Waiting to Wed?

People are waiting to wed.  And most of the world (and here I mean everyone, not just unbelievers) cheers this trend.  After all, surely older people will make better spouses right?  Well in order to be fair, I will assume that some advance in maturity occurs between the onset of puberty and the age of thirty (although that truth might be easily challenged by antidote).  I will also admit that many statistics show that younger marriages more often end in divorce ((Most of these statistics are of course taken in an age where divorce is culturally accepted and even promoted. Furthermore, many young marriages in our day are brought together because a child is born. In that crisis, little thought about the ways of God in relation to marriage is taken.  Also many women who marry young are often told that such a decision was a mistake for them and their life goals.  So few are early marriages in our day entered completely freely that I doubt they even show up in the statistics.))  But I would suggest that common sense and natural law suggests that waiting is not as great as commonly assumed.

1. Beginning at puberty, sexual attraction is quite natural.  For those of us who assume that sexuality and marriage are meant for each other, delaying marriage means that natural passions can not be satisfied in their intended place.  This can lead to fornication, confusion, and intimate ties to people that will not remain in one’s life.

2.  Every year one spends living independently (when one leaves their parents without cleaving to another) leads to habits which can be detrimental to a living within a institution which is by it very nature dependent.

3. Delaying marriage especially nearly until the age of thirty makes child bearing and child raising more difficult.  Lifelong desires (having family) often become lifelong frustrations (infertility).

4. Delaying marriage is often the result of the idea that one will eventually find some perfect person” for them.  Such an idea while very romantic is just not in line with a Christian worldview.  The perfect person is one who shares your God and is committed to you for life.

5. The greater the delay also means less parental involvement in the decision.  Parents are able to offer wise counsel precisely because they are not blinded by pure emotion and hormones.  The more independent the child becomes, the less chance their parent’s counsel will be influential.

So must everyone marry at 13 in an arranged marriage?  I suppose not.  But should we encourage the current trends with further rhetoric about waiting so that when the next census comes out people are waiting past thirty.  I think not as well.  

I myself would rather my daughter married a Christian boy early rather than bringing home her atheist boyfriend from college.  Not because it would be easier for me solely, but better for her in her life.