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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, JUNE 10, 1986
PAGE 17
and in their most private moments they testify to the anguish
of being single•••• The pain may be most acute for singles in
their 30s who still can have children but are running out of
time. Even though a growing number of women can and do have
kids on their own, "very often what a woman wants is not the
actual child," explains UC Berkeley psychologist Karen Paige.
"She wants the closeness and intimacy of a whole family." "All
my friends are having kids," says Penny Stohn, 33, a director
for the New Jersey Department of Higher Education. "They tell
me how glamorous my life is but I just sit there and envy them
their kids."
One of the things that is "never satisfied" (Proverbs 30:15-16) is "the
barren womb." Tragically, the career woman, so glamorized in ads ("You've
come a long way, baby"), is paying the ultimate price of spinsterhood.
It's obvious that there is a great deal of difference between a young
woman working at a job to help prepare for marriage, and one who strives
to carve out a career, often competing with men in the professional world.
The latter must work hard to make her marks during the years that should
be devoted to motherhood ("the children of one's youth"--Psalm 127:4; "the
wife of your youth"--Prov. 5:18).
Thus we have the phenomenon of increasing numbers of professional whites
(and some blacks) who never marry and produce families, while at the same
time illegal (mostly Latin and Roman Catholic) aliens pour into the
country, some with families, others certainly with the intention of
raising large families.
The children of Jacob no longer enjoy the
"blessings of the breasts and of the womb" (Genesis 49:25). One of the
promises to Israel for obedience to God's commandments, statutes and
judgments is given in Deuteronomy 7:11-14--"And He �ill love you and bless
you and multiply you; He will also bless the fruit of your womb•••There
shall not be a mare-or female barren among you." It's hard for a nation
condoning homosexual gay n.ghts and "fem lib" to be multiplied.
French Choose •cohabitation•
In France, too, the singles scene and its
corollary, "cohabitation," is a growing phenomenon, as reported in an
article in LE MONDE, translated and published in the May 4 GUARDIAN WEEKLY
of Britain.
Sociologists•••have been aware for some time that more and more
Frenchmen and Frenchwomen are living together without getting
married.
But a symbolic milestone has just been passed,
according to a survey by Pierre-Alain Audirac, published by
France's official statistics office, INSEE, in its magazine
ECONOMIE ET STATISTIQUES:
There are now one million such
couples in France.
Each year, there are fewer marriages and more divorces. A new
record low was reached in 1985, when only 273,00 marriages were
performed by mayors and, in many cases, notaries. That figure
marked the 13th consecutive fall since 1972 and the lowest
level in peacetime since the turn of the century. A million
cohabiting couples may not seem all that many in proportion to
the number of married couples, over 12 million.
But the