Mike McManus and his wife have counseled with hundreds of engaged couples. He is also the author of Marriage Savers: Helping Your Friends and Family Avoid Divorce
. Consider his observations on the consequences of premarital sex:
- Couples who engage in sex before marriage are far more likely to divorce. According to a study by the National Survey of Family Growth, women who have premarital sex increase their odds of divorce by about 60 percent. It is, McManus notes, “secular evidence for St. Paul’s injunction, “flee fornication.”
- The more promiscuous you are before marriage, the more likely you are to commit adultery AFTER marriage. (The sexually self-indulgent have had no practice in self-restraint.)
- Couples who live together before marriage are unlikely to marry. A Columbia University study found that “only 26 percent of women surveyed and a scant 19 percent of men” married the person they were living with. Another study showed that even if they do marry, couples who begin their marriages through cohabitation are almost twice as likely to divorce within 10 years compared to all first marriages: 57 percent to 80 percent.
- People who have premarital sex run the chance of marrying someone who’s not right for them. Why? Because sexual intimacy can be emotionally blinding: it makes couples feel closer than they really are. “Real love,” McManus says, “can stand the test of time without physical intimacy. The sexually active lose objectivity.”
- Couples who sleep together outside of marriage “often suffer guilt and fear due to the dangers of STDs or unwanted pregnancy. Guilt can lead to frigidity and impotence.”
This post is an excerpt from Boundless.org; an article entitled The Best Sex.