Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Concern About Teenagers and Purity

It is so sad about how purity doesn’t seem to be addressed very much with teenagers and young single adults in churches anymore today. I think that pastors should address purity more in the church. It is rare for young Christians to stay pure today. I am very disturbed that there are no True Love Waits rallies in my community anymore. My community used to have True Love Waits rallies each year when I was a teenager. Many churches in the community gathered together for True Love Waits Rally at one location. That was about 17-18 years ago. One of the rallies was on a Valentine’s Day weekend. The rallies had speakers who spoke about God's plan for sexual purity. I have fond memories of a young married couple speaking to the group about how they saved sex for marriage and how it was worth waiting. I think that more young married couples who saved sex for marriage should speak to youth and singles groups. I feel this would have a bigger impact on teenagers because they usually look to Christians not much older than them as role models. Many teenagers signed commitment cards at the rally that they would save sex for marriage. I signed a True Love Waits card and I will give it to my future husband someday. True Love Waits rallies need to be reinstated. They are absolutely necessary in this generation.

Youth pastors and parents should devote a lot of time talking to teenagers and children about the importance of staying pure and how they can honor God and their future spouses with the interactions they have with the opposite sex. Leslie and Eric Ludy who are well known for the book that they wrote, “When God Writes Your Love Story” wrote an excellent book about teaching teenagers true love,
Teaching True Love to a Sex-at-13 Generation”. I recommend that all Christian parents and youth pastor read this book. God has really used Eric and Leslie Ludy to impact the next generation. I had the privilege of attending a purity conference that Eric and Leslie Ludy did at a church in April 2010. There were so many teenagers there and that really encouraged me because churches rarely do purity conferences today.

I was very pleased to learn that one of my friends who is 24 years old posted “I stand in the name of "retro" values, the institution of marriage, sex w/ one man & only after he marries me. Will anyone stand up w/ me?!” on a social networking web site. It made me very sad to learn that only one person commented and agreed on her posting. I am very proud of my friend for speaking up about her commitment to purity. I am thankful that she has chosen to follow God’s will regarding purity even when she doesn’t get much encouragement. She has a wonderful gift to give to her future husband someday. I wish there were more people like her who would boldly post comments about their commitments to purity. She is such a wonderful role model to young people.

I had the privilege of participating in an amazing wedding 4 years ago where the pastor announced that my friends both were virgins and had stayed pure for each other. This was one of the best weddings I’ve attended. The lady was 26 and the man was 30. That really means a lot to me because I was one of the few people in the youth group at another church who kept my commitment to True Love Waits. It is pretty rare for a 30 year old single guy to be a virgin so that was very encouraging to me. This guy is a wonderful example to single guys. Many people in high school think that virgin guys are not cool and that they are abnormal which is not true. I would love to see more weddings where the pastor announces that both bride and groom are virgins. This is God’s perfect plan.

Many teenagers take purity more seriously when they hear younger people value purity. If you are a single adult and you are a virgin, speak up boldly about how you have stayed pure and be a good example to teenagers. If you are married and you were a virgin on your wedding day, I encourage you to share your story with other people about how you saved sex for marriage. I really appreciate how one of my friends who had premarital sex spoke to the young ladies at a women’s event about how much she regrets her mistake of having premarital sex with other men and how she wishes she could have been a virgin for her husband on her wedding night. I think if teenagers hear from both virgins and those who have made mistakes that they will be more likely to stay sexually pure.
Teenagers and young adults should constantly be reminded of the benefits of staying pure.Sadly, a number of strong Christians who made commitments to stay sexually pure have fallen because they didn’t take boundaries and assumed they were too strong to fall to temptations. Setting boundaries and accountability are very crucial to staying sexually pure. I plan on addressing this in another article at a later time. My friends who were virgins on their wedding day 4 years ago set some boundaries such as 1.) limited physical boundaries 2.) They were accountable to other people 3.) They were never alone in a house.

I encourage all churches and Baptist Associations to look at having True Love Waits rallies each year. An idea is that one large church could host the True Love Waits Rally in each county. True Love Waits rallies need to be reinstated.

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