Is it a sin to marry a minor?

[ageofknowledge]

True Danny. I have to correct my post though. I meant to say 70% of all black children in Los Angeles grow up fatherless. Check these out:

http://www.fathermag.com/news/2756-suicide.shtml
http://www.paternita.info/america/fathe ... merica.pdf

Shocking, Age. The data is there for all to see: children with a mother and father who are together and married have a better chance educationally, emotionally, psychologically, socially, in their careers, in raising their OWN children in a stable manner...

How does the American government tackle these kind of statistics, Age? Over here many are afraid to speak out strictly in favour of traditional family unity for fear of being shouted down by the liberal left with bogus cries of being nasty, anti-women, persecuting single mothers blah blah; that's a blinder by the way: if you speak up for the traditional family as the best model for a child/children to be raised in then it must then follow that you are a sacreaming, anti-female/single mother, right wing swivel-eyed conservative! Makes sense, right?

Makes you wanna cry.

Yes it makes sense. The way our society is dealing with it is by turning the government into a nanny to take the place of the parents. Unfortunately, governments can never take the place of parents and even if they could don't make very good parents. They teach them pre-marital sex is OK, homosexuality (even for minors) is OK, marijuana is OK, being a low achiever is OK, etc...

[jlay]

They are getting the message that it is ok to have premarital sex. All they have to do is ignore this message. I don't get the problem.

Harry, I don't know all of your personal experience. I commend you on your personal choices. Let me ask you this. Do you have to teach a child to lie? The answer is obviously no. How a parent or guardian trains that child will determine how that child views lying. Obviously there are a lot of people in our society that do not view lying as being inherently wrong. Harry, I bet you I can identify hundreds of areas where Christians are ignorantly walking in sin. They are acting contrary to the will of God because they are ignorant of their actions. Have you ever had a situation where suddenly the light popped on, and you realized that your behavior was contrary to the will of God? If your culture tells you sex is OK. if your parents tell you premarital sex is OK. And then this is reinforced through media, education, etc., do you think it might be hard to discern that premarital sex is wrong? To respond to the truth, one must discern the truth.

Where are you getting all of this?

Working in ministry with children and youth for the past eight years. And from studying the issue. Common sense.

You don't need a meaningful understanding of scripture to know that premarital sex is immoral. I was 15 when I became a Christian - I knew then and I know now.

I agree that you dont' need to know scripture to posess an ethic. But your statement is fundementally flawed by what you infer. If you are raised in a culture that shares that ethic, then you are correct. Why don't you come down to the inner city with me and see how many KNOW that premarital sex is wrong. Or, go visit a college campus and survey a few students and ask them if they KNOW that it is wrong.

I was given condoms and sex tips at school - guess what? Still a virgin (I'm not married). It wasn't too challenging to be honest. The challenging part is kicking the lust, but if you give your life over to Jesus Christ He will make this easier for you.

So you are walking in holiness in all areas of your life?

And the differences between courting and dating is...?

The biggest difference is that courtship is much more formal. Usually courtship is a public affair, done in public and with family approval. It is also done with the intent to find a match for marriage. The ultimate end for a courtship is discovering suitability for marriage.

It is hard to deny how casual our culture is with relationships. People engage in romantic relationships without the slightest seriousness towards marrying. In fact the culture encourages young people to play the field. To experiment and sample the buffet. The church as a whole is NOT making any stand in this area. For the most part the church handles dating much the same way the world does. Dating today is a social exercise, not a process of finding a marital partner. I am dealing with this all the time at my congregation. Parents treat dating the same as the rest of the world. They don't want their children to engage in premarital sex, yet they engage in the same practices that place young people in compromising positions.

If you look at the history of marriage you will learn that 'dating' is a recent modern phenomenon.

As far as adults go. I just had a friend in his 50s that went through a year long courtship and was married. The marriage bed was undefiled. He has a great testimony. Early when they met, they set the ground rules of their courtship.

[zoegirl]

I agree with you 100% about the casual nature of dating. It unfortunately follows right in line with how casually people trample on each other.

It's such a strange dichotomy where we in this society stress that we must tolerate each other and yet we have lost that sense of decency and honor and respect for each other. This applies to interactions with dating as well as with less intimate relationships.

[ageofknowledge]

Then you have the problem of the internet circumventing parental control/internal family control. Now kids from the same area or school just connect online and have these deep relationships going and the parents never even know until it manifests negatively (rebellion, preganancy, std, etc...).