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I got married last October. I'm 21 years old, and still in school. To set a goal for yourself, or to limit yourself by saying you won't get married until after a certain point, is certainly acceptable. However, when people say that no one should get married before a certain point is to, to a certain extent, render God ineffective in our own thought, and to be legalistic. God never put those restrictions on us, and if He brings two people together when they are 18, who are we to say that they should not be married? God decides these things, not us.
First of all, Dawn, to say that God "wrote up the rules" is to almost imply that the "rules" were simply arbitrarily picked by God, rather than based upon those values that are in line with His character, which I think is what the Bible teaches. To just call them "rules" is like saying that we are in a classroom, and God is trying to keep order, but they actually flow from His nature, AKA who He is, so that when we obey what the Bible teaches, and we listen to the Spirit, we are becoming more like Christ, and that should be our goal every day.
However, to address your comment: Let's say we have to people who are having trouble resisting temptation, and they are doing things they shouldn't, and know they shouldn't. The first thing they need to do is seriously evaluate their relationship and ask other, trusted adults to help them assess the relationship.
If the relationship is firm, solid, and worthwhile (in other words, marriage-bound), and the couple believes that they will be married, I don't think that there is necessarily a problem, or anything sinful, about marrying, within reason of course.
If the couple is going to somehow handicap themselves by marrying, due to money problems, school, or somesuch other, then they may want to put more distance between themselves to avoid temptation, and hold off on marriage.
Then again, if the relationship is on rocky ground, or not worthwhile, in other words, not marriage-bound, then perhaps the best option would be to break-up.
Nostalgic Dawn said:
First of all, Dawn, to say that God "wrote up the rules" is to almost imply that the "rules" were simply arbitrarily picked by God, rather than based upon those values that are in line with His character, which I think is what the Bible teaches. To just call them "rules" is like saying that we are in a classroom, and God is trying to keep order, but they actually flow from His nature, AKA who He is, so that when we obey what the Bible teaches, and we listen to the Spirit, we are becoming more like Christ, and that should be our goal every day.
However, to address your comment: Let's say we have to people who are having trouble resisting temptation, and they are doing things they shouldn't, and know they shouldn't. The first thing they need to do is seriously evaluate their relationship and ask other, trusted adults to help them assess the relationship.
If the relationship is firm, solid, and worthwhile (in other words, marriage-bound), and the couple believes that they will be married, I don't think that there is necessarily a problem, or anything sinful, about marrying, within reason of course.
If the couple is going to somehow handicap themselves by marrying, due to money problems, school, or somesuch other, then they may want to put more distance between themselves to avoid temptation, and hold off on marriage.
Then again, if the relationship is on rocky ground, or not worthwhile, in other words, not marriage-bound, then perhaps the best option would be to break-up.
