Sarah Palin’s daughter’s pregnancy and the announcement that she is planning to get married to her
baby daddy Levi Johnston, has once again brought into the arena of public opinion the discussion of marriage. Some are calling this arrangement a “shot-gun” marriage.
One of the debates that arises out of this is whether or not someone should get married as a result of an unplanned pregnancy. I know there are many factors that determines this decision such as the age of the individuals, their financial standings, the length of time that they have been in a relationship, etc.
These marriages because they are unplanned, have a lesser chance of surviving than those that are planned. I am an advocate for couples not getting married just because a pregnancy occurred unless plans were underway for marriage. Getting married doesn’t solve the problem; it may make it worse in the long run.
I can understand why some parents “push” their children into such unplanned marriages. Most times it is to “save face”. It’s to try and lessen the embarrassment. It’s an attempt to legitimize this newly formed family. It gives them a response to their critics. They (the family) can say “at least they are married”. I know this is weak but their argument is that it’s better than having no plausible response.
Sometimes couples who find themselves in these situation had no intention of ever getting married. They were just having a sexual need met. They might not even be in love. Maybe one of them might see love as the reason they are having sex. As the saying goes, “females give sex to get love, males give love to have sex”. Now I know this is not true in all cases but it bears the point.
Would you encourage the couple I described above to get married? What would hold this marriage together?
In Bristol’s case, I would add that both her and the baby father are definitely too young to get married. Neither of them are ready for such adult responsibilities. I know there are those who have gotten married this early and have had a successful marriage, but these are the exceptions. More have failed than have succeeded.
One thing I know and that is both Bristol and Levi’s lives will never be the same. Was this planned? Is this what they had dreamed of for their lives? Was this their goal? I would have a hard time believing it was. How about you?
The million dollar questions: “Did Bristol planned to get pregnant?” “Was this her first time?” (See my post on First time sex leads to death) Some girls do become pregnant to hold onto a guy and / or to rebel; get back at parents. Just thinking out loud. What’s your thoughts?
"who are you & what do you want" ... good read"
Unplanned marriages should never be called “shotgun” solutions to unplanned pregnancies. I think it is a personal decision whether one gets married as a solution to a pregnancy. If one is grounded in Christ then family instinct will be strong. Many believe that the child is a gift from God and may have been chosen by God for greater purposes. The Bible is strewn with examples of the Lord selecting lowly people with character flaws and issues to be used for His greater purpose. I don’t believe it up to us to decide whether a marriage due to an unplanned pregnancy is going to fail based upon prejudicial biases or statistical analysis. We are talking about people and personal decisions.
We should all support and not second guess or prophecy doom on Bristol and Levi. Perhaps the Lord has chosen them for His purpose and the national spotlight to show that life is precious and in your time of need, turn to Him, acknowledge His role as the center of your life and build a family from the chaos that we all live in here on Earth.
Dean I would not argue with the fact that every child is a gift from God. No child is ever a mistake. I agree that God is able to take something like this and bring something good out of it if he is invited to do so. Jesus’ own mother – Mary, may have undergone such scrutiny because of her age.
However, there are more evidence to support longevity in marriage when they are well planned and thought through, than for a hastily planned one. I think this principle is found in Jesus’ teaching when he said “count the cost before you start to build”.
Good food for thought Dean.
This is sad. If Barack Obama let his kids take too many interviews he would be called terrible. This woman displays her children as trophies and republicans applaud her. This young man and his family did not ask for this and were probably paid.
Her daughter is now not just the pregnant girl in high school, but the pregnant teen of the nation. Who would sign their children up for this. Who uses there down syndrome child as a sympathy card. Or even if she doesn’t who allows her spokes people too. Not because she’s running for office but because of the circumstances, I call this woman a bad mom and a terrible selfish parent.
my story
my story is different my girlfriend and i are 21 and are expecting a baby but we both are crazy in love. the thing is we want to get married and her father bamboozeling us to get married a lot earlier than we want to