Physical Consequences
Let’s take a quick look at the physical consequences if the “fire” of sex is outside of the fireplace. The circle below on the right represents the safe place for sex. The fireplace for the fire kind of thing. When is the time and place in your lives when even your parents would be like thumbs up now dude for the sex? When you’re married.
So let’s say the circle represents a marriage. So here’s this guy, and his lovely bride, and they’re connecting sexually . . . happy campers . . . enjoying that wonderful activity. So since they’re married what physical consequences are they not worrying about too much now? Yes, Babies. Pregnancy. They’re not worried. They’re still happy. They’re ready to welcome that little leaker into the world. They’re painting the room, and picking out all the baby stuff, and having baby showers and all. But outside the circle you’ve got the guy and the girlfriend (not the wife). They’re having sex; she gets pregnant. Are they usually happy campers? No. Generally not celebrating that little treasure. And he might be leaving her. Now the baby of course can be as wonderful in either situation. This is not the end of the world; however, it’s a really hard place to be. So this is difficult.
The other factor, physically, they’re not going to worry about is STDs. You can only catch a Sexually Transmitted Disease by being sexually active with someone who has one. That’s why they’re called Sexually Transmitted Diseases. So if you have two people starting out in their sexuality without one, they can’t catch one. If they stay together, they don’t even need condoms. It’s like they’re in their own little, private bubble of sexual stuff happening, and as long as they keep it in there, they’re safe. Pretty cool. Out here, it’s flat out dangerous. When I was your age their were two STDs out there. AIDS wasn’t on the scene yet. There were only two, and they were curable. Now there are over twenty-five types. Some incurable, some curable, and some, as you know, can kill you. And they’re spreading so fast. The Center for Disease Control says about 19 million mostly 14-25 year olds in this country will get an STD this year. That’s about 51,000 a day. That’s like a stadium full everyday. That’s a whole lot of people. Some of those will be incurable. And they can spread really fast. This is an article that I pulled up about a guy freshman, college student. 18 year old basketball player went to this little college in South Dakota. Knew he was HIV positive. Went there. Didn’t tell anyone. Started having sex with different girls. And these girls had other partners. And within a matter of months they had to track down hundreds of people that could have been affected by this one person who has a disease. That’s how fast these things can spread. One of the fasting spreading STDs is called human papilloma virus (HPV). One of the reasons it spreads so fast is – according to the Center of Disease control website – is that condoms only give very little protection against HPV. HPV is spread by skin to skin contact in the genital area. When people have sex, skin rubs in places a condom does not cover. So even if a condom is there, it can pass on. American Cancer Society said that 99% of all cervical cancer in young ladies comes from HPV. Pretty dangerous stuff.
I was at a local high school, and the school nurse said that she meets with other school nurses throughout the county, and that they have more and more cases of students coming in with some sort of throat problem, thinking they’ve got strep or whatever, getting tested, and finding out they have some sort of STD in their throat. And what might cause that? Oral sex. That is being linked to throat cancer now as well.
Some of these diseases can spread with or without a condom. Folks, it can affect you for life, and it’s not just about you. I’m getting older, and I try to take care of this body I live in. You have to live in yours. And you don’t want to mess it up especially when you’re young. I was speaking at this high school, and this young woman was tearful afterwards, and wanted to speak with me privately. She said, “I was with this guy, I thought he loved me, we were having sex, and then he dumped me. Now I’m with a guy who loves me so much and really respects me. I love him. But I just found out I have genital warts from the other guy. What do I do?” I had no easy answer for her. I said, “You have to be honest. Maybe he’ll be willing to share that disease with you. I don’t know.” That’s a hard place to be.
Is it usually the first person that someone dates in this country that ends up being their lifetime love? No. So isn’t it tragic that people are having sex with people along the way who won’t be their real love anyway. Maybe just a painful memory. But maybe they’ve got a disease tracking with them for the rest of their life? I would say to anyone in this generation, if you’re going to be sexually active before marriage with more than one person, it’s very likely you’re going to get an STD, if not many.
