Good News-Bad News Dilemma We are all familiar with "good news-bad news" scenarios. One that caught my attention recently is that divorce is on the decline (good news) but more couples are choosing to cohabit outside of marriage (bad news).
Sheri & Bob Stritof observed in an internet article entitled "Cohabitation Facts and Statistics" the following: "There are numerous statistics, studies, and facts about how cohabiting couples are at a higher risk for divorce. Readily Available Cohabitation Facts: Living together is considered to be more stressful than being married. Just over 50% of first cohabiting couples ever get married. In the United States and in the UK, couples who live together are at a greater risk for divorce than non-cohabiting couples. Couples who lived together before marriage tend to divorce early in their marriage." The website "FamilyLife Culture Watch" revealed the following "Cohabitation Statistics" dated February 22, 2008: " Most younger Americans now spend some time living together outside of marriage. Over half of all first marriages are now preceded by living together, compared to virtually none 50 years ago. (Bumpus and Lu, 2000) The number of unmarried couples living together increased 72% between 1990 and 2000. (U.S. Census Bureau, 2000) Half of cohabiting relationships end within one year due to the couple either becoming married or separating (Seltzer 2000). 57% of cohabiting couples dissolve within ten years when compared with 30% of all first marriages (VanGoethem 2005). Cohabiting couples have a rate of separation that is five times that of married couples, and, in the event of separation, cohabitors have a rate of reconciliation that is only 33 percent as high as that of married couples (Binstock 2003). The U.S. Justice Department found that women are 62 times more likely to be assaulted by a live-in boyfriend than by a husband (Colson 1995). Cohabiting women have rates of depression 3 times higher than married women (National Institute for Mental Health). 25% of Americans believe cohabitation is morally wrong (VanGoethem 2005). 25% of additional Americans has some moral qualms about cohabitation (VanGoethem 2005)." I along with other leaders of our community heard a well-documented report given in a recent Rotary Club meeting that shared a very alarming fact. Prescription medication doses being administered to our local students in Kindergarten-Grade 12 experienced a drastic increase from 518 in 1985-86 to 15,881 ten years later. However, the student population during that same period of time only increased from 2,137 to 2,445. In addition, by 1999-2000 the student population had declined to 2,335 but prescription medication doses had increased to 20,554! My limited pastoral observation spanning congregations in Statesboro, GA (1978-80); Ossian, IN (1980-84); Wichita Falls, TX (1984-2005); and here since arriving six years ago is that our society continues a decline that will lead to implosion if we do not face up to that ugly reality really soon . and determine to do something positively constructive about it! That is, the Judeo-Christian ethics on which our great nation was established (and which formerly ruled our quaint community of Perryville) must be recaptured, reinstated, and revered or we will continue this self-destructing demise. My diagnostic analysis is that the biological family that God instituted as the basic element of society continues to erode and, therefore, society continues to erode as well. Husbands-and-fathers neglect or refuse to self-sacrificially preserve their marriage by putting into action their promise to live in the holy estate of matrimony as God ordained it; to nourish and cherish their wife as Christ loved His body, the Church, giving Himself up for her; and, by extension, to provide for and protect their family. Wives-and-mothers likewise neglect or refuse to self-sacrificially preserve their marriage by putting into action their promise to live in the holy estate of matrimony as God ordained it; to submit to their husband as the Church submits to Christ; and, by extension, to devote herself to the noble full-time vocation of caring for and nurturing their family. The sorrowful situation that sees one man and one woman proclaim a public promise (commitment) to God and the various witnesses gathered at their wedding to have and to hold each other from that day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death parts them, according to God's holy will; and pledge faithfulness to one another too often results in having been simply shallow words with little or no depth of meaning. So, where does all this lead? Fellow citizens of this community, we must return to the Bible-based Christian foundation that was the heritage of our forefathers. We must regain "community" whereby we seek and follow God's divine guidance that He gives in His Holy Word. We must admonish and encourage each other to live according to God's holy will as revealed in His Holy Word. We must become regrounded in the one true faith in Jesus Christ, our heavenly bridegroom who rescued, redeemed, and reconciled us as His bride, the Church (believers in Him as Lord and Savior) and promised to be with us always, knowing that our heavenly Father will protect and preserve us as His dear children whom He adopted in the Blessed Sacrament of Holy Baptism. We must return to faithful (weekly, not just occasional) participation in public worship where God nurtures us with His Holy Word and the Blessed Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. We must bring Jesus into our homes through personal and family Bible reading and prayerful contemplation about such. And, we must recommit ourselves to faithfully follow the divine instruction God gives in His Holy Word for proper living that pleases Him and, in turn, safeguards and promotes sanctified interactive living according to His design. The bad news is that if we continue following the path we are presently pursuing, a path that leads away from our Judeo-Christian roots, we will self-destruct. The good news is that Jesus Christ has conquered sin, Satan, and death itself with His Holy life, innocent suffering, crucifixion death, and majestic resurrection from the dead 2,000+ years ago . all for us. What He did for us then enables us to live for Him now in 2011 and in years ahead according to His design so that we will experience a healthy life. God grant it all for Jesus' sake.
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