"True Love Waits" Virginity Plege
20 May 2006
As I point out in my book, Praying In The Harvest, evangelicals have fallen prey for sometime to decisional regeneration; that is, the belief that nodding one’s head to a gospel presentation and repeating the “sinner’s prayer” after some well-meaning Christian makes one a shoo-in for heaven. For years, we’ve been assuring everyone who makes a decision for Christ that they are saved and should never doubt it. Never mind that it’s the Holy Spirit’s job, not ours, to assure people of their salvation. As a result, our churches are full of our converts—those who’ve experienced the power of our persuasion—rather than Christ’s converts—those who’ve experienced the power of God.
In addition to operating under the delusion that salvation is a mere matter of us deciding, evangelicals have also concluded that moral chastity is achievable for today’s youth if they will only make the “True Love Waits” virginity pledge: “Believing that true love waits, I make a commitment to God, myself, my family, my friends, my future mate and my future children to a lifetime of purity including sexual abstinence from this day until the day I enter a biblical marriage relationship.” While the pledge is indeed a most noble aspiration, recent studies reveal that it is ineffective and that the vast majority of those making it are failing to keep it.
What’s the problem? What’s the missing ingredient? Is it not this simple truth: Only Christ can save us from our sins, change our lives, and give us the power to overcome temptation? No decision of ours or pledge we make will ever suffice. Only Jesus can do for us what needs to be done. It makes no difference how strong our resolve is or how sincere our vows are, without Christ we’ll never pull it off. Without Him we’ll never make it. Thus, what really matters is not whether or not you’ve made a decision for Christ or a pledge to Him, but whether or not you actually know Him.
Don Walton
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