within a lifetime.

It was the same Time Magazine cover which was predicting a "growing movement to strengthen marriage..." in 1995. By 2000, it shifted to "Who needs a husband?" And by 2010, the question became "Who needs marriage?"

Anytime Time uses the word "marriage" in its cover, I know the idea will be divorced in a few years.

It was one thing if Time Magazine covers had only vacillated over the issue of marriage; but that's not the case.

In 2005, Time's cover was tempting to many: "Why we're going gaga over real estate" . Within a year, the housing market peaked. Come 2010, and the cover read " Why owning a home may no longer make economic sense . " What? They flipped on us, long before we could flip over those overpriced properties.

In 2004, Time encouraged well-educated moms to stay-at-home by sharing, "Why more young moms are opting out of the rat race." I am sure women who quit the "rat race" back then didn't feel appreciated when they were instructed by the same magazine's cover this month to not   "... hate (Facebook's Cheryl Sandberg) because she is successful."

And who can forget the 1966 bombshell cover asking, "Is God Dead?" Anyone who allowed that cover story to hurt their faith must have ached to discover in 2009 as to "How faith can heal."

Finding a spouse, buying a house, pursuing a career, or believing in God are life changing decisions. Decisions which cannot be relegated to the shifting sands of weekly magazine covers.

With only 3.4% of Americans identifying themselves as LGBT (and a fraction of them interested in tying the knot) don't expect the stigma associated with same-sex marriages to fizzle out anytime soon. With less than 15 out of the 242 countries in the world recognizing same-sex marriages and many US states banning them, this fight won't end even with a favorable Supreme Court decision.       

Hindsight was so 20/20 when the housing market collapsed in 2008 but even then, nobody questioned Time Magazine's cover story. The government bailed out the lenders and the economists touted a financial correction.

How 20/20 will it be in hindsight if same-sex couples failed to sustain a family structure which inherently favors heterosexual couples? I don't know that. What I do know is that further erosion of the American family will, eventually, cause a lot of brouhaha. The government will not have the currency to bail us out and the priests will preach a moral correction. Our children will have some stark choices to make.  

But the choice for Time Magazine will be easy: flip again and simply reprint the 1995 cover, forecasting "a growing movement to strengthen marriage."  

Dr. Faheem Younus is a clinical associate professor at the University of Maryland. He is the founder of   Muslimerican.com . He can be reached at faheem. Email address removed and follow him on Twitter at @FaheemYounus   .

Authors Website: www.Muslimerican.com

Authors Bio:
Dr. Faheem Younus serves as the Adjunct Faculty for Religion and History at the Community Colleges of Baltimore County and a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Maryland. He is a recipient of the prestigious Presidential Service Award (Gold) by Barack Obama in 2009 for his work with Muslim Youth in America, Dr. Younus served as the National Youth President of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA (MKA USA) from 2006-10. This leading Muslim Youth group has thousands of members organized in over 63 chapters all across USA. He currently serves as the National Secretary for Education for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA.

Dr. Younus teaches a popular course, Islam: Fact and Fiction, at multiple campuses across community colleges in Maryland. Dr Younus has represented Islam on FOX News, ABC News and NPR. His Op-Ed pieces have been published in National Media outlets and newspapers such as The Christian Science Monitor, The Huffington Post, AOL News, The Baltimore Sun, Orlando Sentinel, Express Tribune, The Asbury Park Press, The Star Press and others. His short pieces have been published in prestigious newspapers and magazines including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, New York Daily News, Boston Globe, and The Economist.

Dr. Younus is a respected physician, currently in the practice of Infectious Diseases at a Maryland Hospital, who remains committed to the spirit of volunteerism. He was awarded a Governor's Citation by Robert Ehrlich for his humanitarian services in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. He serves as a Board member of various non-profit organizations including Canadian Islamic University (Jamia), Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, USA, Humanity First USA (a disaster relief organization), Upper Chesapeake Health systems, and others.

For a detailed description of his leadership positions and the numerous awards that he has received, please send an email.