I would also add cohabitation, while I just wasn’t lucky in my dating life, what disappointed me so much more than my own failure at finding a wife was the fact that so many young men in their early 20s, peers and friends of mine could have married, gone through more education, or even both, decided to settle for a lesser option and simply move in with their girlfriends. I can tell you, plenty of these people in these cohabitating relationships weren’t all that free, a great deal being because they didn’t have a firm definition as to how committed their relationship was, and then it fell apart. I haven’t found many good stats on how cohabitating relationships go, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the failure rate for such relationships was worse than marriage, or possibly if plenty of them didn’t advance into marriage, either way, in addition to abortion and the others, I feel, based on what I observed, and have seen others do, that cohabitation is already a serious problem. It was pretty common among my friends at that time, and I can only see it being far more worse now from accounts of what friends of my nieces and nephews are doing. Again, there’s nothing that makes a young man like me more disappointed than the fact that people who could have done far better, and actually gotten married, at least with the priest’s blessing, or religious leader, if you will, are settling for something less. One of my friends’ situations ended in total disaster because he was not legally wed to the woman he lived with, he had absolutely no legal standing to see his daughter after they broke up, because it wasn’t technically a divorce they were going through, even though they had a child together. He wasn’t free to see his daughter, because he didn’t go through with the full commitment, what’s even worse is that he sadly may have lessened the chance of as severe had he actually found someone who also wished to make the commitment of marriage to him. Again, I am not trying to be judgemental of the people I know, I wish them well, and I hope they work to become better people, however, there were some serious consequences and horror stories from their cohabitating relationships at the same time. I wouldn’t hesitate to tell my family the importance of working to be the selfless person that makes a good father or mother from your early years onward. I also wouldn’t hesitate to let the kids know that it’s important not to settle for less than marriage, and avoid cohabitation at all costs. While divorce is possible, there are plenty of horror stories I have seen from cohabitating relationships myself that are also incredibly inconvenient to both involved in them.
The big thing about sexual freedom, is the whole idea is counterfeit. Life isn’t free without some serious restraints and limits on what one does sexually. Not just the threat of STDs, but also the effects on one’s conscience, as well as personal well-being too.
“I wouldn’t hesitate to let the kids know that it’s important not to settle for less than marriage, and avoid cohabitation”.
No truer words have ever been spoken. It is up to the parents to teach their children right from wrong. It is also up to the parents to teach them that their bodies are precious and special. Cohabitation is “playing house” in a way. You get to play “husband” or “wife” without the commitment. It amuses me in a way when someone will say, “Marriage is only a piece of paper... we can live together and stay together if we really love each other”. My thought has always been “if you really love each other, then a piece of paper is worth making it legal and honorable”.