**It's still a lot different from marriage. If you're married, you're going to have to live together, and the two of you may easily have incompatabilities that a courtship, no matter how long, did not bring to the surface.**
I agree with cyborg. A long courtship is important. I was not a born again christian (neither was my wife), was a handsome fella with a sporty car. Spent a lot of time dating girls, some for months. Some found out I wouldn't 'do them' (first date or fiftieth).
My parents were an example of having sex without one of them being in love. A pregnancy, then a 'do the right thing' marriage. It ended in divorce when I was just about to date girls in earnest. My mother's talk to me really convinced me to hold out until marriage. It wasn't easy but it was worth it. I found this girl with the right personality AND knock out looks. She held me at bay for 11 months, but we were (and 27 plus years later, still) in love, I'm glad we waited.
I think the 'drive it first' mentality is lame excuse for not wanting to be in love first, then marriage and sex.
Married couples, IN LOVE, are the best of the 'red hot lovers', if my marriage is an example.
Marriage vows. Some people don't know what a vow is.
My dad told my sister, who was still single and a virgin at 35: "If you're looking for the perfect guy, he's nowhere to be found".
True love is the key.
I disagree with you. Love does not conquer all. People who think that way usually end up in divorce court.
Married sex is definitely better than single sex, I agree.
I don't agree with you on everything you said, but I will agree that the stereotype of married love being dull and boring is a load of crap.
Nobody's talking about casually shacking up for sex. If I'm going to be living with someone it's because I think I'm in love with them.
If I'm doing that before marriage it's because I want to make sure I'm in love with them, and not with an ideal or a person I only partially know because I've only known her in just a few of the situations which life offers.