“I thank God that I have 42 years of empirical evidence that I married a saint. After all, my fantastic wife has put up with me for more than four decades.”
Same.
“Jesus said, “I have come that they might have life and have it more abundantly.” That includes our relationships.
God’s design for marriage is for our good, and it helps spare people a lot of unnecessary unhappiness.”
A marriage apart from God’s truth and grace would seem impossible.
Yes.
As I see it it puts the option on the table that either or both could always walk away form the relationship, this then lingers into the marriage.
Love is something we can learn and actually should learn, It grows in adversity and without such true love is often not be attained.
IMHO the marriage contract gives a couple the glue needed to hold together when things get rough and after struggling realize what true commitment and dedication to a fellow soul is really worth. To have one you can and will depend on in all things is a gift only surpassed but our Lords sacrifice and offering of salvation.
That is what marriage can offer.
Interesting article but very unscientific. People that wed without cohabiting are likely to have strong religious backgrounds and a mindset that would make divorce much less likely. The difference in divorce rate is due to differences in groups not the effect of cohabitation.
Many of the 20-45 year marriages still going strong, from my acquaintances, cohabited.
Even if you take all the moral aspects out of cohabitating and look at it strictly from a secular point of view, it makes no sense. The statistics are clear: living together before marriage increases your chances of divorce later on.
“Marriage is a gift from God.”
Marriage is a contract created by man for the best interest of the two and others, like businesses and if kids start to arrive. It is business, not religious to be legal and wasn’t recognized until around 1549 and was based upon the Sarum manual. But the “vows” of that time placed the man in charge of the family on a non equal status. While the Bible includes verses on love, marriage, and weddings, there aren’t any specific marriage vows mentioned. In both the Old and New Testaments, the hierarchy in a marriage is to place God first, the husband second as head of the household, and the wife subservient to the husband. Very different from today’s vows.
wy69
I don’t apply jewish rules to non-jews and I don’t apply Christian rules to non-Christians.
The real things that keep people together are compatibility and shared goals and values.
In earlier times many people had multiple marriages because of the shorter life expectancy. My grandfather’s mother died when he was a child and his father remarried—that wasn’t so good for my grandfather (apparently his stepmother fit the stereotype of stepmothers) but I have a lot of second cousins whom I like very much, who would never have been born if not for that second marriage. My Revolutionary War ancestor had three wives. Many more examples in my family tree.
One can infer from the article’s headline that it’s best to avoid cohabitating before marriage:
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Big hoorah to the author for using the word “infer”, correctly.
Marriage isn’t a great deal if you’re older and or have assets. Divorce is very expensive and prenups can be overturned. Marriage is good if you’re going to have kids but that’s about it.
This would indicate that they married when the "sex, drugs, and rock'n'roll" culture of the 60s onward was well entrenched, including Roe v. Wade having been foisted from on high seven years previously.
Good for them that they chose the road less traveled.