10 Non-Religious Reasons Sexual Purity Before Marriage is a Healthy and Wise Choice

The odds are against my kids. Against my two teenagers still at home. Against my kids making choices for sexual purity before they are married.

Statistics say that more and more teens are having sex before marriage.

By age 15, the numbers are still low - about 13%, but by their 19th birthday, 7 in 10 teens have had sex.

Last week I was listening to the results of a recent university study on the radio. The study found by the time students reached their twenties, only 20% of them were practicing sexual abstinence (23% if they were "religious.")

Although 15–24-year-old's represent only one-quarter of the sexually active population, they account for nearly half (9.1 million) of the 18.9 million new cases of sexually transmitted diseases each year.

I could go on and on quoting statistics and impressing you with my brilliance, but I'm just copying the info from a website. You can read the full reporthere.

Here is what I believe.

10 Non-Religious Reasons 

Sexual Purity Before Marriage is a Healthy and Wise Choice 

1. You will never have to worry about getting pregnant or getting your girlfriend pregnant.

2. You will never have to experience the fear and and anxiety of having to tell your parents, "I'm pregnant" or "I got my girlfriend pregnant."

3. You will not have to worry about getting a sexually transmitted disease.*

4. You will be protecting your reputation and personal standards and your boyfriend/girlfriend's reputation and personal standards.

5. You will be certain that your boyfriend or girlfriend cares about you for who you are - not just because you provide sexual pleasure for them.

6. You will learn not to confuse love with sex. They are not the same. Sexual pleasure is brief while love takes time to grow and lasts forever.

7. You will never have to experience the embarrassment of knowing that the person you had sex with is telling others about your intimate moments together.

8. You will never have to experience the uncomfortable situation of being in the same place with a person you had sex with, but are no longer dating.

9. You will be developing the sexual self-control necessary to remain sexually faithful to your spouse after you are married.

10. You will be able to experience the joy of giving your gift of virginity to only your spouse on your wedding night.

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Thank you to my friend, Pastor Scott Smith, who sent this list home with my teenage son after teaching the students at church about sexual purity, a topic he has taught with compassion and excellence for over twenty years.*

Many teens do not consider oral sex, "real" sex, and can contact an STD by being involved in this form of sexuality.