I’ve been reading this site and you give such meaningful advice to people, so I wanted to ask a question of my own: Is it possible to take a leap backward after you feel like you and your boyfriend have gone too far physically? We haven’t had any sexual contact, but I’m afraid that cuddling and kissing have come too fast, and I worry about the temptation either becoming even stronger or ruining the relationship.<\/p>\n\t
You are right to be concerned. The nature of sin is to progress further and further. That is why Paul warned, “Now concerning the things of which you wrote to me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman<\/em>” (I Corinthians 7:1). By “touch” he is meaning sexually arousing touch, and the reason is clear — it leads to fornication (I Corinthians 7:2).<\/p>\n Can you step back after going too far? It should be clear that you can. Sin doesn’t have to be repeated just because it was done in the past. That is why Christians are able to leave sin, even sexual sins, behind. “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God<\/em>” (I Corinthians 6:9-11).<\/p>\n While you haven’t gone so far as fornication, it appears you are being tempted with passion. You two can step back from this, but you both have to be resolute about it. You are going to find it near impossible to resist temptation if one of you continues to press greater heights of sexual pleasure. You could say that how you two deal with this problem will tell you a lot about the other. If you are determined not to sin but he keeps fanning the flames of passion, it tells you what is more important to him. Perhaps he is not as good husband material as you had thought. But if he agrees and appreciates the boundaries being placed, then you’ve found yourself a good man.<\/p>\n “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified. For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness<\/em>” (I Thessalonians 4:3-7).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: I’ve been reading this site and you give such meaningful advice to people, so I wanted to ask a question of my own: Is it possible to take a leap backward after you feel like you and your boyfriend have gone too far physically? We haven’t had any sexual contact, but I’m afraid that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[149,1572,203],"class_list":["post-25344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-dating","tag-fornication","tag-sexual-touching"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":25905,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-dry-humping-considered-fornication\/","url_meta":{"origin":25344,"position":0},"title":"Is “dry humping” considered fornication?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 7, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is \"dry humping\" considered fornication? Does it count as sex before marriage? Answer: Dry humping is slang for rubbing or bumping the genitals against someone or something in order to gain sexual stimulation. It isn't fornication, but fornication isn't the only sexual sin that can be committed. Paul warned,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29438,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/sometimes-my-fiance-and-i-get-too-involved-with-each-other-and-it-is-disturbing-me\/","url_meta":{"origin":25344,"position":1},"title":"Sometimes my fiance and I get too involved with each other and it is disturbing me","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 6, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am in a situation that needs your help. There is this sister in my church. I have proposed to her and we plan to get married after her graduation from the university. We both love each other. We have never had intercourse, but sometimes we get involved in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":54046,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-far-can-you-go-with-your-girlfriend-in-regard-to-intimacy\/","url_meta":{"origin":25344,"position":2},"title":"How far can you go with your girlfriend in regard to intimacy?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 28, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi Jeff, How far can you go with your girlfriend in regard to intimacy? Answer: Let's start with what most people would agree would be going too far: sexual intercourse or fornication. Sexual acts outside of marriage are sinful and are covered under the word \"fornication.\" In Greek, the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13734,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-kissing-and-fondling-my-boyfriend-fornication\/","url_meta":{"origin":25344,"position":3},"title":"Is kissing and fondling my boyfriend fornication?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 30, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My boyfriend and I indulge in kissing and fondling only. Could this be fornication? Answer: The Bible states that sexual touching is not right prior to marriage. \"Now concerning the things of which you wrote to me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman\" (I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":22161,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-long-should-an-engagement-last\/","url_meta":{"origin":25344,"position":4},"title":"How long should an engagement last?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 14, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: First, I want to thank you for a beautiful, wonderful site. I'm a young Christian, growing in the Lord. I have a girlfriend. We love each other and I desire to marry young, as soon as possible. We've been dating for two months now, but we have known each\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32363,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-wrong-for-a-woman-to-relieve-her-fiance-using-masturbation-until-they-get-married\/","url_meta":{"origin":25344,"position":5},"title":"Is it wrong for a woman to relieve her fiance using masturbation until they get married?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 30, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Praise the Lord. I read your correspondence regarding\u00a0oral sex\u00a0and found it to be very enlightening. Does this reasoning also apply to a woman relieving her fianc\u00e9 using masturbation on him until they marry? Answer: \"Now concerning the things of which you wrote to me: It is good for a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25344\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}