Mawwiage 2 - 2/13

            Less and less people are getting married nowadays. The current marriage rate is at about 50%, as opposed to the 72 percent rate in the 1960’s. There are also more babies being born out of wedlock, divorce rates are higher, etc. Keen observers will also realize that the economy in general isn’t thriving as prosperously now as it was in the 1960’s, but correlation does not imply causation. Christians might tend to think “Well of course the economy is failing; society is failing to do what God instructs!” But, there is another way to look at this societally, and it’s simple: People are getting paid to have children out of marriage, get divorced, and just not get married at all.

            The American economy was never set up for all of these marriage problems. Now you might say “You’re crazy; divorce is expensive!”, but that’s exactly it! Lawyers get paid hefty sums to split up a couple. After divorce is through, one of the parents will have to pay child support, even worsening the hole in their wallet. Many people might look at marriage and think “Oh man, it’ll just end in divorce, what ever shall I do? Oh that’s right! I’ll just have a baby and the government will pay for it!” And thus, it begins. They’ll be out one day with their brand new baby and someone will ask where they got it for such a great deal. They’ll say “Oh the government got it for me! How kind! We aren’t even married and they’re already getting me gifts!” So, it seems that everyone except for traditionally married couples is getting some kind of win out of this situation. The average person sees that they can have a better financial life by not getting married, and that is not a good thing.