The current generation of young adults longs for satisfying and stable relationships that provide the essential things in life:  long life, health, financial stability, a sense of well-being, and a happy sex life. Unfortunately, our American culture has deceived many into believing that they can achieve these things without engaging in the divine rite of passage called marriage. Some have accepted the flawed counterfeit known as shacking up, living together or cohabitating, and those who have chosen to adhere to God’s ordained union called marriage have become anxious about their ability to achieve it in a cynical, media-saturated world.

Their fears will be calmed through better pre-marriage education and counseling. The alternatives to marriage appear reasonable and attractive but will prove faulty over time and fail when compared to marriage. Educators, pre-marriage counselors, the Church, the media and parents must begin to proclaim the divine institution of marriage as essential to personal and family success. The Case for Marriage reminds us, “Support for marriage . . . does not require turning back the clock on desirable social change, promoting male tyranny, or tolerating domestic violence . . . Whether an individual ever personally marries or not, a healthy marriage culture benefits every [person].”²⁵

There is a movement among young people across the nation. True Love Waits, The National Abstinence Clearinghouse, Club Varsity, and other organizations have led millions of youth to pledge to wait for sex until after they are married. These young adults have rejected the lies in truth’s clothing that many of their peers accept as the norm:

• It can’t happen to me.
• I’ll just practice “safe sex.”
• It (pregnancy) just happened.
• They’re gonna do it anyway.
• What two people do behind closed doors is nobody else’s business.
• I only listen to the beat.
• Sex is a natural bodily function that can’t be controlled.
• Peer pressure/Everybody’s doing it.
• It’s too late for me.
• Marriage is just a piece of paper.

The Word says that Satan often appears as an angel of light, cloaked in truth’s clothing. The Deceiver is like a mirage, holding out empty promises that will disappear and even lead you away from fulfilling the hopes you have for your life.

Not everyone who abstains from sex until marriage always lives happily ever after. But those who choose to live as God intended in the area of sexuality avoid the wide road that ultimately leads to death and destruction (STDs and AIDS, unplanned pregnancy, abortion, illegitimate births, divorce, etc.). Those who decide to follow God and not the world have chosen the narrow road, which promises life and peace.

When I hold up a hundred dollar bill while speaking, I ask the audience, “Who wants this?” The majority of people sit waving their hands around, shouting, ”Me! Me! I want that!” But the person who gets to keep it: