Lust is the ape that gibbers in our loins. Tame him as we will by day, he rages all the wilder in our dreams by night. Just when we think we're safe from him, he raises up his ugly head and smirks, and there's no river in the world flows cold and strong enough to strike him down. Almighty God, why dost thou deck men out with such a loathsome toy?

Frederick Buechner

In an age when some people wear the scarlet A more with the pride of conquest than the shame of disgrace, sexual sin still occasions crisis. Although practiced for centuries, adultery retains its ability to spark emergencies.

Premarital sex — fornication, to use a biblical term — casts an even wider shadow. Rare is the couple that enters marriage without prior intercourse, and an unintentional pregnancy or a broken relationship throws crisis into the picture.

Bogus sex bought through pornography or prostitution, violent sex acted out in rape, and twisted sex perversely found in sadomasochism or fetishes — ...