Unmarried couple moving in

3 Reasons Shacking Up Before Marriage is a Bad Idea

I recently read some articles about the number of couples moving in together before marriage. Cohabitation in the United States has increased by more than 1,500 percent in the past half century. In 1960, about 450,000 unmarried couples lived together. Now the number is more than 7.5 million. Here are a few of the reasons couples cite for cohabitation: 1) hoping it is a step toward a proposal, 2) want to see if they are compatible as roommates, and 3) to save money on rent.

Maybe you are in a relationship and you think moving in together may be the best option, or you are a parent and your son/daughter is considering this option.  Here are 3 reasons shacking up before marriage is a bad idea.

1. Your relationship will probably end.

An article on examiner.com states that 80% of shacking up relationships end before marriage or in divorce after marriage.  So, it is 80/20 against you getting married, or staying married, to that person.  One reason is because there is not a commitment when you move in before marriage.  A relationship without commitment will not last, and marriage is the biggest commitment you can make in life.

2. Your children will be negatively affected.

To the parents who have children, your kids are three times as likely to be expelled from school or get pregnant, they are five times more likely to live in poverty, and 22 times more likely to be incarcerated.  All because you choose to live with someone you’re not married to.

3. It makes you lazy.

As a married man, I know that once dating ends the relationship changes.  Living together removes the “being your best” part of your relationship.  Kind of like most job interviews.  You wore the suit to the interview, but once hired you show up in khakis and a polo.  And, if you’re living with a woman and getting some of the “benefits” of marriage – sex, having someone to help around the house, sharing the bills – you can get lazy about taking the next step in your relationship.

If those statistics and info provided above are not enough, the Bible considers shacking up the opposite of a legitimate marriage.  A legitimate marriage consists of a union between a man and woman who have made a covenant and commitment.  Shacking up involves neither.  Marriage was a union created by God, and is a union God blesses.

Source: www.examiner.com

“Why do you think couples move in together before they get married?” (If you think this will lead your kids into the sex talk, you might want to read this and this first!)

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