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The fact is that in many places, and not just the sinful cities and suburbs, teenagers are engaging in risky sexual behavior at ages that shock even those of us who grew up during the '60s.

That's why the fictional companion pieces, which hope to address this issue, must not give a single inch to the presupposition of sinful life. From the very beginning, the characters who engage in casual sex should be seen to be selfish, self-centered, vain dolts. As a young reader, you should begin hating them on the page, before they ever engage in sex. Even better, the stories should be told from the perspective of credible but heroic adolescents who see the Britney Spears generation as sad, boring shipwrecks. The "just for fun" line quoted in the Zondervan book is the product of casual, surfboard Christianity. It's the kind of thing I would expect from an undereducated youth pastor.

That's why the fictional companion pieces, which hope to address this issue, must not give a single inch to the presupposition of sinful life. From the very beginning, the characters who engage in casual sex should be seen to be selfish, self-centered, vain dolts.

I understand your concern, and feel pretty much the same way. However, based on what I've learned over the past six years with two teenage daughters (one turning 20 this mont and one 17) who've pretty much stayed on the straight path, it's not just the obviously selfish, self-centered and vain dolts who end up in these situations and making very bad choices. It can be girls they've known all their lives and have gone to Sunday school and through Confirmation with, girls and boys whose parents we know, and know they've been caring, involved Christian parents. In some of the cases we've shared (through our friendship with the parents) the agony of seeing kids take a bad turn and hurt themselves and others. So, to paint the pictures so starkly is likely to be inconsistent with the teenagers actual experience. The teaching points are strongest not when they are portrayed most starkly, but when they are most believable and consistent with what the kids actually see in their lives.