No Fear is Not Wise, Fear God

The teenage years are often characterized by risk taking. I remember a marketing campaign that began about the time of my high school graduation that tried to capitalize on that drive for risk. Soon “No Fear” T shirts were popping up all over the place and the same logos could be seen in the back windows of teenager’s cars. Interestingly, a near animosity developed between those who gave into this latest trend and those who rejected it. Soon there was the response slogan, “No Fear, No Brains.”
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Around that same period in my life, I also listened to advice promoting abstinence. Many of the arguments centered around fear. The warnings that I heard about included the dangers of STDs, unwanted pregnancy, emotional turmoil, violence, and a girl’s father with a gun.
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So how effective are such scare tactics at reducing teenage sexual activity? Statistics tell us that few people wait until marriage. Some argue that with abstinence education, we could increase that number. I would not argue against such an approach, but the problem is that too many of the programs simply use scare tactics alone. The real reason to avoid sex outside of marriage is because God said so.
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It seems that most people either do not know or care about God’s position on this issue. Many abstinence advocates actually tell teens to wait until they are ready instead of waiting until they are married. That is not what God says to do.
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1 Corinthians 6:18 says, “Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.” Hebrews 13:4 tells us, “Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.”
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Back to the fear issue. Teens love to take risks. Rock climbing, down hill skiing, and bike racing are all risky but not sinful. There is a difference between risk and sin. As a teenager I was willing to take risks. Given the opportunity, I would have ridden a bull or skydived. The reason I waited for intimacy until my wedding night was not because of my fear of all the dangers I had heard about, it was because of my fear of God. Further, sex outside of marriage is not just sinful for teens, it is sinful for all people.
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If the dangers and consequences of sin were a sufficient motivator, sins like drunkenness would not be a serious problem, for the consequences are deadly. Immediate danger is not a sufficient motivator for many men. Perhaps it is because they have not grasped the concept that they not only need to fear consequences, but they need to fear God Himself.
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The problem is that until you trust Christ, so many of the motivators to stop sin are quite ineffective. You see, Christ is the only answer to the sin problem. He is the answer both to having your sins forgiven and the answer to helping you to no longer be involved in them. Apart from Him, there is little motivation to even care about sin- let alone to get the victory over it. That is why you must come to the place where you admit you are a sinner and ask Him to forgive you as you agree with His standard of right and wrong.