Although it is hard to establish accurately, it appears that, of those marrying today for the first time, only between 3% and 10% are virgins. The vast majority of singles are sexually active. Christians are not immune to sexual temptation, but they do have something special to use in the battle against sexual immorality.<\/p>\n
The CDC’s National Health Statistics Reports (2023)<\/a> said that about 40% of never-married teens (15-19) had sexual intercourse with someone of the opposite sex. However, the number increased to over 60% for ages 18-19. A 2015 survey<\/a> reported that 90% of the population had lost their virginity by age 22. Sexual experimentation is happening now in grade school. Social media debates are about whether to “hook up” after the first date. Low “body counts” (total number of sexual partners) are mocked. Popular media flaunts casual sex as normal and expected. Access to pornography is easy, and use of it is rampant. What can we do?<\/p>\n Some have made the mistake of attempting a less spiritual, more carnal approach to resisting sexual temptation and cultural pressures. We preach physical self-control and “just be strong.”<\/p>\n These reasons to abstain, and others like them, are generally inadequate. Anecdotally, people know that these things don’t always happen to people who have sex before marriage. And, in the heat of the moment, people don’t tend to think or care about them.<\/p>\n Saying “Be strong!” is not as effective as being “strong in the Lord and in the power of His might<\/em>” (Ephesians 6:10). Arousing fear of physical consequences may get the attention of some people. Still, it is more fearful to “fall into the hands of the living God<\/em>” (Hebrews 10:31). Possible negative physical consequences may give some needed pause. Still, sin’s spiritual consequence is a “certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries<\/em>” (Hebrews 10:27).<\/p>\n When Paul wrote, “Flee sexual immorality,” he stated the reason as being that our bodies are the “temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own<\/em>” (I Corinthians 6:19). This isn’t about having willpower and personal strength.\u00a0We were “washed<\/em>,” “sanctified<\/em>,” and “justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God<\/em>” (I Corinthians 6:11). He has made us-body and spirit-one with Christ. He has changed who and what we are. We are Christ-followers; Christ decides who we are joined to and who we are one flesh with.<\/p>\n We must be constantly reminded that sanctification makes us different from others and even from who we used to be. People will think it is strange “when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you<\/em>” (I Peter 4:4). Friends will be lost, relationships will end, and disparaging labels will be applied. That’s what happened to Jesus, and if it happened to Him, it will happen to those He sanctifies as His own (John 15:20; I Peter 4:12-14).<\/p>\n The good news of the gospel is that in Christ, we overcome temptation by following Christ. We are not alone (II Timothy 4:16). We don’t have to follow the world into sexual immorality. We can be the 3% who are virgins. The even better good news is that if, like the Corinthians, we are sexually immoral, we can stop, turn to Jesus, and be washed, sanctified, and justified in His blood. We can be saints again. Living in sanctification is the real solution to sexual temptation and sin.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by David Diestelkamp via Think on These Things, Vol. 56, No. 1, January-March 2025 Although it is hard to establish accurately, it appears that, of those marrying today for the first time, only between 3% and 10% are virgins. The vast majority of singles are sexually active. Christians are not immune to sexual temptation, but…<\/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,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[1572,64,781,789],"class_list":["post-83107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-fornication","tag-marriage","tag-sanctification","tag-virginity"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":18717,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-woman-give-birth-to-her-firstborn-and-remain-a-virgin\/","url_meta":{"origin":83107,"position":0},"title":"Can a woman give birth to her firstborn and remain a virgin?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 22, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: We recently went into an argument with a group of girls and boys on the topic: \"Can a woman deliver a child and remain a virgin?\" We took our separate ways and decided to contact others who may have knowledge better than we do. Now here is our chance\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":26623,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/abstinence-is-reasonable\/","url_meta":{"origin":83107,"position":1},"title":"Abstinence Is Reasonable","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 31, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by David Diestelkamp via\u00a0Think on These Things \"For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication\" (I Thessalonians 4:3). Society is totally confused. It wants people to be reasonable (thinking, logically) about sex. It wants them to think about civil law, time and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":38226,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-were-the-sexual-laws-not-applied-equally-between-men-and-women-in-the-old-testament\/","url_meta":{"origin":83107,"position":2},"title":"Why were the sexual laws not applied equally between men and women in the Old Testament?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 1, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why was purity asked more of women than men in the Old Testament? A woman who slept with a man before marriage was stoned, but a man who slept with an unmarried woman was not and instead had to marry her! Also, there had to be proof of 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":[]},{"id":29441,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/am-i-still-a-virgin-after-giving-oral-sex\/","url_meta":{"origin":83107,"position":3},"title":"Am I still a virgin after giving oral sex?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 6, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I had oral sex twice, but both times it wasn't sexual at all. My intention wasn't to please him. I panicked and did it. And being that I was sexually abused a lot of things cause me to panic, but I should have never put myself in that situation\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":40232,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-keep-my-virginity-without-him-cheating-on-me\/","url_meta":{"origin":83107,"position":4},"title":"How do I keep my virginity without him cheating on me?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 30, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good evening, I am a new member. Please, I am 20 years old and a virgin. I have a fiance who promised to marry me, He is always asking me to come to his place. Is it advisable? Answer: When I teach young people about sexual matters, I give\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":42102,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-really-regret-not-being-a-virgin-anymore\/","url_meta":{"origin":83107,"position":5},"title":"I really regret not being a virgin anymore","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 8, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I found your site a few weeks ago and quite frankly I wish I had come upon it sooner, especially regarding sexual purity. I was 18 when I \"invited Jesus into my heart.\" However, I was filled with lust, having no regard for fleeing sexual immorality. I didn't seek\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\/83107","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=83107"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83107\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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