I received some news about the sorry state of marriage last week. We are trying to get a grant from the Federal Government to strengthen marriage and committed couple relationships. The needs are great, stupendous and even beyond the critical stage. There are far too many people living together, having sex before marriage and having illegitimate children that are reared without two parents.
Any church that does not have a solid, serious specific program to prepare couples for marriage and then support them during marriage is failing themselves, the couple, their kids, the church and the USA. The loss of a parent for any reason during childhood raises the likelihood of adult troubles, addictions and diseases greatly. If you want your kids to be healthy stay together.
If the church is really committed to marriage and family life they must actually do something to prevent divorce and conflicts in the home. This is not rocket science. It is the science of relationships. If you do not do something to help young couples you are failing. Nothing is more important to our future.
I heard last week that a survey was done in the area of Cincinnati called, Avondale. Over 3,000 kids were in the survey and they were asked how many were from two parent families. Want to guess the percentage? My 12 year old grandson guessed correctly. He took a wild swing at it and said, "One Percent!"
He was right. Only 1% of these kids had married parents. That is tragic and for many of them a determination of poverty, drugs, alcoholism, violence and crime. Pastors must do something to change this tragic problem.
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