Breaking up is difficult. It's supposed to be that way
because there should be some sort of bond in a relationship or
else it wasn't much of a relationship to begin with. So
obviously breaking an engagement is a hundred times more
difficult.
It is not only ok to break an engagement, it is often a
smart and necessary thing to do. And it happens far
more often than most people realize. Approximately 20%
of all engagements are broken before the wedding.
Judging by the 50% divorce rate, many more engagements
should have been broken.
When Mary became pregnant with Jesus, she was engaged to
be married to Joseph. At that time an engagement was a
binding contract and to break the engagement Joseph would
have had to divorce her as he contemplating doing before
Gabriel spoke to him. There is no such binding
agreement with an engagement today.
Even if a couple has had sex in anticipation that they
would be married, this should not be reason to get married.
While sex before marriage is a mistake, it should not be
compounded by going into a bad marriage that will likely end
in divorce.
Breaking off an engagement should not be taken lightly.
It becomes increasingly complicated as wedding plans are
made. But if there are problems in a relationship
before marriage, those problems will not be solved by
getting married. Instead those problems will only
become amplified as a couple shares every aspect of their
lives together.
No relationship is perfect but if things can't be
reconciled, the worst mistake that can be made is to drag
those problems into a marriage. Breaking off an
engagement is a difficult thing to do but it will save a lot
more heartache in the future.
