Is Dowry a bad word?

I don't think so, if dealt with in a Christ honoring manner.

When we give our daughters in marriage rather than paying for a big wedding, we can instead set the young couple up with a good DOWRY. Like maybe a serious down payment on a house.

A dowry is money that are given to the young man to hold in trust for his bride. He can use it for anything he needs to in the marriage -- a house, a business to support the wife, but if he breaks the marriage covenant, he owes it back to the bride and her family. Dowries have the double benefit of bringing the young couple less financial stress and seeing that outside of marriage money may be scarce.

the wrong type of Divorce insurance

Dennis Rainey: How seriously do you take your marriage vows?

Guest: Well, I've been married a couple of times before. Marriage was never a first priority of mine. So, now I just recently got married again and I'm trying to make it my first priority.

Dennis Rainey: Have you noticed that the world does not take marriage seriously? Did you hear about the company that created a unique wedding gift that you can give? Divorce insurance. This is a "gift" that contains a policy given to newlyweds so that if their marriage doesn't work out, they can collect the proceeds to pay for the legal expenses of their divorce!