Human Misery and the Collapse of Marriage

I have the honor of officiating 9 weddings this summer!
That makes 16 weddings that I have officiated here at Calvary in the last 2 years.
Marriage is alive and well at Calvary Church!

But that is not the case as you look at the United States as a whole.
Our modern culture hasn't embraced marriage as an important priority.
This grieves God. You see the inventor of marriage is not Target or Pottery Barn or Martha Stewart. The inventor of marriage is God. In the Bible, in Genesis 2, we see God introduce the exclusive life time covenant of marriage when he forms Eve and Adam. Both Adam and Eve were equally made in God's image and both uniquely called to walk in covenant with God and with one another.

Then the Fall of Humanity happens a chapter later in Genesis Chapter 3.
Since that moment, Satan has attacked the marriage covenant with a vigor that he has reserved for little else. As a modern culture we are in the middle of observing this casualty of this war. Eric Swanson of the Leadership Institure recently wrote and listed these sobering statistics on marriage:Over the past 50 years the landscape of marriage in the U.S has changed dramatically.

• In 1960, nearly 70 percent of American adults were married; now only about half are. 
• In 1960, two-thirds of 20-somethings were married; in 2008 just 26 percent were.
• In 1960, 439,000 couples lived together; Today 7,500,000 couples live together. One marriage scholar says that 7 out of 10 Christian kids will live with someone before marriage: “The problem is not divorce, but failure of families to form.”
• In 1960, over 70 percent of American households consisted of a bread-winner father, a homemaker mother, and their kids. Today, less than 15 percent of families make up this “traditional” profile, making most church programs irrelevant.
• In 1960, five percent of babies were born out of wedlock; 41 percent are today.
• In 1960 nine percent of kids lived in single-parent homes; Today, 25 percent  of kids do so.
  
  

“How much does this matter? More than words can say. There is no other single force causing as much measurable hardship and human misery in this country as the collapse of marriage. It hurts children, it reduces mothers' financial security, and it has landed with particular devastation on those who can bear it least: the nation's underclass.”

Caitlin Flanagan, Time Magazine, July 02, 2009 | Time Magazine

***A Disclaimer, before you dash to the comment section. to write an angry, anonymous response...
I realize that here are many who desire to be married, but have yet to find a suitable spouse. Please don't read this post as a condemnation of your God-fueled mission to be patient and to wait for the right person. Simply getting married is not the point. Staying married is. So don't let the above statistics discourage you from hoping and waiting on marriage. Many in our culture has rejected marriage, but thankfully God has not. Keep trusting, waiting and surrendering to the God who is faithful!