“There’s so much more to choosing abstinence than just saying no,” says Justin. “You’re not just saying no to sex, you’re saying yes to an abundant life in Christ.”
Justin Armour was introduced to the ways of the NFL long before he played in his first pro game.
It happened during preseason camp last summer when Justin—then a naive rookie, fresh out of college—came across a scene he now describes as “incredible.”
Justin, a wide receiver for the Buffalo Bills, had joined some teammates for a night on the town. After dinner, they wound up at a club down by the lake.
Soon, Justin’s teammates began disappearing. One by one, they left the club and headed down to the dock, where they hopped aboard boats—with beautiful young women.
“It was probably the most eye-opening experience I’ve ever had,” Justin says. “I saw men leave on boats with two or three girls, just disappearing into the night.”
Justin is sure they weren’t going fishing, either.
“I had heard about things like this,” he says, “but I had no idea what it was really like. I was so naive.”
Later that night, some of those same women started coming on to Justin.
He reacted the only way he knew how: “I got out of there as fast as I could.”
As a football player, Justin was used to running. But mostly from linebackers. Now he’d have to run from temptation, too.
Welcome to the NFL.
Justin says the scene described above is almost an everyday occurrence for pro athletes.
“That’s just the way it is,” says Justin. “If I wanted to be promiscuous, night in and night out, I could be.”
But that’s not what he wants. Safe sex? Not for Justin. He’d rather save sex . …for marriage.
“God promises that sex is something he will bless in the context of marriage,” says Justin. “I’m willing to wait.
“I’ve seen people who’ve had a lot of sexual relationships, and they’re scarred. Every time you have premarital sex, you give a little piece of yourself away. By the time you’re married, how many pieces have you given out? And how many do you have left to give?
“But the biggest blessing of choosing abstinence is this: You fall in love and get married for all the right reasons. You fall in love with someone because of how they motivate you, how they encourage you in the Lord, how they hold up your life. And if you fall in love for those reasons, it’ll be that much better.
“This isn’t blind faith. This is practical faith. It’s God’s formula for having a relationship that’s real and sustaining and fulfilling—for both people.”
With those convictions, Justin must have a pretty easy time resisting the temptations, right?
Wrong.
As Justin says, he’s a normal 23-year-old guy with active hormones and a healthy sex drive. And since he doesn’t even have a girlfriend, it’d be very easy to give in.
So, how does he say “no”?
Well, as he said, he runs from it. But he also tries to avoid temptation in the first place—by staying away from certain situations.