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Living Together Before Marriage
Introduction
Love is a beautiful relationship; it binds two souls and hearts together. When a man and a woman are in love, they share their feelings of love, joy, and sincerity. People in love wish to stay with each other all the time. They wish to spend each and every moment with each other, which is a very sweet thing. But apart from sharing feelings with each other, some couples also believe in sharing resources and living space with each other (Malek). Couples move in together with each other and share the same living space with each other. This act of living together before marriage is called living in.
The act of living is controversial conduct and has been a topic of debate for a very long time. Some people believe that living together is a completely fine act, while some argue that living together is not a good thing. Most of the people who oppose the idea are from priests, fathers, religious scholars and people from the clergy. No matter what the worldly benefits are, living together before marriage is not only an extremely unethical and immoral activity but also a sin in the eyes of the religion, so a person should abstain from it.
Discussion
A live-in relation was not so common among the couples even if we go some thirty years back, but now the trends are changing, in fact, they have changed quite a lot. The idea of living together and sharing the same living space or house before marriage with your loved one was considered an extremely bad idea some years back. Even the most secular ones thought many times before actually indulging in the act, but now things have changed. The trend of moving in before marriage has increased amazingly up to 1500%since 1960s and 30% since the last decade (NeJaime). Although the world is following this trend blindly, this does not justify the action. Calling an apple a banana will not change the reality.
And that reality is that living before marriage with your loved one or even fiancé is an extremely immoral and unethical act. The topic has been under discussion for a very long time and has been a controversy for ages. The reason behind this debate is the extreme nature of the arguments given by both parties. The people in favor of live-in relationships present a long list of arguments in favor of the act, but the logic and arguments presented by the people opposing the idea are also not weak. It is backed up by the instructions given by religion and God directly. There are various clear verses present in the Holy Bible that state that living together for a couple before marriage is strictly forbidden. Some of them have been quoted below:
"You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." Matthew 5:27-28.
“Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.” 1 Corinthians 6:18.
“…It is good for a man not to touch a woman. Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband.” 1 Corinthians 7:1-2.
“For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person…has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.” Ephesians 5:5.
“For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in the passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God.” 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5.
“Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled, but fornicators and adulterers God will judge.” Hebrews 13:4.
Counterargument
The people who are in favor of live-in relationships or living together before marriage present different arguments to justify their decision. The first and most popular argument present by such couples is the test of compatibility and development of understanding between bort the partners (Pedersen). The second argument is practicality. Couples argue that it becomes very economical for them to share the living space as they do not have to pay the rent and bills at different places. They also state that living together saves the cost of groceries, utilities and buying separate furniture.
However, whatever the reason may be, what is wrong will remain wrong, especially if the religion prohibits it and indulging in any such act that has been strictly prohibited by the Lord in such a manner is an open war with Him. It is a clear denial of His orders and a very big example of disobedience of God.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, it can be concluded that living with your partner, before marriage is not a good act. It is an extremely immoral and unethical act. Our religion also prohibits it strictly, and a number of verses from the Bible can be found in this respect. The people giving arguments in favor of live-in provided different arguments that there are multiple benefits to this act like the couple can develop a lot of understanding and check that whether they are compatible with each other or not. No matter how strong the arguments are, and no matter how many people in society have adopted the trend, the concept is still forbidden by God, and the couple should abstain from it.
Works Cited
Malek, Normi Binti Abdul. "Is Cohabitation an Alternative to Marriage?." Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences 219 (2016): 12-18.
NeJaime, Douglas. "Before Marriage: The Unexplored History of Nonmarital Recognition and Its Relationship to Marriage." Calif. L. Rev. 102 (2014): 87.
Pedersen, Willy. "Forbidden fruit? A longitudinal study of Christianity, sex, and marriage." The Journal of Sex Research 51.5 (2014): 542-550.
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