Purity vs Innocence

Everyone at work knows that I'm a Christian. And it leads to some interesting discussions with those who are of different faiths, both practising and non-practising, and those of no faith at all.

Recently I was talking with Belinda, and she chalked up all of my desire to get married and have children to the fact that I was extrememely hormonal, and that I was so brainwashed that I wouldn't do anything before I got married.

I carefully explained to her that I converted to Christianity, I wasn't brought up in it, so any brainwashing was done by myself. I also mentioned that before I was a Christian I lived with my then boyfriend for two years.

She then asked why I bothered to not do anything. If it'd been done, then I may as well do it again, whenever I wanted to, with whomever was willing. I was kind of surprised by this comment - I'd never heard anything quite like it before. After turning it over in my mind, here are my thoughts.

She was confusing innocence and purity. Innocence is a once-off. One slip up and you are not innocent. And it's all or nothing, so once you're gone, you may as well have a bit of fun.

Purity is different. Purity is about a state of mind and soul as well as body. And so you can be pure and not innocent and, (far more commonly, unfortunately) you can be innocent and not pure. Purity is focusing on being pleasing to God, especially in the area of sexuality, and so it it something that we can always grow in, and so is not a once-off.

Purity, as I said before, is about pleasing God. So those who commit various sexual acts before marriage are not pure - even if they are technically innocent.

We are told to "flee" sexual immorality (1 Corinthians 6:18, 2 Timothy 2:22). Fleeing does not mean doing a little bit and then expecting to be "safe". It means to FLEE! It means, as I often say to the kids, "Don't even think about it." There's this great video of Joshua Harris as an example.

Purity is in our hearts and minds. It is about what we think as well as what we do (or don't do). And so, if we are regularly washed in the water of the Word we will find our minds being slowly transformed until they resemble the mind of Christ and shine with a radiant purity clear to all who see us.