No thanks, Josh Harris.

Christianity Today's recent article, The Case for Early Marriage, is a provocative and frank assessment of marriage, young people and the church.

Of note,

• The Gender Imbalance in the Church - if church leaders are not concerned about this shift now, they will be in a few years. I don't understand why church leaders are oblivious to (or ignoring?) the staggering problem the church will have if none of its young people stick around to marry one another and are trained to take leadership positions in the church. The Boomer generation has been in leadership for so long that it may seem, to some, unnecessary to seek out and mentor the current young leadership waiting in the wings. But if leaders delay any longer, there won't be many young people left who want to be mentored, much less leadership caliber men who are anxious to step in to the Boomer's legacy of successes and problems.

• The Idiocy of Josh Harris-ism - by overfocusing on the pre-marriage portion of the equation, we have created an awkward and not-easily-navigable transition between "you must ask my dad to court me" and "financially independent, well-educated, husband and wife." The legacy of "I Kissed Dating Goodbye" mentality has tainted the entire Christian dating/marriage/family structure. And it has raised expectations without providing guidance or training on how men or women are to meet one another's and their parents' expectations.

Food for thought...and another lesson in ideas have consequences. And not always the consequences anyone expects.