Is Cohabitation a Good Way to Prepare for Marriage? Part 2
Chapter 2 of the Unification Principle is The Human Fall. Since God created this beautiful ideal of the family, what went wrong? We know there is this being called Satan, the perpetrator of evil, but where did Satan come from; what was the root of sin? What is the fall of man? Christians traditionally say it is some kind of vague fruit, but the Unification Principle says that it is clearly a symbolic fruit, not the fruit of an actual tree. What would be so tempting that Adam and Eve would be tempted to fall? Just an apple? They had plenty to eat.
We have a clue. After they ate this fruit they covered their lower parts, indicating that this was a sexual sin. You can learn the details by studying The Fall of Man here.
The Fall of Man had to do with perfected Adam, symbolized by the tree of life, and Eve, symbolized by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It was not just a snake which tempted them. This snake was symbolic of a spiritual being, because this snake conversed with Adam and Eve. It knew the will of God. It caused the human fall. The angel fell as a result of an illicit sexual relationship. Jesus said in John 8:44 "You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires." How could the devil be our father? The only way that can be true is if there is some kind of blood relationship. Human beings are the descendants of Satan, the ancient serpent who tempted human beings.
Two excellent resources are UrbanLifeTraining.org and UnionStation.love. Urban Life Training raises youth leaders to model and teach about the benefits of sexual abstinence, in preparation for marriage and successful family formation. This mission is carried out by local chapters. You can form a chapter in your own area. You can also become a member of Urban Life Training as a school, a parent, or an individual and gain access to all of the great materials at urbanlifetraining.org.
These materials include Relationship Intelligence slides, videos, activities, video clips for discussion, peer counseling video clips and scripts, presenter training recordings, the STAR Interfaith Leadership Training 10 week program and much more. These are all include in your membership for just $49 per year.
Check out the many article and newsletters at Urban Life Training, too, such as Eight Facts about Forced Vaccination in West Virginia. Find out how you can form a Chapter in your local community, or if you are a college student, on your college campus. Check out back issues of this newsletter, too.
Our sister site is UnionStation.love, the site for finding your eternal match. Be the One. Find the One. Those who are abstinent before marriage can find their eternal match. You will be able to learn from the Blessing Preparation Course and prepare to become a Blessed family. This is for those who are either sexually abstinent or who have returned to sexual abstinence. This is a purpose driven and purposeful way to find your eternal match. All candidates are verified, they are real people; there are no fake profiles. You will have a meaningful process geared toward finding your eternal match.
In conclusion, is cohabitation a good way to prepare for marriage? The answer is a resounding "No". Don't do it. If you are cohabiting and you are serious about getting married, then move out. The only exception that I would suggest is that if you already have children, you effectively are a married couple. In that case, you can apply for our Blessing Preparation Course. You will at some point go through a period of 40 days of sexual abstinence with your mate. Then you can become a Blessed couple. And, of course, you should get legally married as part of that whole process. In general, though, if you don't have children, I would highly urge you to move out. If that breaks your relationship, so be it. It wasn't a very good one anyway.
It is the most mind bending thing when so many people think it is good to live together when it is absolutely not a good thing to live together without marriage.
Urban Life Training emphasizes the success formula for youth of graduating from high school, not having children until you are married and at least 21 years old, and getting a full time job. If you follow all of these rules, there is a two percent chance that your family will live in poverty. If you don't follow any of these rules, there is an 74 percent chance that your family will live in poverty. It's really simple, but our whole society is emphasizing the wrong thing. Finding your eternal match is really about you preparing yourself. It will help a lot if you take some practical steps, like joining UnionStation.love and practicing abstinence yourself, or returning to abstinence.