Teen pregnancy down 6%! But is that enough?

(Image courtesy of http://liveactionnews.org.)

This morning on the school news channel, a story was reported on the decline of teen pregnancy in the United States.  The story went on to explain that a reason behind the decline was due to two MTV shows: "Teen Mom" and "16 and Pregnant."  The TV shows follow the lives of pregnant teenagers through their pregnancies, documenting their highs and lows, rewards and setbacks.  The new research claimed that
these TV shows helped decrease teen pregnancy by six percent.  The report concluded that a rise in the use of birth control methods has also helped with the decline (CBS News).

As soon as I heard the headline on the TV, my eyes and ears tuned in.  While the report sounded good initially (after all, a decline in teen pregnancy does seem to be a good thing), my mind began asking other questions: If teen pregnancy is going down, then why are abortions going up?  Also, is it good that teen pregnancy is going down only due to MTV shows and birth control?  What about the issue of teens having sex and not getting pregnant?  Are teens really having less sex or is that they are using more effective ways to prevent pregnancy?

Of course, I look at all of these things through a Christian lens; my beliefs and opinions are built foundationally on the Word of Truth (the Bible).  I also want to know the scientific facts.  So I began researching the truth immediately.  What I found shocked and hurt me.

I found, first of all, that four out of five people age twenty or below have had sexual intercourse ("Facts and Statistics About Teenage Abortion").  That's a whopping 80%.  That number is staggering to me.  Perhaps I just haven't been paying attention to the world, or perhaps I didn't want to know, but I would have never guessed that 80% of teenagers are having sex.

Some would argue that as long as teens are having protected sex it's okay.  After all, teen pregnancy is going down and the use of contraceptives is going up so what's the big deal?

The big deal is that having even "protected" sex does not offer full protection.  "You cannot put a condom on your mind," I have heard some say.  Sex directly influences the mind and the spirit because sex is not simply a physical occurrence as many would like to believe.  Sex acts like a bonding agent, bonding partner to partner in a physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual way.

While teen pregnancy is going down, teen sex is not.  Premarital sex is wrong; not because I said so, but because the Creator of sex says so.  Premarital sex only leaves one feeling empty, unfulfilled, and wanting more.  That is because sex never comes with "no-strings attached."  It involves your whole being, including your mind, heart, and soul.

That is why I am not satisfied at all with the declared fact that teen pregnancy is on a six percent decline.  Premarital sex is still wrong and still leaves scars that only God can heal.

Think about sex between two unmarried people like this: There are two boards.  Each board represents a person.  When those two boards come together in physical union, they are fastened together with nails.  But nails can quickly be separated because there is not a firm connection, so after the deed is done the nail is removed, the boards are separated, and each is left with an empty hole.  Soon another partner is found.  Another board is nailed to it and that nail is removed, leaving yet another empty hole.  And while they try to fill up the emptiness, only more holes are created as more and more boards are attached briefly and then ripped apart.

But sex within the bond of marriage is like two boards being fastened tightly together with a screw.  It is hard to pull apart two boards that are put together with a screw.  The grooves on the screw go deep and make the connection much stronger than just physical attraction and selfish satisfaction.  The grooves connect the boards on all levels of commitment: mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual.  The bond made by the commitment of marriage is not easily broken, not to mention the fact that when two complete boards are screwed together, there aren't any holes to weaken the relationship.

Even though the scars will remain, God can patch the holes in your board if you ask Him to.  (Image courtesy of http://practicallyfunctional.net.)

Still, there is hope for the board full of holes.  The power of God's redemptive love can fill in the empty holes made by the nails of premarital sex.  Even though the scars remain in the board where the nail used to be, the holes have been filled in.  That is power of Christ's forgiveness, offered freely to all who truly repent.

In closing, God created sex as a pleasure to be treasured!  He made it as a sacred, lovely act between a man and a woman in the context of marriage.  Anything outside of that is a deceptive act to gratify ourselves.  In I Thessalonians 4:3-4, Paul writes, "For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you should know how to control his or her own body in holiness and honor...."  Likewise, in I Corinthians 6:18 Paul further writes, "Flee from sexual immorality!  Every other sin a person commits outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body."  God has designed sex for marriage.  Only in marriage can sex be rooted in fertile soil, blossoming into beautiful forms of life and relationship.


"Thank God He saved me from my sin, but not the consequences" (Andy Mineo, Christian rapper).