Demanding Respectability!

It's no secret that many couples of all ages live openly together - even some of them having children together - with no benefit of legal and moral commitment.  In the 80's, when this new practice started, the situation was much different than today.  There is so much fuss about everyone's civil rights now, no one hardly dares directly criticize another, for anything.

In the 80's, cohabiting couples only wanted to be able to rent an apartment or house together.  That was not easy.  Many landlords simply would not rent to them.  They also wanted to be able to have joint bank accounts, buy a house together.  It was not permitted; it was too risky for the banks.

Families back in the 80's frequently would 'cut off' a cohabiting couple from family interaction: it was such a 'bad example' for the younger ones!  Families today follow their church and their heart and 'accept' their situation as, hopefully, temporary.

Yet there is one area where there is little or no compromise: child playmates.  One of my young married friends, Julia, related that a friend of hers who had a guy living with her wanted Julia's daughter to spend the night with her daughter.  Julia would not allow it.  She explains, "I don't know this guy.  He might be a child molester for all I know.  He might be a drug addict.  If this woman is so immature as to let a guy live with her and her child, who knows what he could be."  I agree with Julia.  It certainly would have been too risky to trust her child to stay overnight.  The biggest danger to young girls these days is from their mothers' live-in boyfriends.

Co-habiters might think "everyone does it, it must be OK," but, really, everyone doesn't live together openly, uncommitted.  Sex and marriage are special, should be protected by law.  You might have Civil Rights, Legal Rights, but you can never DEMAND RESPECTABILITY, you have to deserve it and earn it by your moral living.

My friend, Joel, is very sad because his wife "is messing around and talking about divorce."  He loves her and his three young children and also wonders if his "employer found out about it, would he fire me?"  Yes, marriage is important and respectable.

Dear Lord, help us all have the strength to NOT SETTLE for an arrangement we know is morally wrong!