Pre-Marital Sex

Premarital sex was viewed as wrong when I was younger. It was the social norm to have sex once two individuals were married to each other. As I got older, I have noticed that individuals my age did not follow that norm to the point that it has become socially accepted today as normal behavior. On the contrary, my parent’s generation still view premarital sex as deviant since majority

The Bible does not forbid premarital sex. There is no passage of the Bible that references premarital sex as a sin against God. The association between sin and premarital sex is a new Christian idea. The only possible reference to premarital sex being a sin in the Bible is in the New Testament. This premise although, is generally dismissed by theologians because the Greek word pornei, or sexual immorality is commonly incorrectly translated into the English word fornication.

The Natural Law approach to pre-marital sex is relatively simple: sex is strictly for married couples only. This is because Natural Law is

There was once a time when premarital sex hardly ever existed, but that is not the case today. The age of individuals taking part in premarital sex is declining, and people are partaking in sexual acts at much younger ages. There is a highly unrealistic goal to encourage all Americans to abstain from sex until they marry (Finer 2). This is a highly unrealistic goal; the amount of people having premarital sex may lower, but getting all Americans to abstain is a nearly impossible goal. A 2002 survey showed that seventy-five percent of people aged 20 had premarital sex. The same survey portrayed participants aged 44 and it showed that ninety-five percent had sex before marrying. The survey showed that only around three percent of people abstained until marriage (Finer 3). Premarital sex also differs in the different sexes. Males were more likely to participate in premarital sex than women. This statistic is still common today. Premarital sex seemed to play a major role in relationships all the way back to the 1940s, it just depended on what age they did the act. By age 44, almost all people, if not married, had premarital sex (Finer 4). This is a social norm that seemed to stay relatively constant in American society throughout history. Not being abstinent is something that individuals have been accustomed to. It was socially

Throughout life many of us have our own views on what we believe is right, it is more or less based on the way we were raised and our morals and beliefs. Once we hit puberty and start learning about sex, many of us get curious and begin to experiment in sexual activity. We are influenced by many things in media like movies, shows and songs, almost forcing us to believe that sex is the greatest thing in the entire world. Abstinence is a moral that is almost completely abolished in this modern age. People who do practice abstinence are most likely judged and taken as sexually impotent or prude. This topic brings controversy to many people and religious beliefs because many

To start with, let's take a type of religion, christianity, and the United States’s society and see how their views of sex are. Since the christian religion is large , I will narrow it down to my christianity, Baptist, in order to avoid conflict with other christian

Growing up as a Catholic I was educated in the spirit of living a pure life, learning many aspects about what I should not do. My parents and the entire Catholic community in which I grew up praised a restrictive life, wherein most of the pleasures in life were forbidden. Sex has been always a taboo subject for Catholics. My parents taught me that sexual relationships are only allowed after marriage. People who were known to be engaged in sexual relationships without being married were regarded as sinners and they were not respected within our community. Being raised in this spirit of considering sexuality a sin, I had become to despise the idea of sex, considering it impure and vulgar. As a child I could not imagine myself ever being married and desiring to be involved in sexual relationships, because I was inculcated with the idea that sexuality is

1 Corinthians 7:3-5 is a great example of how a married couple should fulfill each other’s sexual needs, so sex was made to be a great thing. In verse nine of the same chapter it states that “it’s better to marry than to burn with lust”, which goes back to stating that sex is to be enjoyed in marriage so if someone feels like that they can’t control their sexual urges than they should just get married. The church has preached about this for many years and yet many Christian singles still engage in multiple sexual relationships, watch porn and masturbate and see it as a normal thing. There is an interesting article on Relevant Magazine’s website called “The Secret Sexual Revolution” where they mentioned a surprising statistic of the number of young adult Christians having premarital sex is at eighty percent. What I found most interesting about this article is this

of the church taught that sexual relations should be avoided if possible and indulged in

This is where the tension lies. The underlying question is who decides what is right and wrong? Do humans or does God? As a Christian I believe God decides and has revealed his design for humans from beginning to end in the Bible. Of course there were things God said to people in the Bible days that were specifically relating to their context. God also revealed many universal principals for all humans to follow and obey. A part of this study is to look at what God has said about sex, sexuality and relationships that was universal not contextual.

Sex is not a dirty word as some may define it, but a pleasurable experience. Women must learn to embrace their sexuality and enjoy it. They should embark on a journey by touching themselves to find out what is pleasurable, and then teach their partners how they want to be touched. A person’s religion or spirituality plays an important part on how they view sex. Abstinence before marriage is the religion world view on sex. Sex outside of marriage is labeled as sin, and called fornication according

The word fornication comes from the Greek word porneia. In the Bible, porneia is roughly translated to sexual immortality which was later interpreted to include adultery, anal sex, oral sex, homosexual sex, sexual possessions, etcetera, by the Christians. Today in the Catholic church, sex is strictly seen as a necessary act needed to procreate the catholic church. They equate the rising interest in sex as a rise of devil’s activity in the world. This is the result of an archaic interpretation of the bible and especially Paul’s work in the new testament. The church condemns sex because it demotes us to animals, and as chosen people of Christ, they adhere to archaic laws to be pure, instead of following a natural way of life.

Christian leaders didn’t just disapprove of premarital sex. Sexual desire itself was seen as the problem.

Sex is the sacred sigh of the covenant with God, when a couple has sex they are sealing the covenant with God. Breaking this sign of the covenant is one of the most harmful sins that we as a people can expose ourselves to. In order for us to enter into heaven God says "But among you there must not even be a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity...because these are improper for God's holy people.1" Breaking the sign of the covenant with God is breaking God's law and going against everything God wants for us. God doesn't ask much from us considering all that he has given us, he asks us only to follow his laws, in Jesus said, "If you love me, you will obey what I command.1" Premarital sex goes against God's command and ruins our relationship with him.

Over many years, the views of premarital sex have been becoming increasingly more tolerant. The whole reasoning behind why sex was created is lost in the minds of society and used for pleasure and own physical satisfaction. There are negative consequences for these actions leading to guilt, depression, and numbness to intimate relationships. Having strong parental influence can also strongly affect the outcomes of adolescence and causal sex. Additionally, marriage can be