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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 18th annual Day of Purity is a campaign that encourages students to wear white on February 12 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: “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” (NIV). 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” because “no other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does” (1 Corinthians 6:18).

Regarding the physical benefits, the 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. During the interim period of nearly a decade or longer, they are at a heightened risk for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and unplanned pregnancies. An estimated 19 million new cases of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are diagnosed each year in the United States—almost half of them among young people age 15 to 24. In 2017, a total of 194,377 babies were born to women aged 15–19 years, for a birth rate of 18.8 per 1,000 women in this age group. In 2018, unmarried women accounted for 85 percent of all abortions. Young women under 15 years obtained .2 percent of all 2018 abortions and women 15–19 years accounted for approximately 10 percent.

Regarding 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, 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’s Director of Communications 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. Jesus Christ always offers forgiveness and provides a clean start.  So, I encourage students to wear white on February 12 on their campus and take a public stand for purity,” said Meade.

Learn more at dayofpurity.org and on Facebook.

 

Author: Liberty Counsel

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