may do is to live a clean and happy bodily life, but only if we build
our house of life on knowledge.

Wherefore to all young men and women I would say--Get to know the real
truth from someone you can trust. Go to some older man or woman with a
clean mind and a large heart, and learn about yourself. Of course the
best people in the world to go to are your own parents; but if for any
reason that resource is not open to you, go to a doctor or a minister
or some senior friend. It is worth while to take a lot of trouble to
find the right person, and it is still more worth while to take trouble
to avoid the wrong person. Find someone who has seen the hand of God in
the facts of sex and who can therefore talk about them without
embarrassment. And do not let yourself be deterred by the fact that you
may have made mistakes already of which you are ashamed. Most of us
made mistakes in our early years just because of the same ignorance
which has been your fate. And therefore we are not shocked. We are just
sorry, and would like to help. It is not true that mistakes inevitably
spoil the future. Forgiveness, recovery, and new life are possibilities
for us all. And if you have already made mistakes through ignorance,
that is but one reason more why you should know the truth without
delay. When you are told the truth you will be learning something about
God as well as about yourself, for He made you.

Nor is it only for your own sake that you ought to know. If you want to
achieve helpful relations to men or women, and ultimately to achieve a
right relation to husband or wife, you need to know the plain facts
about our incarnate life. Men and women often make the right way of
life more difficult for each other by mere ignorance. You need to know
if you are to be really kind.