The Marriage Graph
6/20/13
I was surfing the web the other night and went to one of my favorite news pages. I had not really heard of any major developments in the news but I still randomly monitor these pages for any updates of what is occurring within the world’s governing bodies. I came across the headline about the decline in the amount of marriages over the past 40 years within this country. It caught my eye so I clicked on the link but I had no idea of what I was about to find. This article will step on some toes and some might even disagree with the evidence and that is ok. But I ask you to read the words and look at the graph provided, take notes if you wish, but try and understand what is at stake here in this graph and what it means for our country.
I am going to provide the link to this story at the end of the article so that you can see for yourself of the data that I am about to explain and it might help a bit more if you can put the graph together with these words. The study and results were conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics which is part of the U S Census Bureau so the study was conducted by a legitimate group and not by some unknown sources.
The time frame for this study and its respective results was conducted beginning in 1970 and ending in 2010, even though the data for this topic is still currently being collected. It is obvious that the amount of marriages within this country is in a declining pathway and it really does not seem to be changing course anytime soon either. If a CEO of a company had this consistent decline in production within her / his operations it would not be too much longer until the doors to that company would be shut permanently, which begs the same question concerning the sanctity of the institution of marriage.
The first observation that I noticed is that in 1972 was the last year that marriage had a completed rising trend where the number of marriages are concerned. It was in this year that the most marriages were reported per the study group and from that year on, the percentages dropped. The next significant year in the graph is the very next year and a major event occurred within our country that has continued to shape our minds, thoughts, beliefs and our demands. Many older adults understand what occurred in 1973 and what that landmark case in the Supreme Court handed down. The year was 1973 and Roe vs. Wade was handed down that changed the course of life within our country. Abortion on demand became a legal means of reproductive medicine and another choice of human life was made clear.
On the graph you will notice that the average marriages per year was basically steady up until the year 1973 when there was another significant drop in the number of marriages that were reported. I find this drop very interesting on many levels however I am not going to dwell on those circumstances; I will just let your heart do the thinking on that one. Another point of interest about this year is this, that on the graph it demonstrates that every since 1973 the decline in the number of marriages actually begins its steady drop with no recovery or rise being seen again.
As the remaining years of the 70s pass, the amount of marriages reported continues its slow steady decline but a change comes in the mid 1980s. Another significant drop occurs approximately in the mid 1980s. The same older adults reading this article will remember that during the early 1980s it was very popular to be a Christian and Christianity grew exponentially and the western nations witnessed church growth that astounded the entire world. So what occurred in the mid 1980s that changed the course of marriage once again?
The answer lies within the church itself and probably the most publicized church scandal ever to hit the Christian world. In the waning months of 1984 and then in the beginning months of 1985, a large organization called PTL along with a man named Jim Bakker came under fire for numerous issues that over the next three years would rock the entire Christian world. The scandal crossed denominational lines and eventually ended up with prison terms and total disgrace of the Church in world standing. To this day the Church has never recovered from this scandal and with further scandals in the next few years, solidified the Church’s standing within the world. If one takes a closer look at this time frame 1984 – 1985’s drop occurred within the same time frame as the PTL scandal. Coincidence? I think not. For everything that man does has and serves its own purpose and for this reason alone these two instances that I have covered so far are related.
The third example of the marriage graph that I am going to highlight occurs in the mid late 1990s. Even though there was a slight drop at the beginning of 1990 it corresponds with what transpires and accumulates in and about 1997 and cumulates in 1999. The election of 1992 saw a huge change in the political scene with the election of a southern governor from Arkansas. Other recent past occurrences that dealt with the same issues of concern had been proven as deadly for a presidential campaign but this one was different in that the public was willing to disregard the subject and advance his position. I am convinced that the slight drop in 1990 was the beginning of what was going to happen in the marriage rates come in the late 1990s, and so was proven.
The presidential scandal that became public in 1997 and that drug on until the end of President Clinton’s term coincided with another significant drop in the percentages of marriages and represents the most volatile movements within the graph of all the years that the study was conducted. The small rise in the increase in marriages reported is also witnessed but the rise was quickly quelled and within another year the declining trend had once again taken hold and had dropped the percentages even deeper. Once again I cannot deny that these events are not related. It is shocking to me to see this pattern and just how much significance that all three of these instances has in common.
I want to share a few details about this issue that some might not realize. First of all the institute of marriage is the closest example that we humans have that reminds us of the process of covenant, the covenant that God has with man. This institution is the most sacred and personal relationship that we have with humans and from the graph that is shown it is evident that that institution and belief is being destroyed. Marriage is the prime example of the extent that God wants to know us and this desire should be the reciprocal point of our everyday life towards Him. Yet we scoff at this institution and call it archaic in nature and that we have evolved from living that type of lifestyle. And while we continue to “advance” our views concerning this topic the definition of relationships is being rewritten by our own hands, which originates from a finite and flawed logistical nature.
The second point of importance in this study that I find interesting is that all three branches of government are represented in this study. Most people will recognize two of the branches but miss the third but it is there. In 1973 the Supreme Court rules for abortion. This portion of the government represents the judicial branch of our leadership. The other obvious branch of government that is involved is the executive branch of our government with the involvement of President Clinton. The third branch is the legislative branch and it is represented by the Jim Bakker scandal in that whether you wish to believe this fact or not our country was founded by people who wanted to get out of the chains of forced religion and to establish their own country with worshiping God in their own way as the center point of their reasoning.
As we all know that when humans take over ideas and concepts things are going to run amuck and with the pilgrims we have many great examples of this religion and relationship failures. However, the foundational laws were set and God allowed for this country to be forged upon those relationship laws with Him which means that these actions of the people that came over here centuries ago set the foundation for basic freedoms of worships, hence the laws of the land which represent the legislative ideas and concepts of our government.
The third interesting point about this graph is the time frame on which these three events take place. The first is in 1973 and the second event comes to a head in 1985, a difference of twelve years. With the second event occurring in 1985, comes the third event which comes to light in 1997, which is also twelve years later from the second event. All three events in this graph represent the source of sex and something that differs from the routine ideas of marriage.
This graph represents a distinct pattern in how the modern day human thinks about their relationships and how they forge them with reality. It is obvious that we are losing touch with what this graph is actually saying to us and that is not only are we running away from the relationship ties that we have with God but we are also running from the only true means of security in human relationships as well. If this pattern continues, and from the results of this graph it seems like no change is in store anytime soon, we are headed for a relationship disaster with each other in which we will have no idea of how to truly correct.
It will be interesting to see what the graph holds in the next few decades since we have decided to change the rules of human marriage and so called intimate relationships. I have a feeling that the graphical direction of the rate of marriages will continue to decline and keep its patterns of downfall. But what effects will these decisions have upon our individual lives and our abilities to have just any normal type of relationship with our fellow human beings. I am not optimistic about this pattern but it is the natural response of humans when they voluntarily try and do things on their own. I guess we wait and see what occurs over the next decade or so and pray hard that humanity wakes up and realizes that it really does need God within their lives.
Here is the link to the graph used in this article:
DLB
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