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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