Sex before marriage is a sin?

I had sex the other night for the first time with my girlfriend, we have a really strong relationship and we are happy but we are both only 16 and will no way be getting married anytime soon. It seemed quite fun and harmless at the time but the next day I sort of looked into the whole sex before marriage thing. Pretty much everything said it was a 'mortal sin' and you will be condemded by God, according to the Bible. Being a Catholic I really feel quite bad about it, I beleive in Heaven and stuff.

I told her afterwards that I would not want to have sex with her anymore because of my religion and she cried and was really upset and said it was like 'breaking up with her without actually breaking up with her'.

After a while she calmed down a bit and she says she wants to remain my girlfriend regardless of sex. But I do not want to feel like I am depriving her.

Seeing as I have lost my virginity anyway, is there any point trying to become a virgin, well not having sex anymore until I am married?

Please tell me what you think everyone. Give me some inspiration =]

Hi Jamal.

You have la lot of questions.

For answers, you might read some of the following:

On how to be a subversive virgin "against society":

http://www.boundless.org/1999/features/a0000028.html

On the virtue, which is forgotten "by society", of virginity:

http://www.forgottenvirtue.com/


So, now that you have lost your virginity, you ask whether you should abstain until married. I say yes. Basically, the more you save for marriage, the more special your marriage will be. The woman you marry is already down your list somewhere. She is currently number 2.

Statistically, you will not marry your 16-year-old sweetheart, ever. You may find yourself searching for her again when you are 40 after going through different life experiences. This seems to be even more common nowadays since it is so much easier to track down the one to whom you gave away your virginity.

Looking at it a certain way, she is not someone you want to spend your entire life with. If this were true, you would be married to her. Sex is more important to you than showing her that you are committed to her for life. You haven't put your money where your mouth is. By definition, this is informal (casual) sex you are having. Formal sex means having formalities (wearing a tuxedo, giving formal promises, a formal banquet, etc.).

And, on the other hand, she looks at you as someone to have sex with over someone to be committed to. Hey, it feels great, physically.

Once your bodies get used to each other and the physical high from sex gets toned down, you will see that you have to live day-to-day with the other person, or get rid of the relationship. It is possible to end up thinking that, hey, it is only sex.

There is a lot more that could be said. I hope this has helped.