Apparently True Love Doesn't Always Wait
by AFA Journal
March 29, 2006
(AgapePress) - - Although signing a formal purity pledge seems to prolong abstinence outside of marriage, the findings of a recent survey of Baptist newlyweds reveal that true love doesn't always wait -- even among Christians.Byron Weathersbee, interim chaplain at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, conducted a study on the effects of sexual-purity pledges and sex education on abstinence before marriage in a Christian context. Baylor is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.
As part of his research, Weathersbee surveyed young married couples of less than five years in Texas Baptist churches to determine the impact churches made on their sexual behavior. The majority of the couples surveyed admitted to having sexual intercourse prior to marriage. However, the study was consistent with previous findings in its suggestion that Baptist couples were more likely to save sex for their wedding night if they took a formal abstinence pledge.
Specifically, of the young Christians surveyed, six out of ten who made purity commitments did not have sexual intercourse until marriage, while only three of ten who did not pledge purity remained abstinent. Additional findings were:
- 100 percent professed faith in Christ
- 99 percent attended church
- 84 percent grew up in church
- 87 percent grew up in a two-parent home
- 62 percent of males had premarital sex
- 65 percent of females had premarital sex
"To a large degree, we're missing it," Weathersbee says. "The young people are receiving the data, but they're not translating it into values that result in a lifestyle of purity and holiness." Supporting the chaplain's assertion is another finding from his research: only 27 percent of the young people surveyed entered marriage "chaste," having refrained not only from intercourse but also from other sexual practices such as oral sex.
See related article from Associated Baptist Press
This article, reprinted with permission, appears in the April 2006 issue of AFA Journal, a monthly publication of the American Family Association.
