Purity balls are parties where young pre-teen or teenage girls pledge to keep thier virginity intact until marriage.
They are usually thrown by their parents, and they put a gold ring on their finger as a reminder of their promise.
They dress in formal gowns, and the parties look a great deal like proms.
Have you attended a party like this, and are they really all that effective in keeping their daughters celibate until marriage?
Personally, any get together that involves cake is a good thing!
While this is the first I have ever heard of that type of thing, I can attest to the fact that when my son got married one of the highlights of the ceremony was when his wife presented him with her chastity ring and told him that he was the man she was saving herself for. What a precious moment!
As part of the
Purity Ball, fathers must sign the "Covenant of Purity and Protection," witnessed by their daughters, and openly commit to the pledge, a typical example of which might be:
I, (daughter’s name)'s father, choose before God to cover my daughter as her authority and protection in the area of purity. I will be pure in my own life as a man, husband and father. I will be a man of integrity and accountability as I lead, guide and pray over my daughter and as the high priest in my home. This covering will be used by God to influence generations to come.
To me, this is ridiculous.
The dad is swearing to protect his daughter's purity and to keep himself pure as well as an example to her.
The dad's definition of pure is not the same when compared to what he is requiring of his daughter.
The dad is already married, and thus, is sleeping with his wife..
The Purity Ball is nothing but another money making scheme that has been going on amongst the Evangelicals for nearly a decade now.
Dad's have to buy rings, dresses, dress fancy, etc.
Why not just vow to the Lord to keep pure and stick to that vow?
Why are all the bells and whistles needed?
The one thing I found most disturbing was the way the fathers acted as "dates" for their daughters, sort of like a practice run for the real thing (without the sex, of course).
That was just a little too creepy for me.
There is a similar program called True Love Waits----I read somewhere that less than half keep their virginity until marriage who originally make a promise at the beginning
yeah...we can't have this be enjoyable.
Remember...being a Christian should be misery.
How terrible it is to celebrate a person's decision to stay pure. I bet RICK WARREN gets all this money, since it's a "moneymaking scheme.... :rolleyes:
I've seen this in action, and it was really meaningful.
Sure, if a family can't afford it, they shouldn't do it.....but one could use this reasoning and say there's no need for weddings, either.
IMO it is because of the approach.
If I go to the whole youth group and walk 'em through the pledge...there's quite a few that are simply "going through the motions."
This should be something that the kids do because they desire to be pure...not just an event all the group goes through.
If fathers woudl bring their children up in the fear and nurture and admonition of the Lord, there would be no need for such nonsense as Purity Balls.
It is a money making scheme.
On top of all that one has to purchase to prepare for such an event, First Baptist in Tuscon charges 30 dollars per person attending.
As I stated before, the Purity Ball idea is ridiculous
If you do this with your kid, you're not bringing up your child in the nurture & admonition of the Lord.
Please teach us how to determine one's motives so clearly.
Up to this point, I though I had to leave that in God's hands...I didn't realize that it was possible for me to be able to judge someone's parenting so clearly.
Promoting any opportunity such as this for a young person to announce and display to their peers through this type of celebration and openly shown respect of these rightfully highly valued morals, such as purity, has got to have a lot on the positive side, deserves consideration, and generally gets a thumbs up from me.
I think we as Christians need to be more attentive to forwarding/popularizing such activities for the youth and work toward publicizing more like celebrations as they may possibly lead to shaping new traditions by example.
Seems to me, we don't stress purity to our sons enough. It is as if we just assume they cannot control themselves until marriage. What does that say about our expectations for our sons to be faithful in the marriage?
Let's let our sons know that the same standards apply to them.
From what I understand (and believe you me, it's very little) the focus of these parties is not on the young ladies chastity, but on the role of fathers in their daughter's life. Celibacy is something fathers are supposed to protect, according to them.
I just don't know how that's even possible.
I do remember, now, that I saw something about this somewhere.???
If I remember right, the fathers were stressing their roles as the "male" in the daughter's life.
They promised to be active in the daughter's life.
The daughters remained under the fathers (diligent) watchcare, until they took a husband.
She would then be under her husband's care.
There appears to be some positive results from it.
The Old Testament's overlying emphasis for spiritual leadership was from Father to Children
We want the church to teach our kids how to study the Bible just like we expect the coach to teach how to chunk a football, dribble a basketball, or field a grounder
When I stand before Almighty God and give account for my kids----the preacher ain't gonna "cover" for me----ain't no football coach gonna be there to cut me some slack
I'm gonna be the one to say
"Lord, please forgive me!!! I didn't cover sexuality with my boy!!!"
"Lord, just this once more forgive me!!! I didn't teach my girl what/who to look for in a husband---thats why she wound up with "Freddie the Freeloader!!!!"
Its gonna be me---not the coach---not the preacher---not the Church!!!
While I won't discount that events like this might be nice and might even have a positive influence on some, if the parents have waited until teenage years to teach their children about purity issues, they've waited much too long.
Teach by example.
Teach from your knees.
And by all means start teaching according to understanding from babyhood.
How new is this Purity Ball concept? I have heard of the commitment to no sex, but this is interesting and it seems to add parental supervison and responsibility, which is probably a good addition, if it works. Thanks for the info.