Marriage: America’s Greatest Weapon Against Child Poverty

Who could imagine that marriage has the greatest impact on avoiding poverty?  I am soooo surprised by this research {insert sarcasm}.  36.5% of single-parent female households are poor!  If you have not read this report you should read it before going on with this blog post:

Marriage: America’s Greatest Weapon Against Child Poverty | The Heritage Foundation

What did you think?  Ever since the "sexual revolution" the marriage rate in America has crashed and crashed hard.  At the same time, unwed childbirth has skyrocketed!  On top of that, less educated women are more likely to give birth outside of wedlock than women who have an education!  This is high school drop-outs or the equivalent.

Now before everyone runs out to get married maybe we should look a little ore closely at this issue.

Poverty

Poverty has been with us and will always be with us.  How do I know?

The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. Matthew 26:11 (NIV)

Here Jesus is speaking of being anointed by an expensive perfume that His disciples said should have been sold to share with the poor.  The point is that poverty will not be stopped if everyone goes out and gets married.

Poverty can be dealt with and we have a responsibility to work towards diminishing the affects of it.

Sex Outside of Marriage

The real issue is the need for people to get a harness on the sin that pushes them to have sexual relationships outside of marriage.  Even Paul says that the desire for sex can be a natural one so those who want to have sex should have sex - EXCEPT that sex should be obtained in the right medium, marriage:

Now regarding the questions you asked in your letter. Yes, it is good to live a celibate life.  But because there is so much sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman should have her own husband. 1 Corinthians 7:1-2 (NLT)

Celibacy is the answer to most problems but to avoid sexual sin, marriage is the preferred option.  But Paul did not end here.  Come a little closer, I want to tell you a secret that most people do not seem to know...are you ready....

SEXUAL RELATIONSHIPS CAN AND DO LEAD TO CHILDBEARING!

Was that loud enough?  Poverty grows worse among those who cannot control themselves and refuse to take the responsible approach to marriage.  The 1960s brought about a tangled web of thinking.  "Make love not war" became the battle cry of the embattled youth of this time period.  Rampant use of drugs and illicit sexual experiences rapidly increased the rate of addictions, of sexual diseases, and yes, unwed child-bearing.

The failed sexual revolution did not free people but enslaved them to unwanted sins (addictions) and showed how unprepared and incapable they were for child-rearing.  What did Paul say?  Get married if you cannot handle being celibate.  Become the responsible one.

The lies of the "sexual revolution", that so many taut as freedom, covered up the fact that the youth of that day were running from responsiblity.  If they did not have to commit to anything, then they felt as if they were free and life could just happen.

Life happened alright.  Marraige rates dropped and unwed child-bearing caused a rapid rise in poverty for young kids who did not ask for these conditions.  Yet, because so many people refuse to commit to a relationship via marriage for the sake of their freedom, we now have kids growing up in homes and on the streets without any idea what true commmittment is or even what responsibility is. And yes, the majority are poor.

So what can the church do?  We should take the lead on the suggestions given in the article:

• Encourage public advertising campaigns on the importance of marriage that are targeted to low-income communities. These campaigns should communicate the value of marriage to adults, children, and society.  So how can the churches come together in their communities and buy up such advertisement on billboards and also on television?
• Provide marriage education programs in high schools with a high proportion of at-risk youth. How can we work with schools to provide non-threatening classes that focus on the positive aspects and necessity of marriage.
• Strengthen federal abstinence education programs that provide critical information on the value of marriage to adults, children, and society. We already do this but have we examined how effective we have been lately among our youth?  How can we do a better job and expand it into our communities?
• Make voluntary marriage education widely available to interested couples in low-income communities. How much time would it take to set up classes at churches about marriage and related issues?  Do we not have the best handbook on marriage?
• Provide marriage education materials and referrals in Title X birth control clinics.  We should be the ones bringing positive, life giving messages to abortion clinics instead of bombing them.  We should also be supporting and promoting pregnancy centers in our community that promote life and marriage.

 Where do we start?  We start at home.  We secure our marriages in prayer and faith.  We teach our kids about marriage and the responsibilities that go along with sex (the birds and the bees talk just became more important).  Next, we go to our churches and start classes to promote healthy marriages.  Every little step takes us forward in this conversation.  No one jumps from Minnesota to Kentucky.  They have to travel mile by mile in order to get there.  The same is true for progress in faith.  Little steps take us towards the goal.

How are you running the race?  What are you doing to help fight poverty?  Where can you begin?