Sex and the Knowledge of God

I've been thinking/reading a lot about sex lately. This is partly due to the fact that it is a subject which interests me (my mother is blushing right now), but it is also because it is a subject which (to put it mildly) interests the adolescent girls who hang out at my house and our church.

These girls have no clue why they should wait till their thirteenth birthday, let alone marriage, to jump into a sexual relationship with the next guy who happens along. The fact that the Bible warns against it makes no difference to them. They have no cultural memory of morality or Christianity or respect for the Bible. They are, however, attracted to Scripture, because God is drawing them in, and because we love them for no good reason, other than that we believe the Bible and its testimony about Christ.

So when we first introduced them to God's intentions for sex and purity, they balked. A hundred episodes of Friends, Sex and the City, countless movies, and dubious accounts from friends and parents all stood staunchly opposed to what we showed them in Scripture.

They thought God was holding out on them.

So I've been reading. I wanted a quick fix-- some promise, reward, some darn good reason to tide them over until they grew into Christ enough to obey out of love. But more than that, I wanted a solid understanding of God's purpose in making sex the way He made it-- exclusive, emotional, thrilling, spiritual. I wanted to understand why it has power to enslave and destroy; so that when they asked me, I could tell them exactly what was at stake.

I read lots of Scripture and sermons, mostly from Piper, but also from several Desiring God conference speakers. This one put it all together. This was the central understanding I was looking for. From here, the how's and why's fall into place. Thank God.