‘SLIDING INTO MARRIAGE’
We want to encourage our young people to make intelligent decisions about entering into marriage. Cohabitation produces what is termed ‘Relationship Inertia’. The central idea of ‘Relationship Inertia’ is that some couples, who otherwise would not have married, end up married partly because they cohabit. ‘Well, we may as well live together to save on expenses’, or some other meaningless reason.
This leads to ‘We may as well marry’. They ‘slide’ into decisions rather than positively making them. Therefore it is easier to ‘slide’ out of them. Research shows they tend to ‘slide’ into marriage (a negative approach or at best inertia), rather than ‘decide’ (a positive deliberate decision) to marry implemented by non-cohabiting individuals. Again research shows that the cohabitating couples who ‘slide’ into marriage separate and divorce more readily, as they have not made as conscious a decision to marry in the first place.
Because of our work in Marriage and Family areas, we keep abreast of the latest research and facts. Progressively more is coming to light to validate our Christian position and stand. We have listed the findings of some of the latest research on the ill-effects of cohabitation outside of marriage. Trust they will be helpful for you in gently and wisely helping couples who are coming direct from the world into our churches.
