Options: 1. Get a full ride scholarship to play football in college, leading to a well-paying career as a chemical engineer. 2. Get married without a high school diploma and get a job sweeping floors, then get divorced and end up living in a carboard box, while your ex wife starts an exciting new career working at McDonalds in the early 80s. This is a hard one..
You are wrong about preparation ect. My Dad graduated in 1954 and I served a mission in the 1970’s married in 1979 while in college . I asked my Mission President about the Church position on marriage before education and timing of mission, marriage , children etc. my information from him who was that the official position was no position at the time. He became a General Authority soon there after. At are about this time the Church made public a position of Education as preparation for life! Women too were /are encouraged to get an education in the case of Illness OR Divorce...
They used to push hard the practice of marriage while still in college and having babies right away, and spurning birth control to continue having babies with hardly a break. So hard was it pushed that people thought of it as doctrine. Many couples ended up not being able to handle it, which ended up with the father having to take whatever he could get for nondegree jobs.
I didn't go to college and I make over 300 k a year. College degrees don't get you that. People need to move past college degrees as necessary for success. Get good at a marketable skill and keep pushing.
But the church has taught returned missionaries to get married and have babies right away, without finishing education first or being financially settled. I'm no longer LDS, so I wonder: do they still teach that?
I'm confused too, they encourage marriage very soon after high school, while enrolled in college and no jobs and they encourage having a baby right away, because waiting till you have a job or even a degree is very selfish. of course i'm a never married 42 year old. i must be a selfish old bitch because i don't want to be married. it's not for everyone
It depends. They still teach marriage is the way to go, but to pursue an education as well. Have a baby when you're ready. It's not doctrine to marry right away though - that's just Church counsel ...( advice?). Ultimately it's between you and the Lord and your future spouse when to marry and have children. The Church has eased up on the heavy "encouragement" of marriage and having children. I think because there are many who aren't able to have children and also those who have trouble finding a worthy companion. So, to sum up: Church still encourages marriage and family, but do it when you're ready and turn prayerfully to the Lord for any major life decisions. And no, marriage isn't for everyone. Some people serve the Lord better being single.
I think that's why theres a disclaimer before it. Teen marriage was a pretty big problem in the 1950s and 1960s. That's quite the opposite from today, when people are delaying marriage into their 30s or later. I think the church's advice overall is to be sensible, don't jump into it before you can support yourself (the message portrayed here) but also don't delay it for selfish reasons (the message to today's young adults).
