Teenage pregnancies almost halved thanks to sex ed

[Hetta]

You missed the "ten," right? That would be 23. And I know too many 30-year-olds still waiting to get married, particularly black women.

Do you only know black women, or are only black women waiting to get married? Not being snarky, just curious.

I would suggest that in those "many cultures" the marriage was signed and sealed with the only dealbreaker being the bride's inability to conceive. That's not different from cultures in which the bride had to be guaranteed a virgin: "Married unless the goods are damaged." That is not at all the same thing as casual sex before marriage.

I've never been a proponent of casual sex, but sex before marriage is still sex, regardless of "signed and sealed."

With the aged parents living with their children and being cared for by their grandchildren. Social Security isn't going to last forever even in the US.

The extra adult(s) do what they're able to do--just as all in the Body of Christ should be doing.

This isn't anything new in the world. The current state of the West is what's new--and by no means tested by time. It's only been like this for a generation and a half, and is already showing signs of collapse.

That doesn't really answer my question/point. Our eldest son is married, but if he and his wife came to live with us - and in a couple of years a baby was born - that would be three mouths to feed that we haven't accounted for when figuring out how we will support the other kids through college, while also saving for retirement. Why should kids 2 through 5 suffer because kid 1 married young? It seems to me that every kid should get a fair chance at getting a decent future, so that they can in turn marry/have kids.

I don't know how you get a generation and a half. The nuclear family goes back quite a bit further than that.

But you missed my point. My point was that modern Western Christian parents who expect young people not to have sex are placing a demand of extended abstinence on them that the early Church did not.

I'm not concerned that my kids will have sex. They have learned the principles of Christianity, but they have also been taught safe sex, and also not to hurt others. Those two were actually my biggest birds & bees talks - stay safe/keep the other person safe and don't be a [insert your own word]. That they are smart/safe and kind are bigger to me than "don't have sex."

 

[PreachersWife2004]

I'm not concerned that my kids will have sex. They have learned the principles of Christianity, but they have also been taught safe sex, and also not to hurt others. Those two were actually my biggest birds & bees talks - stay safe/keep the other person safe and don't be a [insert your own word]. That they are smart/safe and kind are bigger to me than "don't have sex."

I'm betting that those go hand-in-hand more than people think. Teen sex is also about respect.