There is no need to wear a purity ring to enhance this divine promise.Īs a future educator, I hope that the days of quirky gym teachers giving quasi-speeches regarding abstinence have ended.

By virtue of this imago dei, we are journeying towards holiness already. Early Christians and the Orthodox Church today identify the Greek term theosis, or the process of becoming Godlike, with chastity. The struggle to be more God-like is the bedrock of Christian marriage. So it is wrong to encourage a notion that sex in itself is sinful, as the Gnostics believed and as purity rings seem to endorse, and instead encourage a fuller understanding of the beauty of human sexuality that is lived in marriage. God created the world, including sex, and He deemed creation very good. John Paul wrote about in Theology of the Body.Ībstinence is a component of chastity, but the two are not synonymous. Even though promise rings point towards potential healthy sexual relationships in marriage, in the short term they can cause the wearer to develop an unhealthy understanding of human sexuality as St. Promise rings can impede development of a holistic understanding of the body because they reinforce a dichotomy between the evil body and the sexual person. Some Christian religions might have inherited a warped understanding of sex because of Gnostic teachings. Celibacy was integral to Gnosticism because sex was understood as a sinful form of gratification and the body needed to be tamed. The title alone evoked an image of someone finding inner strength to refute societal pressures this is essentially an aspect of Gnosticism.Īs a religious studies student, I’ve learned that Gnosticism was an ancient religion that stressed dualism, especially the intrinsic tension between the body and the spirit. On a cool autumn evening a few years ago, my first year Bible-study group started a reading circle around a book entitled I Kissed Dating Goodbye by Joshua Harris. Those who wear purity rings are skirting with aspects of the ancient religious practice of Gnosticism. John Paul’s Theology of the Body teaches that sexuality is an important part of our created body.īut purity rings can represent piety masquerading as orthodoxy and send the message that Christians do not acknowledge the goodness of sex even within the sanctity of marriage. But one of my concerns with Christians who parade abstinence is that they risk trivializing the goodness of the body and human sexuality. Unmarried couples are called to abstain from sexual intimacy. This culture can impede dialogue between ring wearers and non-ring wearers as they are split into polarized camps: one that resents Christianity and embraces the body and one that seeks to overly moralize their faith. I can’t believe we are still having this conversation but, somehow, purity ring culture informs the lives of many people today. We are not divorced from our bodily experiences - that is why our parents teach us not to touch hot stoves. If the Word became incarnate then our flesh is good. If we can learn anything from the Gospel account of the risen Jesus, who still bears His wounds and scars, it is this: our bodies matter. But I think a doctrine of “waiting” has re-emerged in our vernacular because some Christians have adopted a distorted view of the goodness of our bodies. The promise ring, as a cultural practice, is essentially worn when one vows to refrain from premarital sexual activity. I write this column in response to two stories that went viral on the Internet: “Why I waited till my wedding night to lose my virginity and wish I hadn’t” and “Christians, stop staying pure until marriage.”

I wonder if chastity movements have co-opted bodies as part of an agenda that does not necessarily reflect the beliefs and traditions of the Church. As much as I am stirred by young people living out holiness, I still question purity ring culture. I was never a member of the chastity-ring bandwagon and I don’t intend to be. He slips the ring off of his finger and hands it to me engraved on the inner side is “true love waits.”

Mens purity ring