NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–As prom season begins, many teens will spend countless hours looking for just the right dress, just the right tux and just the right place to eat dinner. Invariably, many of these teens will create memories that will last a lifetime. Sadly, many will remember their prom night for regrets rather than positive memories.
These unfortunate regrets over premarital sex can be avoided according to Bob Demoss, a youth specialist and president of Entertainment Today, Franklin, Tenn.
Demoss, writing in the May issue of HomeLife magazine, credits some of the sexual promiscuity on prom night to many of the magazines targeted to teenage girls such as Seventeen, Young & Modern and Glamour. Stories focusing on the sexual and romantic add pressure to young prom couples.
Premarital sex on prom night doesn’t just happen, Demoss writes. He uses the example of Andrea, whom he believes suffers from “The-Next-Thing-I-Knew-We-Were-Smoking-Cigarettes” syndrome. After she told her story, Demoss learned there were steps where Andrea could have stopped the evening’s flow. She could have stopped if she had a plan.
“If your teen is headed to the prom, she needs a plan, too,” Demoss writes. He provides a five-part plan to help teenagers avoid sexual intimacy on prom night.
First, know your bottom line. Demoss tells teens to draw a line in the sand that they won’t cross.
Second, communicate your position. Demoss encourages teens to tell a friend in order to keep them accountable.
Third, stick by your convictions. Stand up to a persistent prom date if he or she begins chipping away at your resolve.
Fourth, avoid compromising situations. Teens should avoid situations such as after-prom parties that could lead to things that they might later regret.
And finally, bolt like a bat. If all else fails — run. Demoss suggests that teens take the apostle Paul’s advice and flee from immorality.
Focus on the fun rather than “manufactured romantic expectations” and
keep your head, Demoss writes, and your body will follow.
HomeLife is a 500,000-circulation Christian family magazine published by the Nashville, Tenn.,-based Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Perry is a 1998 graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia who has entered the International Mission Board’s journeyman program as an overseas correspondent.
