March 21: A PURITY BALL

I was surprised a few weeks ago on the Network Evening News when there was a segment about parental efforts to keep their daughters sexually pure until marriage. Called “Purity Balls” these are very nice, dress-up affairs that focus on the relationship between a Dad and his daughter, one key factor being the projection to the future to the day the Dad will “give his daughter” to the new man in her life. The father would present her as a virgin. The girl’s desire to please her Father is a strong force.
Most of these commitments were symbolized by rings or a lock and a key. The Father would hold the key until the Wedding Day and then give it to the groom. The solemn Service portrayed on television was very emotional. This is a kind of extension of the “True Love Waits” promise of virginity or pledge of sexual abstinence from some years ago. A couple of things concern me: (1) Surveys have shown that most people who signed abstinence cards had pre-marital sex and did not abstain until marriage. (2) If young women will not keep a promise to God I do not think they will be self-disciplined to keep a promise to Dad.
This focus implies that we expect boys to be sexually active and the burden of purity is on the girl. Regretfully, organized programs that carry a certain amount of “peer pressure” are doomed to failure. And where are the Moms? The key to pre-marital abstinence is Mom and Dad working together and modeling as well as teaching a Christian view of sex. This starts when the child is a toddler.
If your child can be taught the great principle of 1 Corinthians 6: 19-20 (NIV) it will guide the children through any pressure-packed, temptation-filled situation: “Do you not know that your body is a temple 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 body.”

“O God, our children are so precious! Help us not to stand by and let the
secular world teach our children their moral values and behavior standards. Amen”