The thread topic asks How much does 'marriage' mean to you? Why then, is anyone arguing with what another posts? If support for living together rather than making a committment of marriage is what you wanted, perhaps you might have phrased the thread differently.

A strong marriage, imo, is the basis for a strong family and a stronger society. Statistics prove out that living together before marriage does not guarantee a long marriage, in fact, it shows the opposite. Before you go quoting divorce statistics, why not look and see how many of the divorces were of ppl who lived together first? Also, why not check to see WHY they decided to finally get married, perhaps it was because of a child... only to prove another point that any reason to get married is not a good one... it takes love. Some ppl only live together to satiate their sexual and loneliness desires, maybe to try to reduce their fear of STDs, but also because they aren't sure they love someone enough to marry them...yet.

This topic has many, many avenues to pursue... again, it you need support for where you are in life regarding relationships, ask for it, I'm sure you will find it here at PC. (((dsf))))