You’re going to have to deal with the fact that some people (e.g. conservative Christians, Jews and Muslims) believe that cohabitation is fornication and a sin.

Also, regardless of their religious views, parents (particularly those of the female) will tend to believe that their child is being used if the marriage is postponed indefinitely.

Sort of reminds me of my fiance and I. Whenever we’re asked how long we’ve been together, we’re asked if we’re planning on getting married. When we say that yes, we plan to, we’re asked for a date, and many people rudely tell us that it’s not “really” an engagement because we have no set date. Or, worse, we’re told the longer we live together without being married, the less likely the marriage will last! When will people learn it’s none of their business??

Get Married. Living together before marriage is fornication, a serious sin in the sight of God.

Emotional problems and guilt may occur later on, as well, if the two eventually decide to split, or even to marry each other. The mother-in-law is right, and is speaking in love, out of concern for this couple’s well-being

FWIW - Having cohabitated for a few months prior to marriage, then been married (12 yr) and divorced, I’ve decided that I won’t cohabitate again, both out of personal belief and out of an example I want to set for my kids (18 y/o daughter, 15 y/o son). My stand on this has been an issue for several women I’ve dated since divorcing.

What about the flip-side of this - maintaining separate residences after marriage? If/when I remarry, I plan to marry a woman who agrees to maintain separate addresses - so we can spend about 1/2 our time apart and 1/2 together. That way, we have our alone time to look forward to when we get tired of looking at each other, and our time together to look forward to when we miss each other. I think we can maintain marital fidelity while doing this - I know I could, and if she couldn’t, she’s not the right one for me anyway.

I’m a cranky old buzzard, I know.

I am amazed how people will sign a contract and commit to buying a car or a house but don’t respect each other enough to marry and commit before God and man, their love for one another. How sad. They are defrauding one another. IMHO

I’m in the same boat as Chris. Together for 3 years, committed and living together for 2, and having a helluva great time. All we ask people who insist that marriage is for us is, why wreck a good thing…it quickly shuts them up. Note that 7 of 10 of our closest married friends are either unhappy in their marriage and looking for “other opportunities,” 4 of those 7 are on their way to divorce, and 3 of those 4 have been married about as long as we’ve been together. So, again, why wreck a good thing?

My husband and I were together for 5 years before we married and lived together for 4 of those years. People asked us all the time when were we going to get married and we would just say that we hadnt set a date yet. I can not imagine in this day and time, marrying someone that I had not lived with. It really takes time to get to know someone and learn what you can and cant live with. I think that juming into a marriage either just to be married or to make others happy, is part of the reason for the extremely high divorce rate. It’s 2008, things are different now. Take your time and when you do get married, take it seriously.

I am so pleased to see that God is present in most of these comments. The article on Transcendent intimacy had a few sentences that revealed the Word of God. Other comments by the author strayed away from that unfortunately. However, those few words that support pleasing God are encouragement to me that the Word is revealed. We as a nation that was founded on God need to do more to please God as that is what He wants. Along these lines, the Texas Board of Education just proposed that the Bible be taught as an elective in school. There is only one Bible Book, the oldest book in history. No matter what religion folks are, there is still only one book. Learning the Bible as a history book is providing poeple with one of the best foundations in history and life.

Al you’re so right but I am a Follower Of Jesus Christ. Regardless, living together before marriage is a sin no matter what cult, sect or religion you’re in. That’s a fact. Seek God first and see what He says about what you are doing or are going to do then go with that. If you don’t know who Jesus is or anything about the Bible, email me and I will answer all that I can. I still want to know why this perverted section is on such a responsible news channel? FOXNEWS, can you answer this? You tried before and were very beligerant.

Getting Insurance when married helps with some problems… Go to http://www.voluntarymart.net and see if it will help you…

Marriage is a moronic idea. It really should have no legal bearing on anything.

It is the brainchild of religion, if that tells you how bad the idea really is…

Fornication is a sin. The last post I put on here got deleted just like the rest. Maybe fox should think about taking this garbage off of here and people won’t be so mean. Why don’t you all email me a good reason for keeping this column on here. The first time you did a shady job and never answered my question. To JESUS the Glory.

Richard Smith, I blieve the definition of fornication is voluntary sexual intercourse between two unmarried persons or a couple not married to one another. The person who wrote the inquiry did not state anything about having sex with their partner, so there for there is no proof that fornication is going on. So shut your yap and leave the preaching for church. If everything is going well in theri relationship, why wreck it. You wouldn’t fix your TV if it wasn’t broken, would you?

Ben, foxnews is not a responsible news channel. However, they are not responsible for your whims either.

This column typically focuses on the rational discussion of human sexuality. Occasionally it steers towards the practice of sex and human relationships.

If you are uncomfortable with that, then you don’t need to read this website.

Not only is fornication a sin, but “living in sin” is also associated with far higher rates of domestic violence than marriage, as well as a much higher (50%) rate of divorce once marriage occurs. Cohabitation isn’t training for marriage, but rather training for jail and divorce. If you want the one you love to respect and cherish you, a great place to start is to tell him or her that sex will come after the ring and a marriage contract are completed.

The happy couple should tell everyone its none of their business. People who have different religious beliefs should keep it to themselves.

I’m really confused by the statistic that living together before marriage increases divorce rates to 50%. Aren’t divorce rates already at 50% in America? And the church is no different…

Aren’t people who wait until their late 20’s + to get married for the first time less likely to get divorced? And no doubt many of those same couples lived together before marriage.

I’m really not pro-living together before marriage but I find people tend to use (or make up?) whatever statistic best suits their argument. It makes me wonder where they get their statistics.

CB:

I am not familiar with the statistics cited; however 50% more than 50% is 75%. 50% of 50% is 25%, when added to 50% is 75%

CB:

I am not familiar with the stats; however 50% more than 50% is only 75%.

(.5*.5)+.5=.75