It was two or three years ago that some of the teen-sex statistics began to dip, followed by telltale ripples in mass media.<\/p>\n\n
Suddenly, people didn\u2019t laugh so hard when youth minister Richard Ross and other True Love Waits leaders told kids they could find romance and intimacy through lifelong fidelity. A few people began using words like \u201cchastity\u201d without smirking. And the telephone calls picked up, from the likes of CNN and \u201cNightline,\u201d USA Today and The New York Times, Vogue and Playboy. A few virgins showed up in prime time.<\/p>\n\n
The good news was that there were signs of change. The bad news was that things didn\u2019t change very much. The result was usually a more nuanced version of the gospel of sexual freedom. Maybe true love waits for a year or two or true love waits until a guy whispers the magic word \u201ccommitment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
\u201cWhat the culture is saying these days is that abstinence is an option teen-agers should pay attention to,\u201d said Ross, one of the founders of the Southern Baptist Convention\u2019s True Love Waits program. \u201cYoung people are no longer being told, outright, that they\u2019re strange and weird if they choose abstinence. \u2026 You may even see some signs that the media and politicians are willing to affirm kids who make that choice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Saving sex until marriage is now an option. But there are, of course, many other options. The message written between the lines of most sex education texts is this: wait until after high school. Meanwhile, Hollywood has offered a few cautionary sermons on promiscuity. But sex and romance \u2014 divorced from marriage \u2014 remain at the heart of most scripts.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cYoung people today are hearing many messages from our culture,\u201d said Ross. \u201cBut here is what they WILL NOT hear. They will not hear anyone clearly say that it is morally wrong for them to have sex before they are married. And they won\u2019t hear anyone explain the painful emotional and spiritual consequences of that decision to become sexually active. \u2026 No one is telling kids about the cost of forming that kind of bond and then ripping it apart.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Nevertheless, pro-chastity leaders believe they are making progress. This past weekend, 300 gathered in Washington, D.C., for a summit meeting sponsored by the Medical Institute for Sexual Health in Austin, Texas. One topic of discussion was a new set of government statistics showing that, in 1995, 50 percent of girls ages 15 to 19 said they\u2019d had sex. That was down from 55 percent in 1990 \u2013 the first drop since 1970. At the same time, birth rates fell 8 percent and abortions declined among teens.<\/p>\n\n
There is no way to prove this had anything to do with programs such as True Love Waits, which is known for its media-friendly events such as the 1994 posting of 211,000 pledge cards in Washington, D.C., or a 1995 rally with 350,000 cards stacked in Atlanta\u2019s Georgia Dome. Last year, 400,000 students took part in Valentine\u2019s Day activities and the 1998 goal is student-led programs in 56,000 secondary schools. The project\u2019s most symbolic work takes place in churches, where teens often sign pledge cards in rites that include gold rings \u2014 signs of a commitment to remain chaste until marriage.<\/p>\n\n
It\u2019s crucial, said Ross, that congregations become more involved in complex issues linked to sexuality \u2014 such as crisis pregnancies and the fact that signing a pledge card often isn\u2019t the end of the story. But some clergy continue to duck sexual issues because they\u2019re afraid to offend grown-up sinners who happen to be married, divorced or single. Truth is, churches that can\u2019t talk about sin and repentance can\u2019t talk about healing and forgiveness.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cJesus was as clear-cut as he could be about this,\u201d said Ross. \u201cWhenever he dealt with people who had failed sexually, his goal was always forgiveness and restoration. \u2026We have to be able to tell young people that God still has a plan for their lives of teenagers, even though they have messed up. If we can offer forgiveness, we can help them get back on track.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It was two or three years ago that some of the teen-sex statistics began to dip, followed by telltale ripples in mass media. Suddenly, people didn\u2019t laugh so hard when youth minister Richard Ross and other True Love Waits leaders told kids they could find romance and intimacy through lifelong fidelity. A few people began […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n