Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: geoff@pmafire.inel.gov (Geoff Allen) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Divorce Message-ID: Date: 6 Dec 90 09:22:52 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: WINCO Computer Engineering, INEL, Idaho Lines: 43 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu HWT@bnr.ca (H.W.) writes: >A friend of mine (or was it in this group?) told me about a priest whose >marriage preparation classes resulted in 50% of the couples deciding not >to get married. I suspect that those who went ahead had far fewer divorces. >It is, in general, easy to get married, even easy to get a church wedding. >Most priests don't seem eager to probe the nature of the relationship >carefully, either in formal marriage preparation courses or informally. Before he'll perform a wedding our pastor requires: Both persons have placed their trust in Jesus. The couple will have been dating one another *exclusively* for at least 1 year by the time of the wedding. The couple will have been engaged for at least 6 months by the time of the wedding. The couple has had at least 1 fight. He also requires 6 weeks of pre-marital counseling, which deals with everything from sex and finances to the basic difficulites of getting two sinners of different sexes to live together, understand each other, and get along. :^) It's pretty thouough. The last thing he wants to do is help anyone rush into marriage. >I think it should be at least as hard to get married as it is to get divorced. Absolutely. Semi-amusing anecdote: When my wife and I went to get our Marriage License, there was a sign in the office that said ``Marriage License: $25. No checks.'' Below this, someone had penciled in ``Divorce: $250,000. Cash.'' (Dollar values mentioned here are best guesses based on fuzzy 4-year-old memory, but you get the idea.) -- Geoff Allen \ Since we live by the Spirit, uunet!pmafire!geoff \ let us keep in step with the Spirit. geoff@pmafire.inel.gov \ -- Gal. 5:25 (NIV)