Because I am a BYU student, I hear about marriage every day. Whether it is coming from teachers, church leaders, or my peers, I cant seem to escape it! Don't get me wrong, I am a huge fan of the family but is this constant stress on marriage warping our perception of it and clouding our judgement in the process? To make a long story short... yes... it is. Marriage is a wonderful thing and it is the highest calling we have on this earth. The only problem is, young adults who have only recently experienced freedom are being encouraged to get married. We are constantly told to involve the spirit in our spouse selection but are we ever told to use our common sense? I am not trying to put any blame on our leaders or cut the gospel out but come on people use your brain!
I have heard so many people say that they prayed about their significant other and received the go ahead to marry them. However, was that the spirit or was it their infatuation with the other person taking over. It takes months for infatuation to settle down so wouldn't it make sense to wait until we see clearly before we consider or discuss marriage? BYU is a Christian school with a very intense spiritual atmosphere. Many times, we get lost in that atmosphere and confuse the lords answers with our own. There was a study done at BYU Idaho done years ago that measured the students marital happiness. The study showed that students who married quickly started out happy but after the first year or two they became very unhappy with their marriage. Couples who held off on marriage tended to last longer and also rated higher in marital satisfaction.
I have heard so many people say that they prayed about their significant other and received the go ahead to marry them. However, was that the spirit or was it their infatuation with the other person taking over. It takes months for infatuation to settle down so wouldn't it make sense to wait until we see clearly before we consider or discuss marriage? BYU is a Christian school with a very intense spiritual atmosphere. Many times, we get lost in that atmosphere and confuse the lords answers with our own. There was a study done at BYU Idaho done years ago that measured the students marital happiness. The study showed that students who married quickly started out happy but after the first year or two they became very unhappy with their marriage. Couples who held off on marriage tended to last longer and also rated higher in marital satisfaction.