Prom night decisions: easier than parents think [teens have sex all year long now]

St. Louis Post-Dispatch ^ | 04/12/2008 | AISHA SULTAN

[Tax-chick]

On the other hand one can simply not believe that sex before marriage is wrong, but still decide not to have sex before marriage because of the practical negative consequences.

Admittedly, practicality is not the strongest point of many teenagers.

[fr_freak]

Sounds like you are saying that morals are just determined by what one believes.

I would say there are two kinds of morality: absolute morality and personal morality. Absolute morality would be the right and wrong of things, whether you believe in them or not. For instance, if we assume that God exists and is as the Bible describes Him, then absolute morality would be what God says is right and wrong. In a secular sense, absolute morality would be what society thinks are right and wrong. Personal morality would be what you believe are right and wrong.

[ccmay]

There is a difference between morals and behavior.

Or in other words, "Hypocrisy is the tribute vice pays to virtue." Why is the one better than the other when the outcome is the same?

-ccm

[Melas]

Oh without a doubt, you’re right on. I’ve said it before, but when I was growing up the easiest girls to talk out of their panties were the ones with strict fathers. It didn’t take much psychology to tap into that resentment of daddy and all his rules.

The girls you couldn’t get to were the girls who fathers trusted them and let them know it. They couldn’t bear the thought of letting dad down and it made them all the stronger. Those were the fathers that really taught me a thing or two about being a man.

[Melas]

and you know, i think most everyone on this thread, myself included, live in the real world, see things for how they really are and just LAMENT the fact. that’s all. i have teenagers, i know very well what the situation is these days as compared to when i was a teenager. and it is sad.

You know, I'm not sure I believe that. I honestly believe that my children live in a time where sex especially isn't nearly as casual as it was when I was a teenager in the late 70's. If the Studio 54 era wasn't the absolute height of hedonistic self-indulgence, I don't know what is. Thanks to God that my children take these things far more seriously than my generation did.

[MrB]

WARNING: SARCASM TO FOLLOW

How can you expect your kids to not have a casual attitude towards sex and drugs and indulge in them when you did when you were young, you hypocrite!

/ sarcasm

Leftists, in their desire for “anything goes”, try to tell people they have no right to judge right from wrong if they ever did wrong.

[Melas]

They become unable to have a truly physically and emotionally intimate relationship in the future.

I don't believe a word of that either. I grew up in a highly promiscuous society where sex was damned near meaningless. I honestly thought sex was overrated. I met my wife, fell in love, and sex has meant everything for 17 years.

[Mr. Blonde]

It is amazing how strong the power of denial is. One of my sister’s friends mom found her birth control (which she stopped taking rather than admit why she had it) and caught her on top of her boy friend with her pants undone. Yet, she still managed to think her daughter was perfectly innocent and was shocked when she turned up pregnant.

[fr_freak]

Why is the one better than the other when the outcome is the same?

The outcome is not the same. You stated that 1/3 of all colonial marriages had a pregnant bride (I have no idea if that stat is true). If we were to assume that this stat is correct, then that, in itself, shows the difference in outcome. In today's world, people don't even bother to get married when the pregnancy occurs. Back then, it was mandatory. Huge difference.

[stuartcr]

Personally I think an absolute morality only exists in idea form. I say this, because as you have mentioned, something has to be assumed, and that makes it dependent upon one’s belief. I also have to mention, that while I say this, I also realise I could be completely wrong. Bottom line is though, there really is no way for any living human to prove any of it.

[stuartcr]

That reminds me of the old saying...’do as I say, not as I do’

[wagglebee]

Moral Absolutes Ping!

Freepmail wagglebee to subscribe or unsubscribe from the moral absolutes ping list.

FreeRepublic moral absolutes keyword search
[ Add keyword moral absolutes to flag FR articles to this ping list ]

[PISANO]

The need to be your child's FRIEND rather than your child's PARENT is an terrible phenomenon that has somehow inculcated our family culture.

It started with the boomers and now is firmly entrenched in subsequent generations.

[xsmommy]

my children take sex serioulsy, too, but their peers do not. it is all in the parenting, and there is a serious lack of that going on, from what i can see. again, you live in Texas and i live in Northern VA, suburb of DC. drinking, and indiscriminate sex was not the norm in the 70s when i was growing up in southwestern PA, and where i attended HS. it very much IS the norm in my kids peer groups here. Studio 54 mores were not the norm in rural southwestern PA, no matter what was going on in NYC.

[MrB]

“do” = present tense

Do as I say, not as I did (when I was young and didn’t know better like I do now) is completely valid.

You learn a lot more from mistakes than successes, but it is better to learn from others’ mistakes, and not have to suffer through the consequences of making the same mistake yourself.

Also, there are some “mistakes” or consequences for choices, that you don’t easily, or never, recover from - drunk driving accidents for example.

[deuteronlmy232]

This could be an ad for the movie Time Changer.

[Gabz]

Studio 54 mores were not the norm in rural southwestern PA, no matter what was going on in NYC.

They weren't exactly the norm in NYC either.

[stuartcr]

I graduated from HS in 1968, and you may be surprised to know, that in Fla kids were having sex and drinking alcohol!! When a girl got pregnant, she just disappeared for a while with health problems.

[xsmommy]

again, the point is NOT that kids did it then and do it now, the point is 90% of the kids have indiscriminate sex and drink underage now and it was a MUCH lower percentage back then. NO ONE is surprised to know.

[newgeezer]

When a girl got pregnant, she just disappeared for a while with health problems.

That was back in the good old days, when a "stigma" was correctly seen as an effective deterrent.