[Caravaggio]

once you have sex with a person outside marriage, your judgement becomes so clouded you are incapable of accurate evaluation of compatibility

This is so true. I saw this first hand. People underestimate the destructive nature of illegitimate sexual relations. It can turn the most sensible person into the most irrational, illogical being. Good article.

[AFPhys]

Anybody who is willing to open their eyes has first knowledge of these situations. Hopefully, it is by observing someone else, but for far to many of us it is personal knowledge. Many marriages are a result of not being able to leave a sexual relationship behind, having once been drawn into it. Many relationships crash against the shoals of the knowledge of the selfish way each person has been using the other. In addition, such a relationship is often unable or proves unwilling to take advantage of broadening experiences that would, in a different course of events, have been natural - such as taking walks, movies, talking, games, going out to meet the other's friends, etc.

Sex is the most destructive force in a relationship, unless and until there is an honest commitment to remain together for the rest of life. At that time, the same destructiveness can, and should, become a cement that helps bind you together despite the natural things that occur which would tend to pull you apart.

[sine_nomine]

On the positive side of this issue - people bond through sex. There is no better bond in marriage than sexual intercourse for the first time, for both husband and wife, after marriage.

My pet theory is that people get imprinted by their first sexual experiences. That is why boys molested by men turn into men who molest boys. That is also why two people still thrill each other after decades of marriage, because they learned about sex and love from each other.

The religious aspect is always neglected today because we are an anti-religious society. When God is taken out of the equation, any aperture will do. The Supreme Court has taken government out of morality, too.

Pre-marital chastity would eliminate illegitimate births and STDs from our population. Abortion would be eliminated almost completely. That would take more leadership than this country has to offer.