Premarital Sex

We live in a sexually obsessed world.  Images are presented thousands of times a day in movies, television, magazines, etc., that proclaim sexuality without morality.  Instead of being the holy sacred moment between husband and wife that God intended for it to be it has become equated with eating a cheeseburger. There is little difference for some who present this issue. This is one value that the Bible is concrete and absolutely clear in the moral code it teaches.  1 Thessalonians was a Biblical letter written to one of the early Churches in Greece.  In that culture sexual morality was an illusive thing and sex outside of marriage was a normal way of life.  When the Church began there they caught on quickly to belief in Christ, loving your neighbor, and worshiping God.  But the culture was so pervasively immoral that they had a difficult time dealing with the sexual morality issue. Paul writes, “abstain from sexual immorality!”  This teaching is in almost all of the epistles and an accepted truth of Christ.  We add to this the 10 commandments where it records, “Thou shalt not commit adultery.”  This teaching is consistent and prevalent in Scripture, that a society, Church, family is to be built upon faithfulness in marriage and abstinence when single.

What does the United Methodist Book of Discipline say?
“Although all persons are sexual beings whether or not they are married, sexual relations are only clearly affirmed in the marriage bond.”  This is under the Disciplinary call, “Faithfulness in marriage, celibacy in singleness!”

In the First United Methodist Church of Mansfield we teach that sex is a gift of God that helps create loving relationships from which marriage and family extend.  We teach that sexual relations are only appropriate within the institution of marriage.  There are many reasons for this; sexually transmitted diseases, unwed mothers, the degradation of the gift of sex  (sex being a God given gift), the importance of sex as a foundation for marriage and family, and following the original God created design for allowing humanity to participate in creation through the birth of wanted children.  But the most important tenant is that it is a clear teaching of the Bible, which is our guide for Christian practice and relationships.  We teach abstinence for young people, the unmarried, single, as well as faithfulness in marriage.  But we love all people in the grace of a loving God who always calls us to a life of faith, love, and Christian values.