You test-drive a car because you are perfectly free to buy, sell, trade, redesign, or disassemble and reassemble cars or even leave them in the junkyard. A car is a commodity.
A person, though, is emotionally, spiritually, and physically designed to do one of two things when they have sexual relations:
#1 is what you do in marriage, because marriage (I'm talking about real marriage, which includes a sacred public vow of lifelong loyalty) is a secure setting for total, unreserved, heart-wide-open self-giving.
#2 is what you do in living-together. Even if it's living-together-with-option-to-marry. People WILL close up emotionally. They WILL train themselves to withhold ultimate trust. They WILL shield themselves from real openness, because there's a BIG possibility of a break-up, and emotional pain hurts like hell.
And people who do Option #2, living-together, can find it very difficult to transition inwardly into Option #1. They're not learning peace and trust. They're learning performance-anxiety, audition-anxiety, probation.
It's an inward thing. It affects the soul. I think there's a part of you that already knows this.
I never made that analogy, Mrs. Don-o. Look back in the thread. I think the comparison is off the money, but rather than make an issue of it I thought I'd just keep it light and answer truthfully a car question.
I enjoyed your post....true wisdom and knowledge are a gift from God........they are precious and priceless...
I think you're being very, very arrogant by believing you know how everyone's relationship will progress. My wife and I were sexually active before we were married, yet we're happy and bonded.
People on one side of this debate seem to think they know the answers to everyone's life, and it's getting extremely annoying.