This is ridiculous. You want to punish couples who are happily married by charging them a $50 fee to renew their license? We should get rewarded for our commitment, maturity and decision making skills. The point of DATING is so that you can see whether you two are good together. And you really think that this would be better on the kids? Absolutely not. If you want a marriage license, then you should look into a child-bearing license as well.

I have never been more livid after reading the Eastern Echo than I was today. Marriage has an experiation date, death. When you say vows you say “until death do us part”. The idea behind marriage is very simple actually, loving someone unconditionally and being by their side forever. It’s because of people like you and Jenny Mcarthy that our divorce rates have gone up so much. I am so sick of hearing people talk about marriage like it’s a hassle and something you can just leave if you don’t like it. It’s not, it’s a commitment, a very serious commitment that should be made with mature thinking and love not because you feel society tells you to. You want to taste test a marriage, hello it’s called dating/engagement. Live together, spend time together and see how things work, if they don’t work out don’t get married. Heck you could do that for 4 years or even 10. I am honestly scared of what may come if people keep treating the idea of marriage like this.

You obviously have the wrong idea of marriage. You shouldn’t ever get married if you’re already planning for a divorce. I think the post by Heather Brown says enough.

Dear Hannah- I can see from the staggering statistic that you are looking at do not look promising for long-term marriage. Yes, it is very sick to look at the numbers. I empathize with you, as I myself am looking to be married one day. Looking at the way the world is going is not too bright. Yet, we must shed some light on marriage. For one, some of our parents have not set a good example. My parents have been together for over 30 years, but it was not always good. During the rough spots, it drove me out of the house to engage in illicit activities to cover up pain. I had a best friend who after 6 months of marriage was cheated on…needless to say they were divorced shortly thereafter. I know good godly men and women who have also divorced. Being in ministry, where we are supposed to be people, following after Christ, who believe in reconciliation, healing, redemption, and true love and then to hear of divorce rates in the church..YIKES! God help! In all this, set against this generation, I still believe in long-last marriages. Healthy and whole! Don’t let the situations you see determine how things could be for your life. We must be willing to do what to takes to lay down our selfishness, our materialism, our individual necessities to make it work. We must work at it. Unfortunately, at the same time we are influenced by lazy people around us who have given up. Truly sad. (not always the case – infidelity and abuse are acceptable means of divorce) Don’t give up…don’t give in to the spirit of this age. You can make, you can do it. I see the hope in article your article for marriage but don’t let Hollywood determine your future.

To pastor: Shouldn’t marriage, according to scripture, only be reserved for those who would otherwise burn in their lust for one another and the most appropriate state to be in is celibate, especially if you found God while single(I Cor. 7:8-9, 7:20, 7:32-35)? Does not marriage take your eyes/attention off God? See – there would be a LOT less divorce if Christians didn’t marry because of imminent eschatology and their ACTUAL following their Word of the Lord in its entirety… not just the parts that are convienient to you. So before you begin to preach to Hannah about her right to an opinion that may have merit – based on possible social and economic trends that are relevant, try actually looking at all of the “data” that you as a Christian claim to use in your decision making about such an instituion as marriage.

Dear Tucker – Thank you for your insight. Would you mine sharing where you stand in this whole discussion? What is your worldview in regards to marriage? Are you going to marry? Are you hopeful about marriage?

I wouldn’t see it as a punishment as much as a re-commitment. It seems impractical in today’s ever changing society for people to think far enough head to consider 50 years from now. Most people barely have next week planned…much left the rest of their life. And why would it be a punishment? Then wouldn’t you think that paying for an education is punishment? Or having to pay in order to drive legally? Or even taxes on products you NEED to survive. In today’s society of give and take this is another way of give and take. Adding to it one area that NO ONE brought up was what this does to children…of any age. Forget the adults but I thought we were all supposed to be involved in marriage for the children. Isn’t this a better alternative instead of what’s currently going on???

Dear pastor: I really don’t have a “worldview” on marriage as what may work in our culture/country/society may not work in others. Nor do I think that my opinion on this subject holds any weight. I feel each of us has the right to decide for ourselves how important the instituion of marriage should be. It does hold many economic and societal implications, more so than religious ones in this country and so for many that is all that matters. But when religion is brought into it, it seems that too often that the measure that is used is often tilted towards ones own biases- and from there it is certain verses or views expounded by past doctrine (& usually not in its entirety) that is brought to bear on those who may feel diferently. I am totally for you having your belief that marriage is a sacred institution… perhaps if more people thought that way then we would have less divorce. But they don’t and therefore we have the situation we do a divorce rate with a national avg. at about 50-55% (of course this varies by location and socio-economic status) and subsequently in need of a different way to look at/deal with marriage. I think Hannah was trying to bring in a different view to show that there are those out there trying to make it a better fit for many people. Maybe have two kinds of marriage – who knows, but the old way isn’t working for everybody – or would you disagree? And stomping our feet and telling Hannah she is a a moron (not in those direct words of course) for holding different views than you or the other three women who commented will result in nothing. At least Hannah is brainstorming in a sense.