Thou Shalt Not Vs. Thou Shall

The girls from the youth group at our church are currently reading through "When God Writes Your Love Story". In general, the girls are getting together once a month to talk about the book and encourage each other in dating relationships to stay pure.

At one point during our first meeting we were talking about ways we can remain strong in dating relationships. After a few people mentioned the common, "don't go to far sexually", "keep reading the bible" and things like that, one of the girls blurted out in frustration at one point, "I just don't understand! I hear all these things we're not supposed to do...Thou Shall Not blah, blah, blah. I don't get what we supposed to do."

It's interesting how we spend so much time teaching our kids what we are not supposed to do but we fail to teach them what is the right thing to do. I think with relationships it's even harder to talk about the right thing to do when there are so few examples of good and Godly relationships/there are so few examples of what we are supposed to do.

I also wonder if there is a bigger disconnect for kids today as well. The typical answer to "What are we supposed to do" is often, you are supposed to pursue God, you are supposed to read your bible and pray, you are supposed to do what God tells you to do. However, when many Christians are asleep in the pews and are not living out an active/vibrant faith, the "Thou Shalls" really don't seem all that appealing.

I'm just rambling now, but I left that night wondering about my own faith and if my faith exhibits more of a "thou shalt not" or a "thou shall" mentality.