CO-HABITATION Matrimonial Relationship is instituted by God Almighty.

The 16th President of th e United States of America expounded The Strength of a National lies in the Homes of its people. The adversary is trying to thwart the very intention of God, wh ich craft he devised in the Garden of Eden. Today there are several earthly ma nifestations of living together, such as incest, dating, elopement, homosexualit y, lesbianism, transsexuality, etc. As man progressed language also underwent ch ange and hence we might have to look at the allusions of terms and phrases as th ey mean in the present context not to be deceived. In the Ordinary sense Co-Habitation means living together and one might thin k there is nothing wrong with it. For the modern man Co-Habitation is an arrangement whereby two people decide to live together on a long-term or permanent basis in an emotionally and/or sexuall y intimate relationship. The term is most frequently applied to couples who are not married. What God meant by marriage is Monogamy, not even polygamy or polyandry. Reasons for cohabitation Today, cohabitation is a common pattern among people in the Western world. Peo ple may live together for a number of reasons. These may include wanting to te st compatibility or to establish financial security before marrying. It may al so be because they are unable to legally marry, due to reasons such as same-sex, some interracial or interreligious marriages which are not legal or permitted. Other reasons include living as a way for polygamists or polyamorists to avoid breaking the law, or as a way to avoid the higher income taxes paid by some two -income married couples, negative effects on pension payments (among older peopl e), or philosophical opposition to the institution of marriage. Some individua ls also may choose cohabitation because they see their relationships as being pr ivate and personal matters, and not to be controlled by political, religious or patriarchal institutions. Some couples prefer cohabitation because it does not legally commit them for an extended period, and because it is easier to establish and dissolve without the legal costs often associated with a divorce. In some jurisdictions cohabitatio n can be viewed legally as common-law marriages, either after the duration of a specified period, or the birth of the couple's child, or if the couple consider and behave accordingly as husband and wife. (This helps provide the surviving partner a legal basis for inheriting the belongings of the deceased in the event of the death of their cohabiting partner.) In Saskatchewan, Canada, a married person may cohabit with other married or single persons and become the spouses of all of them under the Saskatchewan Family Property Act. Opposition In the Western world, a man and a woman who lived together without being married were once socially shunned and persecuted and, in some cases, prosecuted by law . Other jurisdictions have created a Common-law marriage status when two peopl e of the opposite sex live together for a prescribed period of time. Most juri sdictions no longer prosecute this choice. In the province of Saskatchewan, Ca nada, judicial authorities have used binding authority to sanction married women being the same time "spouse" of other men due to cohabitation. A scientific survey of over 1,000 married men and women in the United States of America found those who moved in with a lover before engagement or marriage repo rted significantly lower quality marriages and a greater possibility for splitti ng up than other couples. About 20 percent of those who cohabited before getti ng engaged had since suggested divorce - compared with only 12 percent of those who only moved in together after getting engaged and 10 percent who did not coha bit prior to marriage. In some Western nations such as the United States and Britain divorce laws and f amily law give more rights toward women in terms of property rights, rights to m ale working labor of resource provision outside of marriage, sole parental and c ustody rights to children. In essence, as a legal institution, marriage is an obligation from a man to a woman to support her outside of marriage by the contr

actual obligations of divorce. In the United States, women initiate 2/3 of all divorce. In Canada, 18.0% of couples were cohabiting as of 2001 (29.8.% in Queb ec, and 11.7% in the other provinces). In Mexico, 18.7% as of 2005. Cohabitation in the United States became common in the late 20th century. f 2005, 4.85 million unmarried couples were currently living together, and as of 2002, about half of all women aged 15 to 44 had lived unmarried with a partner.

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In Bangladesh cohabitation after divorce is frequently punished by the salishi s ystem of informal courts, especially in rural areas. Cohabitation in India had been taboo since British rule. However, this is no lo nger true in big cities (such as Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi and Bangalore), but is n ot so often found in rural areas with more conservative values. Live-in relatio nship is not illegal in India, however it is considered to be a deviant behaviou r and looked down upon. In Indonesia, an Islamic penal code proposed in 2005 would have made cohabitatio n punishable by up to two years in prison. In Japan, less than 3% of females between 25-29 currently cohabit, but more than 1 in 5 have had some experience of an unmarried partnership, including cohabita tion. In the Philippines, around 2.4 million Filipinos were cohabiting as of 2004. The 2000 census placed the percentage of cohabiting couples at 19%. The majority of individuals are between the ages of 20-24. Poverty was often the main factor in decision to cohabit. In Bulgaria, cohabitation is very common; 53.4% of all children born in 2009, we re into families of unmarried couples. In Denmark, Norway and Sweden, cohabitation is very common; roughly 50% of all c hildren are born into families of unmarried couples, whereas the same figure for several other Western European countries is roughly 10%. In late 2005, 21% of families in Finland consisted of cohabitating couples (all age groups). Of couples with children, 18% were cohabitating. In the UK, 25% of children are now born to cohabiting parents. In France, 17.5% of couples were cohabiting as of 1999. The cohabitation rate in Israel is less than 3% of all couples, compared to 8%, on average, in West European countries. it) Cohabitation is illegal according to sharia law (for the countries that enforce In Australia, 22% of couples were cohabiting as of 2005. New Zealand had 18.3% of couples cohabiting as of 2001.

One may observe that Co-Habitation is more of a Western Permissive Idea which th e Orientalists are trying to imitate at the cost of disintegration of a strong b ond of family relationship. Matrimony is not merely for an erotic or material r elationship. Some men fear women and they want to live with men, and vice versa . WHAT DOES THE WORD OF GOD SAY MARRIAGE IS TO BE HONOURED BY ALL HEB. 13:14, and Co-Habitation in the cited s ense is against the Principle of God. Also read Ch.5,6,7 of I Corinthians.

Prof. Abraham Joseph padinjattidom, Director, Lingua Franca International, Kesav adasapuram Jn. Trivandrum. Tel: 0091-9447-551699. Padi05@rediffmail.com