Purity in Action

                                                   

Purity: freedom from immorality, especially of a sexual nature.

Meet Joseph. A teenage guy who was sold into slavery by his brothers. He ended up working in Potiphar's (one of the Pharaoh of Egypt's officials, and captain of the guards) house. Potiphar was pleased with what a hard worker Joseph was that he put Joseph in charge of everything in his house! Now Potiphar's wife found Joseph VERY attractive. She tried to get Joseph to sleep with her EVERY day, but Joseph refussed and this was his reason why: ^"But he refused. 'With me in charge,' he told her, 'my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?' And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her." ~Genesis 39:8-10 (NIV)
Potiphar's wife didn't give up that easy though. "One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. She caught him by his cloak and said, 'Come to bed with me!' But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house." ~Genesis 39:11-12 (bold and underlined mine. NIV) Talk about a man of God! A young teenage man who RUNS out of the house to keep his purity! 
So why did I bring up Joseph? I have a Purity ring, once stands for the promise I made to God, myself, and my future husband that I won't have sex with anyone until I am married. I understand that sex is something very personal and emotional. But I was wondering where in the Bible it says to wait until you're married to have sex. Of course I found my answer and an example. The example is Joseph of course, but here are some answers too.
"That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh." ~Genesis 2:24 (NIV). This shows that sex has a very strong emotional connection and that God designed it for marriage.
 “If a man seduces a virgin who is not pledged to be married and sleeps with her, he must pay the bride-price, and she shall be his wife." ~Exodus 22:16 (NIV). God did not mean for a person to be with multiple people, but one person. In the Old Testament this is what would've happened if two people who were not married had, had sex.
"Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies." ~1 Corinthians 6:18-20 (NIV). Jesus died for us on the cross so we could have eternal life with Him. So if we abuse sex we are hurting ourselves emotionally, physically, and we are hurting God.
"Now for the matters you wrote about: 'It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.' But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband. The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife. Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.... Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do.But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion." ~1 Corinthians 7:1-5,8-9 (NIV). Now this tells us that we are suppose to practice self-control until we are married and that it's not all about passion (this is where the answer to the question Is 50 Shades of Grey wrong? The answer, YES!!!). 
"It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality;" ~1 Thessalonians 4:3 (NIV). This verse tells us how God meant for sex to be and how HE wants us to enjoy it!
"Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral." ~Hebrew 13:4 (NIV). Adultery: Voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and a person who is not their spouse. The sexual immorality and sexual sins has to be sex outside of marriage. 
These Bible verses give me all the answers to why I'm waiting for sex until I am married. God made sex beautiful when it's done right! Here is a website about purity rings. Here is a music video of a song Kyle Kupecky wrote for his wife Kelsey and sung to her on their wedding day:

Here is a Flipagram about 50 Shades of Grey and Old Fashioned: Forever Love

Voice for the Voiceless- Part 4

"It's estimated that there are more than 5,000 brothels disguised as massage parlors nationwide." - Polaris Project

"Sin causes a madness which makes sick souls dream that Fifty shades of... No Waythey are in sound health." - Charles Spurgeon

"50% of all Christian Men and 20% of all Christian women are addicted to pornography." -ChristiaNet Poll, 2006

I start off with these quotes from the 31 Days of Freedom Bible study because I want to talk about how our social media and our culture have fooled us into believing forms of Human Trafficking are okay. 

First, let's think about what clothes look like these days. As a young Christian woman I feel that every summer shorts are getting shorter and shorter and tops are getting lower and lower. There is also the whole legging issue. Now, I am a fan of leggings. They keep you warm when you wear a dress during the cold months. They also come in different patterns and colors that pants don't. However, leggings are NOT pants and when I see a girl who wears leggings as pants, I honestly think it just looks trashy. You can see underwear lines when you wear leggings and they leave nothing to the imagination. No wonder when we see a young girl on the street corner in a short, almost see through dress we just turn the other way! It's what we girls would put on or have seen our friends wear! Wake up people! We are making it harder to tell the difference between a girl in prostitution to a girl who is just out shopping!

Now for media. I have seen previews for a new TV show called Satisfaction. The preview shows that a man comes home one day to catch his wife cheating on him. He hunts the guy his wife was with down and learns that the wife has been paying, yes you read right PAYING, this man to sleep with her. So the husband, trying to save his marriage, starts selling himself for sex so it will keep their marriage interesting! Where do I even start on how wrong this show sounds and looks?! People are practically paying their TV bills to watch male prostitution! No wonder more brothels are popping up around the world and more people are disappearing into the life of prostitution!

Finally, let's talk about "50 Shades of Grey", the book and the movie. Now I have not read the book and I never will read the book. But, I did watch the movie trailer and right away a person can tell it is just going to be about sex and different things you can try. This has to do with Human Trafficking because in the documentary Whore's Glory that I watched the men would honestly admit the reason they would pay for a woman was because they would do and try anything they wanted. Sounds like what the book "50 Shades of Grey" is about to me.

"We can only end slavery by partnering together. It's too big of a problem for any one organization to handle alone." -Stacia Freeman, Abolition International

Meet Mr. Grey, NO WAY! Fifty shades of... No way