There's one

faith-based initiative that's caught the eye of those in the secular arenas

and it didn't cost the federal government one thin dime. Believe it or

not, it started among Southern Baptists churches in 1993 with teenagers

pledging that they will abstain from sex until they are married.

In a report

that "pledging delays intercourse for a long time." Now get

this: Columbia University researchers Peter Bearman and Hannah Bruckner

said "the delay effect is substantial and robust." More than

2.5 million adolescents have taken the pledge to remain virgins until

marriage.

So very many

of us had begun to accept defeat in this matter of teen sex. We almost

bought that argument that teens and sex were natural. It was as if teens

having sex was not sinful but only a reflection of hormonal realities.

But, thank God, some youth ministers understood that what was needed was

positive peer pressure and the power of the pledge.

As a result,

according to secular research, teenagers who make the pledge remain virgin

18 months longer than teens that do not make the pledge. That's the average.

Thousands of teenagers, however, are reaping the rewards of their pledge

as they give themselves for the first time to their spouse.

No longer is

it an embarrassment to proclaim, "I am a virgin." That's the

way it should have been for a long time. I remember the little antidote

of a virgin talking to a non-virgin: "I can always be like you. But

you can never again be like me." We as parents must celebrate our

children in their pledges to remain virgins. At our church we even had

our youth to come forward to declare their commitments as we applauded.

But, what about

the teenager who has already lost his/her virginity. I invite those teenagers

to consider the idea of "spirituality virginity." While they

can never be a virgin in the physical sense, they can admit their sin

of sex outside of marriage, repent of it, and receive God's wonderful

forgiveness. God promises to separate us from our sins as far as the east

is from the west. In my way of looking at it, that teenager has become

"clean" all under again. First John 1:9 declares, "If we

confess our sins, He (God) is faithful and righteous to forgive us our

sins and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness (meaning all un-rightness).

When couples

come to me for marriage, I ask, "have you ever had sex together?"

Most say, "Yes." Then I ask, "have you ever prayed together?"

They respond, "O heavens no, we haven't gone that far." In the

course of counseling, I ask them to repent of their immorality and not

engage in sex until their wedding night. All have made the commitment

and from the twinkle in their eyes on wedding day, I sense they had kept

their pledge.

We must forsake

this phobia of asking people to make commitments for heavenly causes.

Rev. Dr. John Hatcher is pastor

of River's Edge

Community Church in Fayetteville.

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