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By KIM MULFORD
Courier-Post Staff
How far is too far? In her new book, Wait For Me, Christian recording artist Rebecca St. James sets guidelines for young people who want to remain sexually abstinent.
"The first rule is to stay away from touching any part of the body that is covered by a two-piece bathing suit," she writes. "The second rule is this: Don't let anything belonging to your body enter anything belonging to someone else's body."
That includes even French kissing, which the Australian native calls "an oral form of intercourse."
"There are some differences of opinion here," she admits, "but here's the important question to ask: `Will participating in this activity lead me to do other things that definitely go beyond my desire for sexual purity?'"
The 25-year-old Grammy Award winner says she is remaining chaste until she is married.
"God made sex to be wonderful, joyful, uniting, beautiful and good," she writes. "But outside of marriage, it can be exactly the opposite - a sad, cheap, damaging, loveless and disappointing rendition of the real thing."
Author of two devotional books for young people, St. James was inspired to write "Wait For Me" by the flood of responses to her song by the same title. The song, on her Transform CD, topped the contemporary Christian charts last year.
Just over 150 pages long, the book includes chapters on true romance, marriage and wise decision-making. There are also many references to Biblical passages and testimonials from others about sex and abstinence.
The book offers great encouragement to young people, said Bernadette Vissani, director of the New Jersey Coalition for Abstinence Education.
St. James doesn't ignore the fact there's temptation, Vissani said, but she does say it's possible to overcome it.
"She's talking to them from someone who's walking the same road with them," Vissani said. "She's calling them to a higher standard."
St. James has pushed the abstinence message for years through her concerts and music, said Ryan Wallace, a 26- year-old from Medford.
Wallace leads a group for single Gen Xer's called The Trust at Marlton Assembly of God Church. Members sometimes ask about sex, he said, and St. James offers a positive answer.
"I think it's great what she's saying," Wallace said. " So much in America points to go the other way."
More information
`Wait For Me: Rediscovering the Joy of Purity in Romance' (published by Thomas Nelson, $13.99) was released in August.
For more information about Rebecca St. James, visit her Web site at www.rsjames.com.
Reach Kim Mulford at (856) 845-6521 or kmulford@ courierpostonline.com
