Stories like the one below never cease to entertain me. Check it out.
Abstinence-only programs might work, study says
By Rob Stein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, February 2, 2010; A01
Sex education classes that focus on encouraging children to remain abstinent can persuade a significant proportion to delay sexual activity, researchers reported Monday in a landmark study that could have major implications for U.S. efforts to protect young people against unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.
Only about a third of sixth- and seventh-graders who completed an abstinence-focused program started having sex within the next two years, researchers found. Nearly half of the students who attended other classes, including ones that combined information about abstinence and contraception, became sexually active.
The findings are the first clear evidence that an abstinence program could work.
Comments: What’s so humorous about the story above is how someone saw the need to have a “landmark study.” And of course, in order to have this form of study, you have to have “researchers” and “programs” using scientific means to draw conclusions.
Here, let me just give my little two-cents of scientific study: “Abstinence whenever it is tried always works.”
I am no researcher and certainly no scientist. But I can guarantee this: Whenever abstinence is tried, it works!
The Lord knew this as well (God is where I got my conclusion from), so in Leviticus 20, the Lord gives a series of things He wanted the Israelites to abstain from – such as, offering children as sacrifices to idols (v. 2), turning to mediums for spiritual guidance (v. 6), adultery (v. 10), having sex with members of one’s family (vv. 11-12), homosexuality (v. 13), bestiality (vv. 15-16), etc.
All throughout this chapter, God tells Israel to “abstain” and if they did, the land they were about to inhabit would not vomit them out (v. 22), they would also possess the land that the Lord was about to give to them (v. 24), they would learn how to exercise important discerning issues (v. 25), and above all, they would like holy unto the Lord (v. 26).
What was therefore God’s plan for Israel to achieve these things? “Abstinence” plain and simple.
Now here is a key point: Did Israel achieve these things? Over the long haul, no. Their deprave nature drove them all into doing the exact opposite of what God had told them not to do. Did the Lord know this would happen? Absolutely. Did He accommodate their would-be failures by lowering His requirements? Nooooooo. The Lord kept His stands high for two purposes: God is holy and a holy God cannot compromise His laws. Second, man apart from God cannot live up to the standards the Lord has stated. So God wanted to also show how utterly deprave and destitute the human heart is apart from divine intervention.
But the point is this: Abstinence works (however long one can practice it) every time it is tried. What doesn’t work is to try to practice abstinence in the power of flesh. It cannot be maintained for very long. And even if a person does achieve some measure of success by sheer will power, because the will power was done in the power of the flesh, God will not honor it.
Remember Paul’s statement how he had gained so much by sheer fleshly will power (Philip. 3:4-7)? Yet, he counted it all as being lost because all the outward righteousness he had gained in the power of the flesh did not draw him closer to God. The flesh never does.
Here is another passage to bear in mind: 1 Corinthians 6:18: Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.
What does Paul mean by this? The phrase in question is “he who sins sexually sins against his own body.” To begin we always check the context. Look at verses 15-16: 15Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! 16Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, "The two will become one flesh." 17But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit.
Paul is showing that there are three kinds of unions we can participate in. First, there is the “one body” union that one engages in when he or she simply has sex with another. This form of union develops into a “close union.”
Second, there is the “one flesh” union that married couples enjoy (cf. Gen. 2:24). This is a “closer union.”
Finally, there is the “one spirit” union that Christians enjoy who have been brought to faith in Christ and therefore, joined to the Lord in Spirit. This is the “closest union” to have.
Now here is the application: I believe Paul’s statement in verse 18 is speaking primarily to Christians. A Christian who is married has two present on-going unions. First, a close “one flesh” union with his or her spouse; and second a closer “one spirit” union with the Lord.
If a Christian man or woman who is married and therefore also a Christian, has an affair, he or she now has taken both their close union with their spouse, and their closer union with the Lord, and have made them members or united in a sinful way with the forbidden person. This then becomes how one sins against his own body. Only by using one’s body in sex can this be achieved.
For example, a Christian man who is married, would not involve his spouse in any sin such as drunkenness or gluttony. Such things are wrong, but such sins are not against the spouse either. Only sexual sins, in this case adultery involves the spouse (who is “one flesh” with her husband) and it involves the Lord (who is “one spirit” with the man who is saved), and unites them both into his act of sexual adultery – which could only be done by using the body; thus sexual sins are unique in and of themselves in that they are sins against the body and everyone one else he is in union with.
Now watch this: Every time a man has illicit sex with a woman, he becomes one with her (v. 16). Likewise the woman becomes one with the man – “one body.” When the man has sex with woman number 2, he becomes one with her as well. But he does not stop being one with the former woman he had sex with. He is still one with her and also one with the other.
If he has sex with woman number 3, he is now one with her, as well as with woman number 1 and 2. You see my point? This oneness does not break or is not eradicated when a man has sex with someone new. All that happens is that now this man has oneness with more than one woman. And that never ceases!
Now as a Christian, he is forgiven by God in regards to the “penalty” of his sin; but the “spiritual consequences” of the one body unions remains. That won’t ever leave. Such oneness will remain, even if the penalty of sin is forgiven by God.
Now you know why God places a high premium on abstinence. Now you know why the bible stresses such virtues as virginity and chastity. There are underlining severe consequences that occur when we choose to sin with our own bodies with regards to having elicit sex.
This is why Jesus had to be virgin born. Could He had been born from Mary who let’s say were to be married to Joseph and had physical relations with him, but could not have had any kids, until God opened up her womb and brought for Jesus? No. Otherwise, Jesus would have been born with a sinful nature whom He would acquire from Joseph.
Folks, all I am saying is that God does not stop or prohibit the consequences of sin being passed down from one generation to the next via sexual relations. He is more than willing to forgive the penalty of our sin, but the fact remains, sin will still being passed down and unholy unions as a result will continue to occur and remain.
Again, to look at it from another perspective – the bible tells Christians not to marry non-Christians, right (2 Cor. 6:14). Why? Keep on reading the context:
v. 15 – What harmony has Christ with Satan? What? How is being married to an unbeliever involve Christ? As Paul stated elsewhere – Believers become “one spirit” with the Lord (1 Cor. 6:17). So when a believer marries and unbeliever and has physical relations, the sex itself becomes more than an act of marriage duty; through the body it involves the Lord being connected to the lord of the unbeliever who is Satan. There is no getting around this!
v. 16 – Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? What is the temple of God? The believer’s body (1 Cor. 6:19). What is the body of an unbeliever? An idol temple because Jesus does not live within. Therefore, when a Christian wife becomes married to an unsaved husband and they engaged in physical intimacy, they become “one flesh.” And as a result this closer union, the temple of God (the believer’s body) has now become in union with an idol temple (the unbeliever’s body).
If the believer who sees her marriage to the unbeliever as wrong and repents of her sin and asks God for forgiveness, will the Lord forgive her? Absolutely. He will forgive her regarding the penalty of her sin, but not the consequences. She will remain in union with an idol temple as long as her unsaved husband remains unsaved.
Should she divorce him? No! (See 1 Cor. 7:13). Should she avoid having sex with him? No! (See 1 Cor. 7:3). What should she do? Continue to pray for him, be a faithful and loving wife, respect and honor her husband and watch this – LIVE WITH THE CONSEQUENCES! That’s life! That’s all one can do until God supernaturally changes the situation.
Alright, I said more than I intended to say, but all was said to say this: Abstinence when tied always works! For someone who is not married, it will work for you always. What will not work for you is to try to achieve a life of abstinence in the power of the flesh. You will fail. You have to be filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18) and you have to let the Word of God dwell richly within you (Col. 3:16). But whatever length of time you practice abstinence, it will always work for you.
For those who are married, practicing abstinence in terms of not fooling around and staying faithful to your spouse will likewise always work for you, providing you are constantly filled with the Spirit and also letting the God’s Word richly dwell within you.
We do not need a bunch of scientists or researchers telling us that abstinence works based on their scientific investigation. The bible tells us that and so does common sense. What we need to know is how to practice it. And walking in the Spirit is the answer.
