I don't know the statistics, but my guess is that the majority of people have sex before or outside of marriage. Even people who talk about how important it is to wait for marriage have had sex before marriage. The biggest group to talk against sex outside of marriage is the Church. But even in the church there is a growing population of those who have not heeded this advice. So is it just that the world has changed and that it is not seen as a bad thing anymore? Do people really believe that there is value to wait?
I doubt that any campaign can change the mind of the majority, but I do think that the Church needs to change. I think the Church has been lack in talking about the subject. There were several reasons that I chose to wait for marriage. One is that I was afraid to disappoint my parents. Another is the fear of pregnancy and guilt. But fear is not the only reasons. I also believe that as a Believer, I am set apart for God. I believe the Bible is the word of God and teaches truth. So the Bible teaches that sex outside of marriage is not what God wants for us. So that is the main reason that I chose to wait. I think the church needs to teach this. We are set apart! Special! Loved! And God's plan for our happiness is that we only have sex in a marriage.
2 comments:
Hm, hugely important issue and you're right - it barely gets talked about in church. If the church doesn't talk about it, the secular world's quite happy to insert its own views instead. I certainly think the church needs to talk about it more, but in more than just the "don't have sex 'til you're married" admonition. While I agree with that, I think that the church needs to address the reality that as people are getting married later and later, there's a long time to wait. In the meantime, what do we do with our sexuality? Just pretend it doesn't exist? Tell a teenager they'll end up a 24-year-old virgin like me and they might not look so fondly on abstinence. So what does God want us to do - how can we recognize ourselves as sexual beings honestly and yet not encourage the wrong thoughts and actions? How do we deal with all that? I'm asking this question honestly, because I think it needs to be answered - and I don't really have the answer.
P.S. The book "Sex God" by Rob Bell has a lot of good thoughts on this.
Post a Comment