The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of BCNN1. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author(s).
The 2020 census is underway, and I suspect one of the most interesting findings will be related to millennials and marriage. If the trends bear out, we will soon know precisely how much the idea of marriage has declined among the generation of young adults born in the 1980s and early 1990s. These men and women are now in their 30s. Previous generations of adults would have prioritized marriage by this age, but not today.
For instance, compared to the generations that preceded them, millennials are more likely to live together before marriage. They are also marrying later in life. The average marriage age has inched upward for years. In 1960, men and women got married in their early 20s. Now that age is much closer to 30.
Multiple factors drive these statistics, from changing gender dynamics to economic trends. But one of the most obvious is staring us in the face: A high percentage of millennials are children of divorce. This taught them to be suspicious of marriage as an institution. They’ve experienced the pain of their parents’ failures, and that makes them anxious about marriage.
In fact, all of us know someone whose marriage has ended. Right now, the lifelong probability that a marriage ends in divorce is just shy of 50 percent.
Imagine if this frequency of failure didn’t apply to relationships but to flights of commercial airlines. What if nearly half of all commercial flights ended in catastrophe? What if the news was filled with stories about air disasters, passenger deaths and horrific injuries?
We’d all know someone who perished in an airline crash — and none of us would want to fly. The idea that fifty percent of planes might crash would certainly extinguish our enthusiasm, even for a potentially wonderful vacation to paradise.
This is the reality with young people and marriage. People like me can talk all we want about how wonderful marriage is, but the bad news is staring them in the face. No wonder they are cynical about their own chances of success!
That’s a shame, because God didn’t create marriages to fail. He intended marriage to be beneficial for men and women — but only when governed by His guidelines. I call these the Four Laws of Love. Honoring these laws is the solution to the marriage problem in today’s society. Even young adults who have soured on marriage can find fulfillment in this relationship that’s so central to our civilization.
The Four Laws of Love are contained in a short passage of scripture. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.” (Genesis 2:24-25 NKJV)
SOURCE: Christian Post, Jimmy Evans
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