Living Together (Cohabitation) v Marriage

I was thinking recently that a good analogy of church v community is the practice of people living together rather than getting married. Many couples today choose to 'live together'. I was talking to a couple recently who had lived together for a few years and then decided to marry. I asked why had they not just got married. The answer came from the wife who said ..'well you need to live together to see if your compatible and to test the waters first'. And why had they married, ' it seemed like the right thing to do now', she continued.
This started me thinking of church and why Christians attend religious services and will not however commit to community or a shared life with the beauty of the 'one another' verses intertwined into their daily lives. As I looked at this couple I wondered why people are so afraid to commit to something which has stood the test of time. The stats more stats for people who cohabit and then marry are bad however. A big chunk break up after only a few years and so the process starts again, I wonder how does this affect any children? What does it say about relationships to the children? How much damage does it do to them?

Anyway, they find another partner who they will now live with but not commit to and are usually less likely to marry them after the failure of the first marriage. Of course many people NEVER take the get married stage and they just break up. They conclude, '...that was lucky- we could have been married', thank God we were only living together. Thus 'failure' is the proof of the 'correctness' of 'living together' . I guess we all like a backdoor out or do we?


Does this sound like church or what!

Most believers are living together to test the waters and never intend to go beyond this. There is no need to go beyond and get into some stronger bond when 'all' needs are met in the weaker bond. BUT is this true? Are my needs met in the weaker bond?
Talk to me