SAC-Wk122 — Is Cohabiting called Marriage?

Firstly, I will start by defining marriage based on my understanding. Marriage is the coming together of a man and woman who willingly decide to live together as husband and wife with the consent and blessings of family, friends, and well-wishers without being coerced and forced. Oc, for which proper rights have been made either traditionally, legally, or joined by the faith they believe in. Marriage is a formal and recognized union.

Couples, on the other hand, are two different individuals that are not married but are in a romantic or intimate relationship, either leading to marriage or being together for fun or defined by the terms of their relationship.

Now back to the question. If a man lives with a woman and they have children without paying a bride price, I will say they are a couple. The reason being that in our society today, especially in Africa, for a man and woman to be considered as married, first of all, they have to perform traditional rites commonly called "bride price" or "dowry" and other traditional rites as culture demands.

Secondly, they are legally married in court depending on the process as the country varies.

Lastly, either a church wedding, commonly called a white wedding, or a wedding in the mosque, depending on the religion.

Anything outside this is not formally recognized, and such individuals are considered as couples.

From my perspective, cohabiting is not really a shortcut to marriage.
Based on research, some people cohabit just for fun, some with no intentions of actually getting married.

Some cohabit to get to know their partner better and understand the character traits of their intended partner to know if they can change the person or cope with the person so as to avoid what they order versus what they will get in marriage eventually.

Cohabiting, on the other hand, doesn't guarantee marriage or a long-lasting and fruitful marriage or a faithful partner.
It is just a step to marriage.
Cohabiting is not a bad idea.

I will say there are both advantages and disadvantages of cohabiting because everything in life has an advantage or disadvantage.

The advantage of cohabiting in my own context is that
Firstly, you get to know more about the person you intend to marry, their temperament, and others.

Secondly, you understand how to handle issues and problems when they come up as an intending couple.

The disadvantage, on the other hand, is that after spending time together and leaving together, the families might not be in support of marriage.

Secondly, one person might show a lot of commitment to the relationship while the other person doesn't show any concern, and this may affect everything in the long run.

Now this depends on an individual's point of view, principles, or values. Some people might think that they want to taste and know what they are dealing with before they eventually marry such persons, but that is not guaranteed.

Based on my opinion, I will say it isn't good to sexually taste people before marriage.
Firstly because you open yourself to tasting from different places, and in the end you might not get the satisfaction you are looking for. And you may in the end attract diseases and incurable infections.

Multiple sex partners make a person not committed, and when there is no commitment, such relationships are on the verge of destruction.

With the advancement of technology and research, if you eventually have a partner who isn't satisfying your sexual needs, you can easily seek medical attention, and he or she can be treated.

Many stable marriages in our society today succeed without prior sexual testing, while many relationships with great sex satisfaction still fail.

It is not good to sexually taste the person you want to Marry before Marrying them

I invite @lilly1, @entity01 and @peacemike to participate in this contest.