In today’s culture, where young people are bombarded with messages that encourage promiscuity, Liberty Counsel is encouraging students to take a public stand for purity. The 19th annual Day of Purity is a campaign that encourages students to wear white on Feb.14 to publicly promote abstinence and inspire other young people to save sexual intimacy for marriage.
The Day of Purity is based on First Timothy 4:12 (NIV): “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.” Participants are also encouraged to wear a special LIVEPURE wristband on that day and throughout the year.
While Hollywood and the media may encourage sexual activity without limits, practicing purity before marriage has spiritual, physical, emotional and social benefits.
Regarding the spiritual benefits of purity, the Bible is clear that to have a pure conscience before God, people must “flee from sexual immorality” (1 Cor. 6:18a) because “no other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does” (1 Cor. 6:18b, NLT).
The physical benefits of abstinence before marriage include preventing diseases, pregnancies and even abortions. On average, young people in the United States have sexual intercourse for the first time at about age 17, but do not marry until their mid-20s. An estimated 19 million new cases of sexually transmitted diseases are diagnosed each year in the United States—almost half of them among young people ages 15 to 24. In 2019, unmarried women accounted for 86% of all abortions. Young women under 15 years obtained .2% of all 2019 abortions, women 15–19 years accounted for approximately 8.5% and women 20-24 accounted for 27.7%.
As for the emotional and social benefits of purity, research has shown that couples who delay sexual intimacy until their wedding night have more stability in their marriages and are less likely to divorce than couples who have premarital sex. In fact, as cited in The Handbook of Sexuality in Close Relationships, when love and commitment is expressed after a couple becomes sexually involved, “the experience is perceived as a negative turning point, evoking regret, uncertainty, discomfort and prompting apologies.”
Holly Meade, Liberty Counsel vice president of media and international director for the Day of Purity, said, “The Day of Purity is an opportunity for young people to take a stand for purity and publicly communicate they will not be influenced by Hollywood’s images and sexual temptations. In today’s culture, students are bombarded with messages luring them to become sexually active at a young age and to experiment with their sexual preferences. However, research confirms that practicing purity before marriage has spiritual, physical, emotional and social benefits.
“However, participating in previous sexual intimacy does not exempt a young person from this special campaign,” Meade said. “Jesus Christ always offers forgiveness and provides a clean start. So, I encourage students to wear white on Feb. 14 on their campus and take a public stand for purity.” {eoa}
This article originally appeared at lc.org.
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