Love That Lasts :
How We Discovered God’s Better Way
for Love, Dating Marriage, and Sex
By Jefferson & Alyssa Bethke
My generation seemed to really get the
short end of the stick when it came
to relationships, as there were really
only two—admittedly stereotypical—
extremes. you’re married and having sex on the
first date.
The first one is what I like to call the
“do whatever you want” policy. Since
the sexual revolution in the 1960s, our
culture has had a distorted view of
freedom, which plays out by basically
making two rules—first, Do whatever
you want and whatever feels good,
as long as it doesn’t hurt anybody
else. Second, don’t you ever dare to
tell anyone whatever they are doing is
wrong or could cause hurt, or damage,
or not be the best for them. And here’s where the church made a
big mistake (of course I’m generalizing
here, this doesn’t apply to every church
or person, but the pervasive ethos of
the day). They became reactionary and
started defining themselves by what
they were against instead of what they
were for. Instead of the church driving
the conversation about sexuality,
dating, and marriage, we let the culture
shape the narrative, and we responded.
Casual sex. Porn. Hooking up. Living
together. That’s the new normal.
Sex is bad. Don’t hold hands.
This means that things that were
unheard of before moved to being
normal on a grand scale culturally,
such as moving in together before
If you kiss your boyfriend or girlfriend,
you’re in sin. Your virginity is your
identity.
Solutions • 61