Last night, I got into a debate with an older woman about waiting till marriage to have sex. I told her about the peer pressure I faced and she sided with my old friends who encouraged me to have sex before marriage, saying, “well, I think they’re speaking to you from a place of practicality and common sense.”  

Before I begin, allow me to make some points about faith. What is faith? People have written whole books about it, but for this essay, I want to focus on this notion. “Faith is having a “belief in something not yet seen.” (Hebrew 11:1)” Faith is believing in something that hasn’t happened yet. It’s believing in something that has happened, but you weren’t there to see it for yourself. 

Alright…let’s begin. 

The older woman I conversed with is a 60-something year old widow I befriended at the gym last year. We’ll call her, Stella. Stella seems to have a good heart. She lost her husband about three years ago. We text from time to time, keeping each other’s spirits up. And while she does claim to be Christian, we’ve had several conversations where it’s made clear that she’s very liberal and loose with her Christianity.