Mormon Questions: Young Married Mormons

Carter and I in front of the Salt Lake Temple a month before we were married there.

A while ago I read this post called How to Train A Mormon and I haven't been able to get the topic out of my head since. In the post, the author explains that when she was young and naive she expected people outside of Utah to ask questions about her "glowing light" and why she was so happy. Instead, she was surprised to face questions more like, "Why don't you drink coffee?" and "Why do you wait to have sex until marriage?" In the article, the author goes on to talk about obedience and why mormons aren't weird and yada yada.

The article got me thinking though, what questions am I asked about Mormonism and how do I answer?  So I'm making this into a series of posts titled: Mormon Questions. I'm hoping there is a little of something for everyone. If you've ever been asked an unexpected question about Mormonism and answered well, or even not-so-well, then please share your experiences! If you are a Mormon but you've never lived in an area where Mormons are a novelty, then maybe you've never encountered such questions before. However, chances are you will someday! If you are not a Mormon but have unanswered question about what exactly Mormons believe, then maybe I'll be able to answer a few.

So, no. 1 on the list is : "Why do Mormons get married so young?"

I'm not sure if it's because I am recently married (10 months) or what but, surprisingly, this THE most-asked question by my friends and random strangers.

The answer is that there are likely many reasons why, but my favorite reason is because we believe that family is most important in this life. To us, families are a priority, and, consequently, there is no reason (including career goals) to put off having one. I usually throw in there that it isn't a church policy; no one is dictating that we get married and have babies before 25. Sometimes I even joke(dryly) about BYU: "When you throw a bunch of 20-something kids together all thinking about marriage, some of them are bound to go through with it."

I think most people think marrying so young is naive. I was married fairly young, and likely naively, but, like most Christians, we believe that God helps two imperfect people come together to have a perfect marriage.

My least favorite answer to this question is: "Because we don't believe in sex before marriage." It makes all Mormons sound like sex-deprived zombies. Sure, it's true that we believe in abstinence before marriage, but no sane individual gets married just for sex. It may be a component of a desire for marriage but more like a top 100 reason and not a top 5. So maybe don't include this in a conversation about Mormons. PLEASE.

So what do you guys think? Really, truly, I'm very interested to see how you answer this question!