Pre-Marital Sex in America

http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/12/19/premarital.sex.ap/index.html

Figures like this need to be realistically dealt with. If they are inaccurate, as Concerned Women of America assert, then they have to show with real scientific data why this research is wrong and not just say so because they don't like the conclusions. I suspect it's fairly accurate for the most part, if not a bit inflated, but I'd have to see their methodology and sample. I've read other studies looking at just Evangelical Christians which puts the figure at over 80%, still pretty high. And if this is a longitudinal study with a good cross section sample of men and women dating back to those born in the early 40's, then we can discard of this notion that American was generally fine and morally chaste before the 60's. These figures become more interesting when you take into account the fact that many people in the 50's and 60's were getting married between ages 18-21, something not very common today, especially for those under 20. If 95% (or whatever high figure we use) of the people who were getting married at 18 or 19 back then weren't waiting until marriage, then teen pre-marital sex was also a frequent occurrence then as it is now. So while sex wasn't thrown all over advertisements and TV then as it is now, and also people then considered topics of sex much more taboo than today, I suppose this would mean that many people were just quietly very hypocritical then whereas today they just come out and flaunt their values now and don't feel bad about it. I'm actually not sure which one is worse.

In any event, I don't think this means we throw out standards and/or just say they are unrealistic. Not at all. We should continue preaching the same Biblical standards that are true today and always have been true. But perhaps data like this helps us become more understanding and realistic of human desires and frailty, especially in the areas of sexuality. The common approach I heard way too often as a younger Christian when dealing with sex came down basically and only to "It's bad, don't do it" which wasn't terribly helpful and tends to make people feel worse than they already did. I personally believe more openness and frankness on sexual issues is needed and is indeed good--though not the type advocated by society which just flaunts a sinful sexual ethic at every turn. Surely we can counter with something better than that and many could also do better than just silence or embarrassed faces when the subject comes up. If 95% of people are not waiting (a figure which would encompass most Christians it would appear), surely there needs to be a new and better approach in the Christian community to address the issue and help those in need. The good news is, I think we might be on the right track. There's been some decent popular literature on the subject in the past few years that would not have been available in decades past. Hopefully it will be built upon to better address and deal with the issue in the future.