From “Discipleship and Discipline” by William H. Hicks, copyright March, 2005:

“TIPS TO YOUNG FOLKS FOR PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF THIS ELEMENT

This principle of delaying gratification has gotten a bad name, a poor reputation:  names such as “abstinence”, “divorce”, “prude”, “trial marriage/separation”, “shackin’”, “squeezing the fruit before you buy it”.  Whoa!  Why did I include “abstinence”?  Because, for most of us, when that word comes to mind, it conjures up “self-denial”, emphasis on “self”.  In today’s world, denying ourselves anything is seen as “unnecessary”, and thus, “unwise”.

Most people laughed or said, “yeah, right”, when NBA basketball player A. C. Green revealed that he was a virgin and would remain so until he was wedded.  How could he resist the many temptations thrown at even average professional athletes (A.C. was a member of the world champion Los Angeles Lakers)?  Can you say, “Kobe Bryant?”  When A.C. stated that it was not a matter of resistance, but a matter of commitment, most people shook their skeptical heads and chalked him up as the exception rather than the rule. Admirable, but largely unpractical (read, “impossible!”), they said.”