“Why shouldn’t I do this?”

“Because the Bible says so.”

If you grew up in a Christian home, “because the Bible says so,” is a popular answer to many questions dealing with morality and learning right from wrong. As a child, this answer may suffice, but as one progresses into adolescence, deeper answers will be needed.

We know that the Bible says that sex is for marriage only, however, living in a culture that is obsessed with sex, makes this notion seem utterly archaic. How could someone in our culture ever achieve saving sex for marriage?

When I was in high school, my junior health teacher asked our class of 30 how many of us were waiting to have sex until we were married and me and ONE other girl raised our hand. I was SHOCKED. That was 13 years ago, and our society definitely hasn’t gotten any better.

Below are two reasons I saved sex for marriage:

I Believed the Statistics

If you’ve ever taken Freshman Wellness in school, you generally have a section that deals with sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). They may even have shown you pictures of what the infections look like to “drive the point home.”

Below is an infographic I swiped from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to give a quick run down of current statistics of STDs.

I knew from the stats that if I had sex, conracting an STD was a real possibility. I didn’t approach it with a “yeah, but it won’t happen to me” attitude like many others.

On top of the risk of STDs,  it was the following chart that made me really step back and think…

In fact, this still makes me cringe to look at. When I saw this chart for the first time in the 8th grade, I thought, “No thank you. I’ll stick with one person.”

I believed the statistics and facts about what sex before marriage could bring and I wanted no part of it.

I Saw Pain and Dysfunction

Remember the story I told in the beginning about my teacher asking about sex before marriage? Well after we raised our hands, she asked each of us why. I told her my reasoning was because I was a Christian and the Bible says sex is for marriage only and that I honored God’s word in my life.

The other girl had a completely different response. She was not a Christian, and she said she had witnessed her female friends endure so much pain after a break up that included a sexual relationship that she was choosing to wait.

I agreed with the girl. I also saw how much pain existed in a break up if sex was involved. Why would I want to bring more emotional pain into my life?

Two reasons I saved sex for marriage besides the Bible says so. Click to read! Click To Tweet

In Closing

Sex is meant to bond a husband and wife, not a boyfriend and girlfriend. Anytime you have sex outside of God’s design there will be pain. The more life experience you gain, the more you will see that this is true.

As Christians, we are called to live our lives by what the Bible says. However, sometimes we need more than “because the Bible says so.” The Bible clearly says that sex is for marriage only, and modern statistics show that if we don’t honor that, only pain and destruction ensue

Do you have any thoughts? Questions? Drop us a line here.

Until next time,

Sarah

P.S. If you want to know more about teenage dating, and how to navigate through it without acquiring all this pain and heartache, check out our book: So, You Think You’re Ready to Date? It discusses these topics more in depth and shows how to set up boundaries and safeguards in your relationships! Seriously, check it out :).

More about our ministry:

At Transformed4More, our goal is to help those who want to grow in their relationship with God, and we do this in two main ways:

• The first is by providing resources. We have our own and ones we recommend. Click here or the graphic below to see them.

• Another way is through social media. We are most active on Instagram, but we update and connect on Twitter,  Facebook,  Pinterest, and YouTube as well!

• We also have a newsletter we send out every few months with updates as well! You can join it by clicking here.