Living together & sex before marriage.

What about living together before marriage? What about sex before marriage? 

If you go by what you see on TV and movies and hear in popular music, you would get the idea that “everybody does it.”

But even if most “everybody” seems to be doing it, is there any reason to consider some different options?

Assuming that the divorce rate for first marriages is about 50% ~ and that a high percentage of those who divorce are also parents ~ there is a growing concern about the damage done to the children of those who divorce.  This concern about the consequences of divorce, especially for children, has more and more couples and sociologists searching for ways to establish stable and satisfactory marriages that are more likely to succeed than to fail…and end in divorce.

It is the determination to establish better….even “divorce proof”….marriages that has motivated the investigation of whether sex before marriage and living together might be factors to re-consider for individuals and couples who  want to establish a better and life long marriage.

Here is a list of web sites and articles that you may find useful!

• “Love Thinks” – John Van Epp has a lot of great material at http://www.lovethinks.com
   
• Too Risky to Wed in your 20s?  Not if you avoid cohabitating first.   Research shows that marrying young without ever having lived together with a partner makes for some of the lowest divorce rates.

• First Things First  http://firstthings.org/ is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to strengthening families in Hamilton County, Tennessee through education, collaboration and mobilization.  Lots of great material for thought and sharing with your partner.
   
• Why wait for sex?  https://www.focusonthefamily.com/marriage/preparing-for-marriage/why-wait-for-sex/why-wait-for-sex 
   
• “How far can we go?” Simonhttp://www.teachingpages.co.uk/topicPresentation/articlePremaritalSexPart1
   
• PremaritalSex:Positives&Negatives http://www.allaboutworldview.org/Premarital-Sex.htm
   
• It’s never too late to be a virgin.  By ELIZABETH HAYT
   
• Drs. Jim and Madonna Healy provide information at > http://www.rootedinlove.org/