Marriages in the U.S. Continues to Decline

Source: "Cut wedding spending? Hardly," The Los Angles Times, Omaha World-Herald, 09 July 2012.

"The ConvergEx Group report "points out that the number of U.S. marriages continues to drop, to 2.06 million last year from 2.21 million in 2007. That's due partly to sociological factors but also may reflect couples postponing the big day for financial reasons."

The article also notes that the average couple in the United States spends between $25,500 and $27,000 for a wedding. Back in 2007, the average cost of a wedding was $28,000.

People are delaying or skipping marriage because they are convinced that it costs too much. But when it is pointed out that it costs less than $100 to get married down at the courthouse, the reaction is "I can't do that!" Why not? I think the answer is pride. Both in Romans 1:30-31 and II Timothy 3:1-5 there are lists of the characteristics of a society in decay. Both mention people being proud.

Therefore, people are committing fornication, jeopardizing their relationship with God (I Corinthians 6:9-10), their pride insists they must spend an extravagant amount on a simple marriage. As the article points out, this isn't the only reason marriage is in decline, but it does point out the mindset of people. They would rather sin because they artificially made doing right too expensive for themselves.

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