"Amid our purity pledges and attempts to make chastity hip, we forgot to teach young Christians how to tie the knot" says Mark Regnerus (author of
Forbidden Fruit: Sex & Religion in the Lives of American Teenagers
) in an article posted in the August 2009 issue of
Christianity Today.
He goes on to say:
Indeed, over 90 percent of American adults experience sexual intercourse before marrying. The percentage of evangelicals who do so is not much lower. In a nationally representative study of young adults, just under 80 percent of unmarried, church going, conservative Protestants who are currently dating someone are having sex of some sort. I'm certainly not suggestion that they cannot abstain. I'm suggesting that in the domain of sex, most of them don't and won't.
What to do? Intensify the abstinence message even more? No. It won't work. The message must change, because our preoccupation with sex has unwittingly turned our attention away from the damage that Americans - including evangelicals - are doing to the institution of marriage by discouraging it and delaying it.
He builds a compelling case for promoting young christians getting married early and how the church should do more to support it. Before rushing to any judgment or conclusion, I encourage you to
click and read the complete article and allow it to provoke some thought.
My wife Becky and I married early and do not regret it. We were high school sweet hearts and got married on spring break during my junior year of college. I was 21 and she was 19. That was 27 years ago. We were in love with each other and knew that we wanted to spend the rest of our life together. And we are.
I'm curious about your thoughts on this issue. After you read the article, click on the "comment" link of this post and share your thoughts. Based on statistics, it's obvious that the method of the institutional church has not worked. Is it time to re-think their method?
Know that you are loved,
@PastorGreg
Founder, www.LovingGodFellowship.org
