"I took an abstinence pledge hoping it would ensure a strong marriage. Instead, it led to a quick divorce."

This is the spirit of our age. How would you respond?

I see this article riddled with wrong assumptions about sex and marriage but her story of "purity pledges" is almost as tragic in its gospellessness.  Her past legalism has led her to a new licentiousness.  Sadly, this is so often the case.

What would you say?  Many people in your churches are wondering (maybe silently) about these matters so it's very important for us to think through an article like this.

If you have kids that are approaching the teen years it could be a really powerful exercise to walk through this article and talk about the assumptions about sex and marriage.  It would be also powerful to deconstruct our flimsy culture of "purity pledges" that easily creates little legalists with a powerless avoidance ethic which is not founded on the gospel of grace.

Of course seeking to follow God's sexual ethic is a good thing!  But the "why?" behind it is more important.  If abstinence is just another law that have to keep it will be powerless.  It's clear that this author was never taught the "why" from a gospel perspective.  It was all fear, guilt, and shame.  No love, no gratitude, no faith.

Tragic.