Every year millions of teenagers discover that "free sex" is really not so free after all. One price they pay for their promiscuity comes in the form of VD.
Venereal disease is that part of promiscuous sex that teenagers don't like to talk about — or, for that matter, don't know much about — but that a lot of them are contracting. In fact, the number of teenagers afflicted by VD has reached epidemic proportions. Every hour of every day in the United States, over 20 persons aged 15-19 become infected with gonorrhea.
More than 750,000 new cases of gonorrhea were reported to health officials in 1973. Well over two-thirds of the cases occurred among persons under 25. Almost half of these were teens and younger — ages 10-19.
The picture is actually darker than these statistics paint. Health authorities use the rule of thumb that the actual number of new cases of VD is about four times the reported number.
Worse yet, there are at least a dozen diseases other than gonorrhea and syphilis that can be contracted by sexual intercourse. The "dirty dozen" include trichomonas vaginalis, chlamydia, nonspecific urethritis, genital warts, and pubic lice or "crabs." But the one that most concerns health authorities is the herpes simplex virus types 1 and 2 (HSV). Ten years ago it was thought to be a rare disease. But now a conservative estimate of 300,000 genital herpes infections are being treated annually in the U.S., making HSV the second most prevalent venereal disease.
"Chastity is the only known guarantee against venereal disease," says Dr. Philip Reichert. "This is one of the oldest medical facts known to man." Also one of the oldest biblical facts. The number of biblical warnings and examples of the hazards of promiscuity are too numerous to mention. Suffice it to cite the warnings in a book especially addressed to young people: Proverbs. Young people are specifically warned to see through the temptations of promiscuity and consider the end result — to see the very unhealthy hook in the appealing bait. Proverbs 5:11 in particular describes the health consequences, probably including venereal disease: "And thou moan, when thine end cometh, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed" (Jewish Publication Society translation).
The biblical injunctions against promiscuity are not arbitrary do's and don'ts. They are based on the real facts of life and love. For more information write for our free booklets VD — The Silent Epidemic and Is Sex Sin?