The world tends to view high school as a time of persistent rebellion, recreational drug use and unrestrained sex. While these stereotypes are usually extreme and not characteristic of all teens, it is an often unspoken truth that sex consumes a good amount of the time and thoughts of many high school students.

But there are many young adults who choose to defy the social norm and abstain from sex until marriage. I am a firm proponent of and believer in the benefits of abstinence. I’m not going to judge you if you stop reading here, but I’d like for you to hear me out.

I am a Christian. Meaning I take what God says in the Bible as truth and as guidelines for the way I live my life. According to the Bible, God created mankind and therefore created sex, and he clearly states that it is a gift to be enjoyed within wedlock. That being said, there are several advantages to abstinence that apply whether you believe that or not.

There’s the issue of disease. Sexually active teenagers are 100 percent more prone to catch sexually transmitted diseases than those who are not. Duh. Three million teens are infected with STDs a year, according to the report titled “Teen Sex and Pregnancy,” from the Allan Guttmacher Institue, and two thirds of new STD infections occur among people under the age of 25.

Abstinence also leaves no chance for teen pregnancies. Countless measures are taken in order to have “safe sex” and reduce the chances of conception. Well, ladies and gentlemen, as crazy as it sounds, I have discovered a method that has a zero percent margin of failure. No sex is the “safest” sex. Also, without instigating an abortion debate, it would save literally millions of lives (or “fetuses”).

Several potential and probable emotional repercussions exist as well. A high school relationship that does not include sex is likely to be a stronger relationship. Sex-based relationships tend to waver and are often shallow. A relationship should be based on more important aspects of the other individual than your own selfish physical gratification. Also, in 10 years if an “experienced” individual enters into a marital relationship, there’s likely secrets or taboo elements from that person’s past that can go without disclosure to his or her spouse, resulting in a less open and somewhat distant marriage. Even if the couple is open about their past, there may still be a somewhat scarred relationship.

All of this to say: Is momentary satisfaction now, worth the permanent consequences later? Most teens brag on their sex lives (which are often nonexistent, seeing as 42 percent of all teenage boys and 43 percent of teenage girls are still virgins, according to a report done by the Kinsey Institute), but are often in actuality ashamed and aware of the damage they have done that will affect the rest of their lives.
Just because you have had sex doesn’t mean it’s too late to adopt the concept of abstinence. It will pay off in the end.