A great deal is being said in recent days on the topic of virginity and the role of the purity movement within evangelical/fundamentalist circles. Back in August, Carolyn Custis James responded to Olympian Lolo Jones’ public statement that she was saving her virginity for her future husband. James’ goal with this Huffpost article was not to minimize the value of virginity but to reassure us that virginity is not the gospel. Fair enough, but I’m confident it wasn’t the intent of Jones’ to obfuscate her saved virginity with saving faith.
Fast-forward to the last week or so and the inundation of writings on the implications of sexual impurity teachings:
5 comments:
That is a great article Lyn, and one that I linked to from the comments (comment by Alistair) is also excellent. He points out that virginity isn't what is idolized, it is SEX that is idolized.
Excerpt:
"Sex isn’t the central dimension of human identity, and by treating it as such we risk diminishing ourselves. Those who don’t have (and especially persons who don’t desire) sex can be made to feel like non-persons in a society that fetishizes it. However, while the virgin, celibate, or chaste person may typically be regarded in terms of absence and lack, it is surprising how much room one’s identity has to flourish when you don’t have a huge idol squeezing everything else out, when one’s lust for life isn’t entirely invested in a lust for sex. For instance, removing this idol challenges the simplistic equation of sex and intimacy and frees us to recover the rich potential of friendship.
Dethroning the idol also provides you with a form of sex that has to carry considerably less baggage. Sex isn’t the source of personal fulfilment. Sex isn’t the only or perhaps even primary means of personal intimacy. Sexuality is peripheral to one’s core identity. Sexual satisfaction isn’t the goal of your existence. Sex isn’t the way that you must prove your gender. One’s sexual appeal or prowess or lack thereof isn’t the measure of your personal worth. Once one has absorbed these lessons, one is free to be a lot less hung up about sex."
Kudos to Alistair and Sarah, for refreshing points to ponder in a very demoralized cultural atmosphere.
Forgot the link:
http://networkedblogs.com/I4Ezm
Amen girl! Excellent commentary indeed.
Don't know why but that link opens to Sarah Flashing's blog post... was able to find the link to Alastair's post by opening it up through a separate window:
http://alastairadversaria.wordpress.com/2012/08/10/why-i-believe-in-pre-marital-virginity/
Need a slapping my head emoticon here, lol
You are right, I cannot seem to get it to link right, so I'm just going to remove it!
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