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From what I've seen people who live together and not very loyal. Naturally they still look at themselves as availible because of course there is no commitment. A male friend of mine pointed out that men are not being men these days, they like to play on the computer and play games and do things that are more for youth and don't want to settle-down and take on a wife or kids. It's sad, because marriage is God's plan to bring up a godly household for him to be an example to the next generation. If christians don't want to marry what does that say to sinners?
Every boyfriend I've ever had has proposed to me, and I only said yes to one. That was four years ago. He and I are no longer together.
I said no to the proposals (and I am immensely glad I didn't marry the other guy) because they wouldn't have worked out. I knew they weren't going to work out at the time, and even though I wasn't saved, I had no intention of getting a divorce. When I get married, it's a one time thing. I'm fiercely loyal and if my marriage ran into trouble, I would seek help/counsel to save it.
Honestly, I don't want to date someone who doesn't think he could marry me. He's wasting both his and my time otherwise.
I said no to the proposals (and I am immensely glad I didn't marry the other guy) because they wouldn't have worked out. I knew they weren't going to work out at the time, and even though I wasn't saved, I had no intention of getting a divorce. When I get married, it's a one time thing. I'm fiercely loyal and if my marriage ran into trouble, I would seek help/counsel to save it.
Honestly, I don't want to date someone who doesn't think he could marry me. He's wasting both his and my time otherwise.
I started living overseas near the end of the last century and returned in the 21st century. Somewhere around the turn of the century, for younger folks, 'single' changed in meaning from referring to not being married to not being in a serious relationship. I wonder if the fact that so many people shack up before marriage or instead of it had something to do with the way the word has changed in meaning. We can see the meaning change illustrated in another thread on this forum. I think for generation Y'ers it means not dating anyone seriously.
I think you could get an answer to your question by looking at some statistics on the subject. Several years ago, an academic paper on marriage and family said that living together was part of the courtship process that led to marriage these days.
The tread toward 'shacking up' goes well with high divorce rates and low rates of premarital virginity. Studies have shown that women who are virgins at marriage or only slept with the man they are married are less likely to get divorced than women who have had sexual partners. When you do all that stuff before marriage, marriage means less. If you can commit to keeping your body pure before marriage, it may not seem that big of a deal to do so after marriage.
I've heard sermons on that, that our culture teaches young people to stay in this state of adolescence rather than focusing on teaching them to be men and women.
I can understand if a man is not a believer and hasn't been discipled why he wouldn't want to be married. Feminism has done a number on our culture. It's accepted in society, much of society, that it's okay for a woman to wilfully become a single mother, and raise the kids without a man. You'll hear some women say they don't need a man. There isn't much prestige attached to being a husband or father. Father's are clueless or overbearing and unreasonable in Disney movies, and a lot of other movies, TV shows, and commercials make men out to be kind of clueless, even Christian movies sometimes.
I lived overseas, and in one culture I am familiar with, one of the life goals of a man is to become a father. It's extremely important to them, maybe to an extreme in some cases. But it is good to see that they value being a husband, being a father, being a grandfather, being the head of a family, that sort of thing.
