BELIEF IN MARRIAGE part 1

It's hard not to talk about marriage and religion for most people. At least that's what I found out when I posed the question about believing in marriage. Christianity or God came up almost every time. Putting in work came up just as much but more so religion.

"Any person who is a christian should believe in marriage. The bible is very clear about that." This is what I was told by a facebook friend and my mother said her amen to that. (No one was more ecstatic about my marriage than her.) And the bible is an advocate for marriage, but (and I know I will probably catch hell for this) the bible is an advocate for many things. How far do we take it? I mean, the bible also states as a married man; if you look at a women, other than your wife, with lust you should gouge your eye out. WOW. Pretty intense, don't you think? I am a married woman, not a corpse. I mean what woman in her right mind would not want to take a second and maybe a third look at Malik Yoba, Shemar Moore, or that sexy Boris Kodjoe.

The bible does say:
Gen. 2:18, 21-24
The Lord God said, 'It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him'...and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh.
Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, 'This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman,' for she was taken out of man.' For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. (NIV)

This is technically the first wedding. Some say this proves that it's a part of God's design. My Jehovah Witness (which is irrelevant except we are discussing religion and marriage) co-worker who has been married for 7 years states, "God meant for marriages to be. God knew we needed companionship, knew we need love, knew we needed intimacy. So he brought forth this sacred union. People in long term relationships does not have God's blessing. Those relationships are just foolishness." Yes, she said foolishness. I was taken back because I was in a relationship with my husband for several years before we made it legal; which included cohabitation. (GASP)

Maybe she has a point, because statistics show that over 50% of marriages end in divorce. (Census 2007) And a man by the name, Glenn Stanton; of the evangelical church states, Christians who regularly attend church divorce at a rate 35% lower than secular couples. Which is good. Anything to uplift the family I am for. I just would like to know what's the percentage for our black families? Saving that for part 2.