If christians are so moral and will only have sex inside marriage?

Question

Why does every statistic I examine indicate that
a) the bible belt has a high divorce rate
b) the bible belt has a high incidence of STDs
?

Shouldn't we by rights expect almost zero divorces and zero STDs in a majority-christian population? Does it look like that abstinence stuff is working, or does it look like it is having the opposite effect?

http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?page=article&Article_ID=10961
http://www.cdc.gov/nchstp/dstd/Press_Releases/National_Report_Card_STDs.htm
http://www.cdc.gov/std/stats01/Chlamydia/sld004.htm
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5143a4.htm
http://www.cdc.gov/std/stats01/south/sld004.htm
http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/surveillance/resources/slides/epidemiology/index.htm

Answer 1

Correct
Current thinking in psychology is that it is normal to have a troubled marriage.

The churches have adopted the view of psychology.(troubled relationship is normal) Which is incorrect teaching according to the bible.

Answer 2

Christians have been portrayed as being so "moral". This is not an accurate view. Christians are imperfect people who are suppose to practice a "way of life".

Behavior modification is a very hard thing to do. Some churches "bank" on a condemning doctrine to keep their members in line and "paying". They don't work on behavior modification except for the brainwashing of "Will a man rob God"

Millions of people go home from church services on Sunday mornings having been spiritually abused and believing that they are ok but they are not.

This is a very good question. Thanks for bringing this issue up.

Answer 3

So you think that you could get married with the intent to have sex and then get divorced the next day and that God would not know what you were up too? Asking a question like that... you might as well ask if God is stupid. Not to mention the fact that once you divorce, you can't ever get married again unless it was for sexual immorality. So now are you going to throw that in the plans too? You or the Ho has sex with someone else making it ok to remarry? Like I said, you might as well ask "is God stupid?"

Answer 4

Well obviously if these people had been practicing abstinence they would not have and STDs, unless of course it was hereditary.
So it's not a question of whether this ABSTINENCE stuff is working, but whether Christianity is working, but I think you're missing the point.
Christianity is not about being perfect or following rules. As a sinner we're all hopless on this point and are bound to fall at some time.
Christianity is about forgiveness and mercy. It's not my actions which get me into heaven, but God's mercy and sacrifice.
Christians sin all the time.
They stumble, they fall.
But when we do obey God's commandments, it's not because we think it will get us into heaven, it's because we love God.

Jesus once said, "If you love me, follow my commandments."

"He did not say if you want to go to heaven, follow my commandments."

So you see Christians are just normal struggling sinners like everyone, only with the grace of God as comfort.
We have divorces, premarital sex, and other immoral problems too.

Answer 5

Experts cite low household incomes (Oklahoma ranks 46th and Arkansas 47th), and a tendency for couples to marry at a younger age than in many other states.

Religion may play a role, since some of the lowest divorce rates are in northeastern states with relatively high household incomes and large numbers of Roman Catholics whose church doesn't recognize divorce

Answer 6

You are addressing the bad effects of "religion" - not "spirituality", which runs diametrically opposite to "religion".
When you have people pursuing "religion" - you have people sneaking around, external appearances for acceptance prevail and pretentious acts are performed to avoid disapproval of others. Plainly; "religion" sucks and fails its practitioners because of the ritualistic legalism involved. Those, who do not subscribe to a "religious" way of life, and are Christian, truly have a relationship with God, the Father, through Jesus Christ, and therefore, are making a positive difference in this world. Now; my question for you is this. What religion are you adhering to, that makes you the "judge", over the people of the "Bible belt" ? Are you of the religion of $, sex, drugs, intellectualism, careers, houses, cars, cigarettes, etc., etc. ??? What you serve, is YOUR god.

Answer 7

Christianity itself teaches that marriages are meant to last a lifetime. The problem isn't with the faith, it's with the faithful. American culture is slowly drifting away from many of our most traditional values...including marriage. This fact isn't just borne out among Christians, it's happening in virtually every social niche in America.

It does not follow that if Christians (who are after all human) make the same mistakes and choices as other humans, that Christianity itself is flawed...only that Christians are still human.

Answer 8

just like atheist who have funerals when someone in their family dies. I thought you had given up on logic after that stupid remark you made to my question. "That's a nice rant you got going there. Shame it doesn't really lead anywhere." Next time either read the question before attempting to answer it, or don't respond at all.

Answer 9

People are people. These statistics are significant in R&S because it puts the lie to the whole "Without religon we would have no morality" BS.

Answer 10

Christianity in fact goes against the nature of the flesh. It strives for something higher, perfection. We cannot attain this, but we are obliged to try. Many many people stumble and fall short of this, but we are not judged by God harshly. Abstinence in a world that is constantly bombarded with Sex (as we know 'sex sells') is becoming increasingly harder.