By Chris Surber
Columnist

Warning: There is nothing casual about casual sex. According to waitformarriage.com, more than 110 million Americans are presently infected with a sexually transmitted disease. Casual sex kills people. It also maims people with lifelong, painful, incurable afflictions like herpes and hepatitis. According to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there is a treatment cost of $16 billion for 20 million new cases every year for these and other conditions.

Casual sex kills future intimacy. There is an obvious and well-documented link between irresponsible sexual activity before marriage and sexual dysfunction during marriage. When a man and woman are sexually active prior to meeting and marrying their future spouse, they often bring unrealistic expectations, cravings and emotional trauma into their marriage. This kind of baggage kills marital intimacy.

Casual sex kills self-image. Teens and young people all across our land find their self-worth in the measure of their sex appeal. They’ve bought the lie that beauty is skin deep and their value is determined by the interest of the opposite sex.

Casual sex kills current marriages. There is no shortage of cheating men and women and those willing to commit adultery with them. Casual sex outside of one’s marriage is a sure way to destroy one’s marriage and family.

Casual sex kills babies. Like it or not, casual sex produces unwanted, unplanned babies. The primary objective of sex is procreation. Sex is absolutely a gift from God for marital enjoyment designed to foster intimacy between a man and a woman whom God joins together. There is no question about that. However, it is designed to make babies. When sex is engaged recklessly, the consequence is often an unwanted baby. These babies are often disposed of as unwelcome guests to a party they were not invited to.

Sex is a gift from God to bond a man and a woman in a beautiful dance of mysterious union. In fact, in Genesis 2:21 we are told that God took a rib from the side of Adam and used that part of his flesh to create Eve. Woman is made from the flesh taken from man.

Then, in Genesis 2:24, we are told that it is for this very reason that a man shall cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh in marital intimacy.

Sex is a gift from God. When it is engaged in according to His plan, there is no shame in it. In God’s plan, a married man and woman are one flesh in the deepest and most profound sense.

Before sin came into the picture, “The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.” (Genesis 2:25 NIV84)

My friend, casual sex kills. God’s plan for sex unites and creates. God’s plan brings a man and a woman together, intertwining two souls and bodies together in perfect union. God’s plan for marriage creates a safe harbor for intimacy, creating new life and family. Casual sex isn’t casual at all. Casual sex kills.

Chris Surber is pastor of Cypress Chapel Christian Church in Suffolk. Visit his website at www.chrissurber.com.