Premarital Sex and Our Love Affair with Bad Stats

Someone once said, “78% of all statistics are made up!” Yes, that was a joke, but it is true that we can make statistics and opinion polls say just about whatever we want them to say. Knowing who initiated the study mentioned should give us a good indication that this survey was not evangelical friendly. It was also apparent that in the original article numbers were being juggled around and interpreted rather sloppily.
However, I think this article may cause some to say…”See, we’re not so bad” and cause us to slip back into our apathy towards pre-marital sex. Just 1 case of pre-marital sex among those who claim to know the Lord and live by His Word should cause us to want to spring into Biblical action of rebuke, restoration, and accountability. And those of us who work with youth (including every parent of a pre-teen or teen) should be constantly teaching a Biblical perspective of sex and maintaining accountability with their teens. Yet many seem to be content as long as we are not as bad as the non-believers, and will even go to articles (which seemed to me to say, “Calm down everybody, we’re not as bad as the other article said”) like this to get us back resting comfortably in our easy chairs.