Being one that shares axemansean's views, I'd never knock on someone's way of life. I had plenty of roommates who were lighting it up every other night, and that didn't stop me from being friends with them. It is my choice that I want to save myself for marriage; if you don't that's fine and dandy, and you do it the way you want to do it. Lack of values is a pretty bad way to put it...it's more like the views are different.

Why no sex before marriage? That's a tough one to answer. I'm sure part of it is because I grew up pretty strict Christian/Chinese family, and those things are definitely taboo. The other reason, though, is that you're separating the physical attraction from emotional and intellectual attraction. It's like your friends, you don't go groping them (hopefully) and you get to know them well as time goes by. Whether your friendship lasts depends on how you and your friends develop intellectually and emotionally, and often friends just drift apart because they just don't have anything in common any more. With a relationship you add the element of physical attraction, and a relationship that really wouldn't have developed on an intellectual and emotional level can be maintained strictly out of physical attraction. So really, I think I just avoid sex because I want to know who a person is before I become physical with them. Why marriage? I'd say marriage is a pretty big commitment, so I just see it as a point where I can at least say I'm comfortable enough with someone to live with them for the rest of our lives.

Not to say that if you have premarital sex you can't get to know someone. If that works for you, then go for it. What I said is just how I see things.