Purely & Graciously His

by Jennifer Moodie  6/5/2019     We all know about prosperity preachers; those who claim if you just love Jesus enough, give money to them, pray hard enough, have enough faith, and believe enough, God will give you whatever your heart desires. The names Joel Osteen, Kenneth Copeland, Steven Furtick, Bill Johnson and more are tied to that teaching. Most Evangelical Christians would reject that teaching by saying "God's not a vending machine or genie". And they are right. But I have found that Evangelicals have other forms of prosperity gospel that they blatantly teach, and I am hoping to address just one of them here: The prosperity of purity.      There is this idea in Fundamental circles that A+B=C. There is some sort of formula you can follow that will give you a happy and healthy marriage, and God isn't at the center of it...sexual purity is.     Now, don't get me wrong. Sexual purity IS important. 1...

    by Jennifer Moodie    The whole premise of what I just said in the previous post  (which is just a sliver of the nasty pie), is often what is referred to as The Purity Culture. Very simply put, it is the idea that your identity is wrapped up in your virginity. It is the idea that improper sexuality (sex outside of the confines of marriage) is the sin of all sins. Besides the obvious slap in the face to the Gospel that that is, it incites a sense of pride and self focus. It keeps others comparing themselves among themselves and gives many a sense of pride in their own accomplishments. I know many who have held up the fact that they didn't even hold hands or kiss before their wedding day as a sort of trophy. Those women were immediately brought in to teach at the ladies conference. I wanted to do what they did to get the attention they got. Not out of a sense of honoring God, but to get the attention of those around me. T...

February 26, 2019 By Jennifer Moodie      I want to have a disclaimer before I even start. God is clear in His Word that sex is to be between a man and a woman in the context of marriage. It is right to teach abstinence before marriage . It is right to teach that adultery is abominable. I don’t want to diminish the heart behind what became known as The Purity Culture.       I was thinking to start out by talking about how the many of the teachings on sex, purity, gender roles, and modesty-Purity Culture- negatively affected my life and marriage. I may get there eventually, but decided that it would be advantageous to start with the root problem, and not the fruit. See, Purity Culture isn’t the problem. It is a result of the problem. The real problem is that too many churches have stopped preaching the true gospel, or haven’t ever taught it to begin with. The Purity Culture is an effect of a lack of true Gospel teaching.  Bear...