Not an Innocent Act

God said long ago that illicit sex carries potentially widespread and horrendous physical, social, political, economical, emotional, and moral implications. And yet, if you study history, you will find that it was not primarily religious groups like the Puritans who originated legislation to regulate the sexual activities of a given culture. It was often secular governments who had enough common sense to realize that casual sex is not an innocent private act but rather an act with appalling public consequences and costs.

The only certain way for our young people to avoid the high cost of sexually transmitted diseases and out-of-wedlock pregnancy is for a monogamous man to enter into a monogamous relationship with a monogamous woman. Monogamy is the only way to keep sex truly private. And it is the only sure way to eliminate the high cost of casual sex to those who practice it, their children, and society at large. Only in the context of a marriage commitment—“for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, as long as we both shall live”—can sex between two individuals even come close to being considered a private act.