(When To Have Sex, continued from page 9)

Moral Ground

While we should "flee fornication" (1 Corinthians 6:18), because of the harmful effects of breaking God's law--unwanted pregnancy, dreaded disease, emotional agony, spiritual corruption--we should maintain sexual purity for more than merely practical reasons. Some abstinence programs emphasize waiting until marriage, but not on moral grounds (remember, according to moral relativism we can't tell others what is right and wrong for them); they tell us that "keeping your virginity is cool" but only because it prevents STD's and pregnancy. One young girl writing in Seventeen magazine who waited longer than her friends before she had sex said, "It just took longer for me to meet the right guy and develop a relationship where I felt safe going all the way. Either way, my virginity had nothing to do with moral beliefs or religion, or even with love. It was about timing and simply not being ready."

But for the Christian, moral purity has everything to do with believing and obeying God. We keep ourselves pure because we love God who first loved us and gave His Son for us (1 John 4:9-10; John 14:15), because we "fear God and keep His commandments" (Ecclesiastes 12:13), because we know that refusing His way is not only harmful to our bodies and hearts but is sinful, and that if we do not repent of our sin and seek forgiveness through obedience to His word we will be condemned in the Day of Judgment. We flee fornication not only because it is good for us, but because we want to please God, to be a holy temple in which He can dwell (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).