I never said that our purity is in sexual inexperience; far from it. I know that our purity is in Christ, and I am immensely glad of this.
Then don't say those rules are in place to help him maintain his purity. I'm sick and tired of the word "purity" meaning sexual inexperience to Christians. It sends the wrong message to both believers and unbelievers alike. It makes fornication into a sin that is only partially forgiveable at best and at worst completly unforgiveable. And it treats a person who has sex one time and quits as morally the same thing as a active prostitute because once virginity (AKA "purity) is lost it can't be regained.
It also puts in a strong moral hurt those people who are victims of rape.
Like it or not talking about purity and meaning the same thing as sexual inexperience or virginity you are changing the source of one's purity. Purity no longer becomes about Christ who died to make us pure once and for all and can not be lost so long as true faith is maintained. It instead becomes about sexual inexperience which can be lost via marriage, mistake, or rape.
However, we are commanded to abstain from sexual sin, and these laws are simply in place to help people. Kisses between two people who are romantically involved can quickly become sensual,
The pharisee's thought that walking too many steps on the Sabbath could quickly turn into work. So they made people count the number of steps they took and instituted a maximum in which they where allowed to take. They also wern't a fan of Jesus healing people on the Sabbath. Because apparently helping people looked too much like work to them.
and I know this very well -- I have a spotted past before I came to college, and thus I was very glad for the rules. And again, I'm not saying that touching is bad, or innately sexual. I hug my female friends all the time, and when I get the chance, I love it when my boyfriend has his arm around my shoulders. In fact, touch is how I show affection to everyone, not just my significant other. Kissing and making out are different things, yes, but one can quickly segue into the other.
Its all about having self control, maybe avoiding kissing in a private setting where sex would be possible might be smart. But these are self placed restrictions, not ones that God handed down or should be handed down by religious leaders.
Its unlikely however if you are nearby other people that if you kiss your romantic partner, even on the lips that its likely to lead to making out unless you really don't mind making out in front of people. In which case you have other problems to deal with.
Showering, using the restroom, and sleeping can indeed glorify God -- you're taking care of the body God gave you, and it shows when you don't take care of it! It's a good question to ask. . .and it can and does apply to many things. "Does what I am about to eat glorify God? Will it give me energy instead of ruining my body? . .Does going to this place glorify God? . ." and so on.
So is ice cream a sin then? What about looking up interest rates of Certificate of Deposits on the internet. Not sure how that glorifies God.
I agree that lust runs away very quickly, but when I said physical attraction I didn't just mean lust. I mean infatuation as well, which can also be physically induced. I know quite well how that works, because my first (real) boyfriend and had a relationship that demanded touch. We were always holding hands, and when we didn't touch for a month and a half, my "love" quickly left.
So you loved him simpily because you where holding hands. Never experienced a situation where simpily holding hands with someone made me love them. And I've held a lot of hands, I've held hands with women before I even knew their name. (Ballroom dancing)
At the base of it all, though, is that you agreed to be put under these rules; you must follow them or risk reneging on your promise.
While he agreed to be put under those rules, he's under no promise or oath to stay. In fact his promise to obey God trumps any other promise he has made. And because of that he should leave this legalistic and heretical "bible college".
I'm opposed to this belief that the best way to help people obey God's word is by adding more rules to it. Thats precisely the idea the pharisee's had and one of the major problems that Jesus had with them.
Luke 14:1-6 said:
1One Sabbath,(
A) when he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were(
B) watching him carefully.
2And behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy.
3And Jesus responded to(
C) the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, (
D) "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?"
4But they remained silent. Then he took him and healed him and sent him away.
5And he said to them, (
E) "Which of you, having a son[
a] or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?"
6(
F) And they could not reply to these things.
The religious leaders read that God wanted people to have a day of rest and keep the sabbath holy. So they started instituting all of these rules as to how many steps one may take on the Sabbath. It made no sense and Jesus called it out as such.
Now I'm obviously no Jesus. However all I can see with these rules about kissing and touching (in non sexual ways still banned) as well as all these rules about "courting" instead of dating all of this being taught by a church, I can only see it as the same thing as the rules that where placed on the Sabbath by the Jews of old but now being placed on your romantic life by modern day Christians - (Who one would think would know better)
Modern day Christians have read that God doesn't want people to have sex before they are married. So they've taken and instuted a bunch of other rules with the idea that somehow these rules help people to not sin sexually. So their motives are again from the same place as the pharisee's motives.
But ultimatly Jesus wasn't a fan of the pharisee's methods despite their good motives. Thats why I'm not a fan of these methods either they are the same methods with the same intention, the only difference is the sin that one is trying to prevent.
And lets not forget that the road to hell can be paved with good intentions. (I know thats not biblical but it can be a true statement and I belive its true here. Quite literally in fact.)
And God doesn't care who you marry, and there's nothing in the bible to indicate otherwise.
Biblically speaking there is good reason to belive that God does not wish those who are already believers to marry unbelievers.
Also there is one passage in which God states he has a plan for you. I can't remember exactly where it is, but its a fairly popular passage. However a lot of times people draw too much out of that passage and begin to belive that God has planned out every minor detail of their lives.
However given that passage one can eatablish that God does have a plan for our lives. As to how detailed that plan is and what aspects he personally plans out, there is very biblical evidence to determine those things.
