I Won't Tell My Daughters to Save Their Bodies For Their Husbands

Through all my good intentions I think I've had it backwards. As a dad who love, love, loves his daughters I want nothing but the best for them. She's getting to the age where friends at school are talking more about boys and She's noticing references to dating, kissing in the culture all the while asking more questions.

With the best intentions my wife and I have always been quick to tell her that she should save her kisses and body for her husband but recently I've come to realize our thinking is backwards.

I recently sat in on a workshop at a Pastor's conference in Chicago where the topic was homosexuality and the church. I know, little bit of a jump there but stay with me. One of the points the speaker made was that the church has a hard time reaching out to homosexuals because we glorify marriage too much. Marriage is the goal for a lot of girls in the church. In fact its to a point where if a girl in the church hasn't gotten married by age 25 alarms start to go off and a special task force of older women known as "matchmakers" spring into action. They assume something is either wrong with her or she just hasn't found God's match for her. That thinking of course is flawed because the Apostle Paul specifically said in 1 Corinthians 7:8 that it was desirable to remain single and only if that wasn't possible to get married.

So if this is true why am I telling my daughter to save her body for her husband when she might never be married? Recently I read an article titled "I Don't Wait Anymore." The author says she threw away her purity ring when she was 25 because she was tired of waiting and really wasn't sure what she was waiting for anyway. By telling my daughter a main reason to remain pure is for her husband I fear I'm setting her up for failure.