Myths About Marriage and Long Life

Will You Marry Me?

On a lighter side, we thought you might enjoy taking this brief quiz concerning two possible myths surrounding marriage, whether you are currently enjoying marital bliss or are single and on the prowl.

1. To raise the chances of a long life, women should get married. Myth or On the Money?

2. To raise the chances of a long life, men should get married. Myth or On the Money?

First, before providing the answers to these questions , let's just look at a few scriptural references on what the Bible has to say about living a long life and its association with that of being married. First in Genesis 2, we discover that God created the woman for the purpose of being a "help meet" for man. 

• In Genesis 2:18 the Lord says that "is is not good that man should be alone; I will make him an help meet (i.e. suitable and opposite) for him."  So the institution of marriage was established by the Lord and not by man. 
• Proverbs 5:18 likewise encourages "husbands to rejoice with the wife of their youth."
• I Corinthians Chapter 7, Paul encourages the single person where marriage or not being married is concerned.  It reads, "every person has his/her proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that." This means that whether you're single or married it is a gift of God.

So what does the Bible say about long life and its connection with marriage, if anything?

• The only thing that I have read is that children are instructed to "honor and obey father and mother: that their days may be long upon the land." (Exodus 20)
• Also, in Psalm 91:14-15 we read about those who "set their love upon the Lord and know his Name does He promise to satisfy with long life."
• And in Psalm 90:10 tells us that our "days are 70 years of age; and if by reason of strength they be 80 years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away."

Well with that said, let's get on to the answers to these two intriguing questions.

And the Answer is ...

Question 1: Myth. The Longevity Project clearly revealed that single women and divorced women often stayed healthy without a husband.

Question 2: Maybe On theMoney. Men who were suited to marriage, and who got and stayed married, lived longest. But men who got divorced, especially if they then remained unmarried, were at very high risk of dying. Remember, 100% of divorces begin with marriage.

However, as far as the Bible is concerned, it does not explicitly state whether marriage adds longevity or not.  Yet, something KEY to remember is that a "happy heart is like a medicine" and maybe men are much happier and healthier when they are living in a state of marital bliss.


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