Relax!

This smells off to me.

I feel like young people now find any r/t sexual overture or suggestion or proposition or invitation suspect, like they’re terrified of intimacy, exposure, vulnerability. It makes me sad to think what they're missing, the experiences they're closing off. Yes letting someone actually touch you in real life is fraught with all kinds of danger. Do it anyway. In my experience, pretty much everything good in life comes out of that intimate physical connection: love, comfort, joy, art.

But then the original Puritanism sprang from fear too, fear of God's wrath. God’s wrath was huge, terrifying, and total. What could be that scary? What are these young people now afraid is going to happen if they let go?

(It bears mentioning that, contrary to the stereotype, those original Puritans were not necessarily afraid of sexual desire and its place in a godly life. The parameters were strictly policed, of course. but they were not shy about it.)