Sermon transcription is my new hobby.
This summer Voddie Baucham preached a series of sermons about marriage at Northpoint church. He talked about the extra-biblical wisdom that parents and the rest of society pound into their children. "Haven't you read in second Hesitations where it says 'Thou shalt not marry until after college'?" His response is worth hearing:
"So, here is what you are asking him to do. You are asking him for the next year to two years to be stronger than Samson, more godly than David, and wiser than Solomon. 'cause all of them fell into sexual immorality. He wants this woman, God has designed a relationship where in he can have this woman in righteousness and holiness, but you would rather ask him to be stronger than the strongest man in the bible, wiser than the wisest man in the bible and more godly than the godliest man in the whole bible, so that he can finish school first. Help you."
When from the outset we subordinate marriage to second or third priority in our lives, is it no wonder that they fail?
That is an excellent point by Baucham! And too true regarding the subordination of marriage (and having children, for that matter).
Young adults are not great decision makers. This seems to ask that they make a life-long decision and, furthermore, make that decision based on sexual lust, at an age when they are not prepared to make such decisions. Over 40 percent of marriages entered by people under the age of 20 end in divorce. only 24% percent of first marriages after the age of 25 end in divorce. 23-27 appears to be the optimum window for first marriages. According NFI those marriages not only have a high success rate but also tend to be higher quality marriages. Those ages, for most people, are AFTER college. So, if you want your children to have a happy, successfull marriage then, yes, tell them to wait until after college. On the other hand, if you want your children to have an unfulfilling marriage that ends in divorce tell them it is fine to marry in their early twenties.
I would recommend listening the rest of the sermon series. The idea of marriage that he is talking about is radically different than what is the norm in our culture.
The fact of the matter is that adults make decisions based on lust whether they are married or not. Often doing great damage to their lives, and the lives of those they mingle sexually with.
Basically it comes down to doing it God's way, or doing it our way. Marriage should be a sacrificial love, not a selfish love.
If you have found somebody who you can love sacrificially for the rest of your life, don't wait, or you will mess it up!