Overheard at Booth One: Abstinence Programs

C: I heard on the radio earlier this year some guy talking about the old abstinence programs during the initial AIDS epidemic.  He said something that's stuck with me.   He said, "That was a good idea but not applicable to the real world."

M: "Real world"?

C: Yeah: "A good idea but not applicable to the real world."   So I started thinking about the so-called "real world"

M: Like abstinence is not "real."

C: It's only real if you practice it! 

M: Trouble is, nobody does, it seems.

C: Unfortunately not.   But when taken seriously, it IS the absolute best way to keep yourself from all the consequences of sex - the "unintended" consequences, shall we say.

M: But in a way, this is what we've been learning.   This is what people don't understand.   This is not the "real world" This, what we've got here.   This is the dream.

C: Sometimes it feels like a freakin' nightmare.

M: But still a dream.  Heaven.   That's the Real World.   The Real World is the beauty of Heaven, and the peace that comes with the Kingdom of God - that peace, in our lives, right now, puts us IN THAT PLACE.   There is our "Real World."  

C: Where we don't have to worry about STDs.

M: And we won't have to force ourselves to be abstinent!