From the Pulpit

Mankind is such a mystery. Maybe in order to understand mankind, we have to look at the word itself. Mankind. Basically, it's made up of two separate words— “mank” and “ind.” What do these words mean? No one really knows and that's why it is such a mystery, as is mankind.

Another mystery to me is how people quote statistics without any explanation. I just read yet another blog post where a pastor quotes that 50 percent of all marriages end in divorce. The “50 percent divorce rate” gets quoted a lot because it is sensational and shocking. It gets attention, which gets people to attend your marriage series or seminar. Fortunately, it's not really true unless you meet very specific criteria.

According to the annual “State of Our Unions” marriage study, www.marriage.about.com, here are some of the factors that decrease your risk of divorce within the first 10 years of marriage.

Annual income: If you make more than $50,000 per year, your odds of divorce are 30 percent lower than those making less than $25,000 a year.

Living together: Couples who do not live together before marriage are 20 percent less likely to divorce than those who chose to cohabitate before marriage.

Waiting for marriage: If you wait until you're 25 years old to marry, your odds of divorcing are 24 percent less than someone who marries at 18 or under.

Waiting for children: If you wait until you are married for at least seven months before having kids, your odds of divorce decrease 24 percent versus a couple having a child before marriage.

Family history: If your parents are married, you're 14 percent more likely to stay married than if your parents had divorced.

Religion: If you practice a faith, you're 14 percent more likely to stay married than if you don't.

Education: If you attend college, even for a day, your odds of divorce decrease 13 percent as opposed to a high school dropout.

This study summarizes all of these statistics pretty well by saying: “If you are a reasonably well-educated person with a decent income, come from an intact family, are religious, and marry after age 25, without having a baby or living together first, your chances of divorce are very low indeed.” Even if you just meet a few of the criteria, your odds of divorce are still a lot lower than the nationally advertised 50 percent rate, but you never hear that because it doesn't sell as many newspapers or get as many people to your marriage series.

It is a mystery to me why pastors don't give the full statistic. Maybe if we break the word “pastor” down, it will give us a better understanding. It is comprised of two words — “pas” and “tors.” No one really knows what those two words mean, either. So, just like those two words, pastors will remain a mystery.

Pastor Eric Partin is the lead pastor of Shoreline Church in Destin and can be reached at epartin@cox.net