And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1:9-11)
Today’s reading in Living With Your Dreams dealt with sexual purity and what to do if you haven’t maintained it. A day or so ago, one of my writer friends posted a list of beliefs held by her church that she seemed to think ridiculous – a number had to do with limiting clothing options and keeping men and women at least six inches apart.
The point today isn’t really about sexual purity. It’s about purity. The first point is that purity does not mean abstinence for the rest of one’s life. It means self-control until the right conditions are met. Biblically, the right conditions for sex focus on marriage. There are right conditions for most things, including the food we eat, where and how we eliminate that food, etc. Think about the current pushes against GMO and non-organic foods. This is a call for pure, wholesome food. Think about the bans on cigarette smoking in public places. We want pure air and if someone wants to smoke, they are forced to seek a place and time where it is acceptable. Consider the fact that 88,000 people per year are killed, and many times that injured by someone whose blood has been made impure by alcohol or other drugs. Consider the current uproar about plastic, and the calls that “when you go to the beach pick up and throw away three pieces of garbage.” We want a pure environment. We just get stuck when purity involves our not doing or getting what we want more, at that moment.
When it comes to sexual purity, we’re told that as long as people are consenting adults, it’s none of our business. Society isn’t as polite when it comes to any of the other forms of purity. We shouldn’t be required to accept the consequences of someone deciding to litter even if that littering is of comparatively little consequence. Individually, after all, it is generally minor, but in aggregate, it’s a problem. Our lack of sexual purity results in more than twenty-four million kids being raised in single-parent households and those households tend to suffer for the lack of the second parent. Last year, 2.3 million new cases of sexually transmitted diseases were reported. Our youth make up about one-quarter of the population, but one-half of cases of STDs. Those statistics don’t include the emotional or relational damage that extra-marital sex can produce.
One of the problems I faced in caring for my father was that he took the attitude that if he could not identify this symptom as being connected solely with that problem (e.g. diabetes,) he refused to believe that he had the disease. When it comes to purity, we’re often the same way. Sure, that person got lung cancer from smoking, but I know people who smoked who lived into their 90s without any medical issues. That means smoking won’t hurt me. Because there are two consenting adults, extra-marital sex isn’t a problem because I don’t think it’s a problem for me, and if the other person has problems, well, that’s their problem. One little cigarette butt or pop bottle won’t hurt anyone. But I like my (name your favorite snack.) Bear and wine are healthy in moderation….
The thing about not being pure? It tends to complicate things.
The point today isn’t really about sexual purity. It’s about purity. The first point is that purity does not mean abstinence for the rest of one’s life. It means self-control until the right conditions are met. Biblically, the right conditions for sex focus on marriage. There are right conditions for most things, including the food we eat, where and how we eliminate that food, etc. Think about the current pushes against GMO and non-organic foods. This is a call for pure, wholesome food. Think about the bans on cigarette smoking in public places. We want pure air and if someone wants to smoke, they are forced to seek a place and time where it is acceptable. Consider the fact that 88,000 people per year are killed, and many times that injured by someone whose blood has been made impure by alcohol or other drugs. Consider the current uproar about plastic, and the calls that “when you go to the beach pick up and throw away three pieces of garbage.” We want a pure environment. We just get stuck when purity involves our not doing or getting what we want more, at that moment.
When it comes to sexual purity, we’re told that as long as people are consenting adults, it’s none of our business. Society isn’t as polite when it comes to any of the other forms of purity. We shouldn’t be required to accept the consequences of someone deciding to litter even if that littering is of comparatively little consequence. Individually, after all, it is generally minor, but in aggregate, it’s a problem. Our lack of sexual purity results in more than twenty-four million kids being raised in single-parent households and those households tend to suffer for the lack of the second parent. Last year, 2.3 million new cases of sexually transmitted diseases were reported. Our youth make up about one-quarter of the population, but one-half of cases of STDs. Those statistics don’t include the emotional or relational damage that extra-marital sex can produce.
One of the problems I faced in caring for my father was that he took the attitude that if he could not identify this symptom as being connected solely with that problem (e.g. diabetes,) he refused to believe that he had the disease. When it comes to purity, we’re often the same way. Sure, that person got lung cancer from smoking, but I know people who smoked who lived into their 90s without any medical issues. That means smoking won’t hurt me. Because there are two consenting adults, extra-marital sex isn’t a problem because I don’t think it’s a problem for me, and if the other person has problems, well, that’s their problem. One little cigarette butt or pop bottle won’t hurt anyone. But I like my (name your favorite snack.) Bear and wine are healthy in moderation….
The thing about not being pure? It tends to complicate things.
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