Why I Choose to be Sexually Pure

Why I Choose to be Sexually Pure

Posted on 2:59 PM by Unknown | 2 comments

This week's post is a guest post from Alexis Wood:

As a teenager in school I was taught the principle of abstinence.  It is the 100% effective birth control.  It prevents STDs, unwanted pregnancies, not to mention the psychological and emotional damage that occurs from entering into such an intimate relationship at a young, vulnerable age.  I learned that love enriches our lives, and relationships make us happy, but that we should wait to have sex until we are ready for it, at the very least to escape negative consequences.

In church I was taught the law of chastity.  It prohibits all sexual relations outside of marriage, requires complete fidelity within marriage, forbids pornography, masturbation, homosexual activity, other impure thoughts and practices, and requires purity in thought and behavior.  It too prevents STDs, unwanted pregnancies, and psychological damage, not to mention fornication, adultery, and addictions.  But I don’t practice abstinence nor obey this law of chastity because I want to avoid negative consequences.  It certainly adds extra incentive, but it isn’t why I choose to be sexually pure.

So why do I?

While I understand the potential negative consequences that might occur from promiscuity and infidelity, I also understand the joy and blessings of purity inseparably connected to the law of chastity.  Those are far more important to me than succumbing to lustful desire.

I love anatomy.  When I study the human body I marvel at the love and care that went into mine.  I see my body as a sacred tabernacle in which my spirit can dwell.  I want to keep it clean, and healthy, and beautiful.  I respect my body as I respect my spirit and I desire others to do the same.  I dress, think, speak, and act in a way that I believe to be virtuous.  I do not wish to defile the sacred vessel that God has given me.  I do not want to be passed around like a hand-me-down pair of shoes until I am no longer desirable to own.  I do not want to bind myself physically, emotionally, or spiritually to a man that I do not love or am not committed to, nor to a man that does not love or is uncommitted to me.

I know that life is eternal.  I know that the relationships we build and nurture in this life will be perpetuated beyond the grave.  God has designed the family unit and it is perfect.  Father and mother join together to create children which they are expected to nurture and care for physically and spiritually.  In the bible we are taught, “Neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord” (Corinthians 11:11).  Both are essential to the creation process.  Our procreative powers have been given to us by God to be exercised as He has directed.  What a wonderful gift!  How sad He must be when we abuse that power and our bodies by disobeying His laws.  How joyful He must be when we use them appropriately to build our own, beautiful family units.

Sex is a binding and uniting power meant to seal a relationship between a man and a woman at a physical, spiritual, psychological level for the purpose of creating children.  Such a relationship should only exist within the bond of marriage.  Sex is not dirty, nasty, awkward, or inappropriate, which as a youth I was sometimes led to believe.  We should not cringe at the word, we should not avoid the topic.  Sex is real and beautiful and fun, but it is sacred and just as traffic laws are put in place to protect people, laws of chastity and virtue are put in place to protect the sacred nature of sex.

When I marry it will be for eternity.  My children will know that they were desired and planned for.  I will have confidence in my own self-worth, and in the purity of my relationships.  One day I will stand before God, clean and virtuous and He and I will know that I used His gifts well.  That is why I choose to be sexually pure.

For the innocent victims of sexual abuse, I testify of Jesus Christ and His ability to heal our broken minds and hearts.  For those that have not been sexually pure, I testify of His power to wash out our deepest stains.  I know that God lives, that Jesus Christ is His perfect Son, that families can be eternal, that His plan for us is perfect, and most importantly of all that He loves us more than we can know.