Rhea

Absolutely agree. Barna's analysis says,

"Born Agains cohabit less, but divorce just as much [as non born agains, and actually divorce more than Atheists]"

So the church decides which is worse. Cohabitation or Divorce.

Although that is ASSUMING (I believe) a causation. You speculate that Christians get married in order to have convenient sex and when they get tired of it they divorce (I think that's what you're saying?) While Atheists just go ahead with the convenient sex and keep the integrity of marriage as a commitment and promise, not just a way to have convenient sex.

To be honest, I agree with you completely in that speculation (although the studies have not proved us right). One of the reasons I think the church is whacked, actually. They tend to sacrifice a whole lot of (IMO) really important concepts for the sake of denying convenient sex. Like reducing divorce, unplanned pregnancies and abortions. But hey, that's their decision on what's important. Reducing extramarital sex is more important than keeping families together.

Seems like we have different values, is all, me and the church.

I value family and health and stable childhoods. They put those second behind sexual suppression.

fatherphil

well we are talking about a 3% difference. i wonder what the margin of error is? but this may seem to point out that the advantages of freedoms the atheist enjoys is not significant in reducing their divorce rate as compared to Christians who might not access these "advantages" so willingly.

oh, and is not about convienient sex, it all for love

Rhea

I think we're talking about a 6% difference.

And if it's all for Love™, then Christians aren't prohibited, are they. They're only prohibited from sex. Living together isn't the sin. It's the sex that's the sin.

Otherwise, perhaps brothers and sisters have been sinning all this time, no?



(edited, I see where you got 3%. That's between born-agains and "non-christians". The 6% is between born-agains and atheists)

beth

So true! But a lot of Christians do dabble in premartital sex and marry out of guilt. Later they realize that their relationship was based on infatuation and lust, not love.

fatherphil

but remember, we flee from temptation

mike_decock

The real issue, IMO, is that the divorce rate of Christians should be significantly lower. The claim that God is the "glue that binds" is not reflected in these statistics, if anything, they indicate the opposite effect.

Atheists/agnostics aren't bound by any doctrine discouraging or forbidding divorce and they appear to have less of a problem with it than those who are.

-Mike...

Rhea

...straight into the arms of sin.


(bolstering my personal theory that the bible is actually a tool of satan which is phenomenally effective at leading people away from righteousness.)

Paperstreet

I know a fundie (a super fundie actually) who got divorced, to another fundie. Now the one guy lives with a woman, (and has intercourse with her) but isn't married because hes scared the woman he married and divorced would kill him and the family. Actually she already tried to kidnap the kids, but couldn't get away with it. The part I can't believe is that the kids, (my friends actaully) have to visit that psycho bitch every other weekend.

That was 100% true, and I hate how those psychos are allowed to screw up their kids so much.

fatherphil

unfortunately accepting Christ as saviour is no magic pill in this world. we still remain humans struggling with human struggles.

sometimes it works out that way, rhea.

lpetrich

However, it's often advertised as EXACTLY THAT -- a cure-all magic pill.