Feeling Strongly

I have been rolling this subject around in my head for awhile. Well, not just my head but my heart as well. Trying to figure out if I should say anything on my blog or just leave it be. But I don't think leaving it be is necessarily the right thing to do. And maybe saying something is wrong, who knows. But I don't feel like I should have to keep something I feel strongly against to myself. We are open about other wrong things like abortion, rape, murder, etc. And yes, these are all strong crimes but they are also sins. And sin has no ranking in God's eyes. Or so I believe. I believe He sees all sin as just that....sin. Right now I know a couple of different women who are living with men who are not their husbands. One is much closer to me then the other but I know both of them well enough to know that they KNOW right and wrong. They've been taught, they've lived it at some point in their own lives. And it saddens me to see how they've slowly gotten away from what they so strongly believed at some point in their lives. We all sin, I'm not stupid. I know the things I say sometimes, the things I think, even the things I do are wrong. But I continually try to change my ways and live a life I feel is pleasing to God. And there are certain things that are just very, point blank labeled as sin in the Bible. Adultery being one of them. Living and sleeping with a man that you have not made a marital commitment to before God and man is wrong. Period. Living in this sin day in and day out would terrify me. Because I believe that living in deliberate sin and knowing it's a sin mean that your relationship with God has ceased to exist. It's one thing to commit a sin and repent and turn from it. It's another thing to willfully live in it. I've heard people who live together claim that they aren't sleeping together but you can't tell me that a couple who are in love can resist that temptation. I'm sorry, it doesn't happen! It really surprises me that people want to set that kind of example for their children. It's one thing to do it behind people's backs (although that's still just as wrong.) but it's another thing to show that to your children as Ok. Would you truly be Ok with your child living and sleeping with someone that they aren't truly committed to? Yet in our day in age it's ok, no big deal. People say "it just works for us". I don't understand why people want to blend their lives but not just take the actual plunge. I wanted to live with Beej and share my life with him so guess what? We got married! Lol! I know, so old fashion huh?! People "set" dates and then push them back, change them, use excuses to get out of them. They want to wait til they have the money for a "real" wedding, or wait til they can buy a house. Beej and I couldn't afford a wedding so we went to the Justice of the Peace. It sealed the deal just the same as a big wedding. Would a wedding have been nice? Of course it would have, it's a special day but we weren't willing to wait for that. We loved each other and wanted the benefits of being husband and wife. But I think most people want all the benefits without actually paying the price so to speak. It saddens me, it truly does. I am concerned for these women. That they have settled for something less then perfect. That they don't value themselves enough to make a true commitment. That they are willing to cheapen themselves by sleeping with someone other then their husband. It's sad that marriage is no longer valued. Everyone expects to be treated as a family or a couple but I can't do that when you can even take the step and make a legal and spiritual bond to each other. If you are with someone you can't even marry then maybe you shouldn't be with them. Hmmm? This is something I feel strongly about....and I'm not going to be quiet about it just because it isn't popular to think this way. Just like I think stealing, aborting babies, killing people, etc. is wrong so is adultery. And I didn't just make up this opinion, I'm pretty sure it was God's idea in the first place. So why does it suddenly go from being wrong to right or OK in some people's eyes? Perhaps I'll never know.