Quote:
Originally Posted by ChristopherHall
I’m just finding it an interesting cultural comparison. I’m looking at several things:
-First, the cultural norms regarding the age to marry for the majority of human history.
-Second, modern laws regarding the age to marry.
-Thirdly, human behaviors.
I don’t think human beings have changed at all since we were created. Culture and society has changed, but basic human behaviors haven’t. We in modern day America are having an overwhelming problem with young people and their behaviors. Modern society expects kids to abstain until they are at least out of high school and married, around 20 years old or so. Most would like to see their children abstain until after college (average age of 25 or 26?). Then date, have an engagement, and marry. That puts modern cultural expectations at around the mid to late 20’s. In the ancient world most of our young people would have married in their mid teens (of course they would also be working in a family trade to support themselves also). I’m just looking at our modern sociological model and wondering if maybe, due to the greater need of education etc, our modern social structure and our natural human developmental stages clash?
I guess this isn’t entirely related to the polygamy story, but it was just a thought I had.
But something about this story that’s really strange to me, according to what I heard on the news, is that the government did all this based on an anonymous telephone call that may have made a bogus claim. The reporter asked one of the women from the ranch he was interviewing if the call could have come from an angry neighbor. She didn’t know.
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I have thought about this angle on many of these discussions, in particular as it applies to birth control and the closely related idea that some have that God "requires" large families.
Juliet (of Romeo and Juliet) was often said to be only 13 or 14. Mary, the mother of Jesus, was also
thought to be in her early teens.
We see a common theme where 13, 14, and 15 were often ages to get married and even have babies throughout history. What changed? For one thing, progress. We have
nowhere near the infant mortality now that humankind used to have to deal with just 100 years ago and earlier. Modern medicine (except for some of those in the church who shun it), schooling, the ability to travel from immediate family, and extended lives all play a part.
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