Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Adult Abstinence?

Apparently, 90 percent of unmarried young adults have had sex. No real surprise there, but it's now raising some eyebrows in church and government circles.

1. The Barna Group, an evangelical Christian research group, studied the moral attitudes of folks in their 20s and 30s and compared it to Baby Boomers and older adults. On the not surprising level, it found that younger people find more activities (such as cohabitation and sex outside of marriage) to be morally acceptable than older adults. More telling though, were the statistics about born-again Christians. For instance 59 percent of "born again" young adults said its OK for unmarried couples to live together, while 33 percent of older born again Christians agreed. Study Director David Kinnaman said, “The research shows that people’s moral profile is more likely to resemble that of their peer group than it is to take shape around the tenets of a person’s faith. "

2. The Federal government is now saying that abstinence education money can be used for folks aged 20-29. Previously, it almost exclusively targetted teenagers. Their rationale is that the money is supposed to help prevent out-of-wedlock births. According to the Associated Press, the highest rates of such pregnancies occur among women in their 20s. In 2003, there were 549,353 births to unmarried women ages 20 to 24; 287,205 births for unmarried women ages 25-29; and 337,201 births to unmarried women ages 15-19.

Both these items crossed my inbox in the last 24 hours, and seemed to provide some interesting commentary on our generation. Is it that sex really isn't that big of a deal? Or has no one ever given us a good reason to think otherwise? What do y'all think?

4 comments:

Val Horvath said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Tom said...

I agree with the abstinence message. Young adults would certainly benefit from discovering the spiritual, physical and emotional benefits of living chastity before marriage. However, the government is not the best entity to deliver such an important message. I can envision a multi-media advertising blitz picturing beautiful people on billboards claiming “we waited,” or TV and radio spots featuring couples testifying to the great joy waiting has brought to their marriage. These might help plant the chastity seed in people’s minds, but it is likely to falls short of convincing someone to change their behavior.

The only antidote to sex outside of marriage is love, true love, the kind of love that exists between life-long friends and family. The government cannot love you. The change of heart required to live a chaste life must come from somewhere else. Churches and religious communities are in the best position to provide this personal touch. Government money buy do many things, but as The Beattles sing, “it can’t buy me love.”

(also posted at Tom and Jerry)

Anonymous said...

Adult abstinence is even more perverted than homosexuality.

Listen, Tom, there is no true love. It does not exist. You see, I am twenty-nine years old AND a virgin. For the past eleven years, I have observed other people, INCLUDING MY OWN FAMILY, hooking up while I am being left out. I used to think a woman would love me for whom I am. I was obnviously wrong, and the only way to get laid is by emotional manipulation. I have found, from personal experience, that virginity leads to feelings of shame, rage, frustration, inadequacy, isolation, alienation, despair, depression, and suicide.

It is sick that the government would spend money promoting this perversion.


Michael

Anonymous said...

Dear Anonymous!
Love, not sex, makes the world go 'round.
I am 33, Had 4 years relationship with man that ended badly, so now for 9 years and 3 months and I haven't had sex.
I have a great (two) jobs, great friends, and great life. I agree no love, but there is no reason to be depressed, sad and bla, bla, bla. Get life, you are different, not everybody is the same, and if you think more about it more depressed you'll become.