The Problem of Purity

 

One of great hinderances to The Church is what I call Puritanicalism or Purity Culture. People feel that at church they must put on a pure persona, acting like prudes who don’t know what “glory holes are,” and “pearl necklaces.” In private 97% of men, including Pastors, are doing pornography, and yet on Sunday they will pretend to be outraged by the prevalence of perversion in culture and sip their coffee from a hypocritical high horse. 

The infection in Christianity of purity culture stems from several streams. One is the Puritans and Salem folk who persecuted imperfection and demonize others as sinners, when Puritans were drunkards and Jesus says he won’t pick them up (Matthew 24:48-51), and Salem witch hunters probably had those weather vanes that act as talismans on their barns. Hypocrisy always hides behind sanctimony and purity cults. The truth is we have Total Depravity and can bear no fruit but in Jesus, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5). 

The other issue with purity culture is Plato. Plato decided to separate the world into two categories, the tangible, and the supernatural, matter and the mystical. What this in effect did was make people bipolar, or worse view the body, carnal as bad, and the spiritual as good, or at the very least made the chasm between the two a problem. The issue is a humans we are spirit like God (John 4:24) who made us in His Image (Genesus 1:26-27) and we are carnal, he made us bodies and it was in a body Jesus paid for all our sins. Thus to separate the two,  emphasizing life in two spheres, often making one good and the other bad as the deceived Cathars of France did and the heretical Nestorians did, you in effect are attacking Jesus who is God and Man, Spirit and flesh, “concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 1:3-4, ESV). So then the issue becomes that sexual things and carnal desires get labeled “flesh” and spiritual things like prayer get called “spiritual.” When you are in effect in your carnal body making petitions in the spirit… 

The problem as humans is we want things to make sense. Its easier to place things in one of two categories: spirit and flesh, sin and saintly, when often in life things straddle between the two; after all Jesus did not sin (2 Corinthians 5:21), but bore our sins (1 John 3:5) in His Body and His Spirit being God’s Spirit made it so the payment for sin was for all time because God is eternal and does not live in time (2 Peter 3:8). So Christ’s humanity (flesh) and Spirit were both necessary, his flesh to die as a sacrifice for sin, only by having a human body could He die, and His Spirit being God’s Spirit, The Son, so that sin could be dealt with for all time and not just 33 A.D. I know I am getting into the gritty of Christology, I am not saying Christ’s humanity wasn’t divine too, since it is God Made Flesh, I am trying to say His Two Natures are equally important, carnal and spirit, just as ours is. 

It was the Medieval Catholic Church that made Plato an interpreter of Scripture and Christian life. The problem is things are more complicated with humans. Is sexual promiscuity bad? Yes, but a fetish in itself is not bad, if a person is aroused by said fetish it can be ministered in a healthy way through a relationship, but its easier to say “fetishes are bad, or I say certain ones are.” Again purity culture, its easier to label than deal with things in nuance. Its easier to burn the fetishes at the stake than consider how they can fit in a Christian life. 

You may be ready to recite Scripture, but certain stuff is forbidden! True, but the purpose is not sanctimantality, or worse to be hypocrites who deride people in public when you struggle with that in private. Jesus hated hypocrites, he has a whole Chapter in The Gospel of Matthew Twenty Four is dedicated to them. He hated how the Pharisees crushed people with demands they themselves could not live up to, “The scribes and Pharisees tie up heavy loads [that are hard to bear] and place them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves will not lift a finger [to make them lighter].” (Matthew 23:4). The Apostle Peter made mention of the same crushing of the Law, and said its Grace, “And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith. Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.” (Acts 15:7-11). What if the church instead of getting on high horses of hypocrisy became hands of healing and understanding? What if instead of purity cults, the Church was honest that we are prostitutes, sinners that Jesus has married and covered in His Blood of forgiveness? What if instead of striking at every social issue that doesn’t fit our purity box, we prayed, had honest discussions, and sought the Holy Spirit on how to go forward in this new world? Maybe then instead of wearing masks on Sunday, and clapping when Pastor attacks something not pure in culture, we might actually be honest Christians, who can share our battles and look at things in a deeper and more reflective way. I mean the Pharisee Puritan model isn’t working, church is not growing in popularity, witchcraft is. And why? Because all we peddle on Sunday is hate this and that, phony outrage to be part of a tribe while we live our secrets lives hidden from our fellow saints. The world has lost interest in Jesus’ Church not because of Jesus, He actually is likable, “I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent,” (Luke 5:32), “Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing,” (Luke 23:34), “But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” (Matthew 5:44), “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another,” (John 13:35), “Do not judge and criticize and condemn [others unfairly with an attitude of self-righteous superiority as though assuming the office of a judge], so that you will not be judged [unfairly]. For just as you [hypocritically] judge others [when you are sinful and unrepentant], so will you be judged; and in accordance with your standard of measure [used to pass out judgment], judgment will be measured to you. Why do you look at the [insignificant] speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice and acknowledge the [egregious] log that is in your own eye?” (Matthew 7:1-3). Jesus was about honesty, and the Church is dishonest, putting on the airs of purity and perfection as they condemn worse sinners. Folks, gossip is in same list of sins as Homosexuality (1 Timothy 1:8-11), and yet Christians gossip often and on Sunday. 

The tension between Grace, that we have God’s grace and forgiveness and that we are to bear fruit and be regenerated has plagued the Church. The pendulum swings, as some churches go “greasy grace,” (Diedrich Bonehoffer, The Cost of Discipleship) and condone sin, which can invite it in their lives, which is the failure of Roman Church (see Romans Chapters 1-6). On the other side is the Law Churches who like The Pharisses “strain a gnat and swallow a camel,” in their quest for perfection.  These self righteous and legalistic churches act as if Jesus did not pay for sin and insult the spirit of grace. The tension between Greasy Grace and Legalistic Purity is like Plato’s failure of separating spirit and flesh. You have flesh churches rewriting Scripture to accommodate modern morality and you have purity churches that neglect the body and its needs, ignoring the cravings that can have pitfalls but aren’t simply black or white [Masturbation isn’t in the Bible, Onan was having sex and pulled out to not impregnate his brother’s wife, that is intercourse, not masturbation]. The answer is found in Jude, “Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment. Show mercy to still others, but do so with great caution, hating the sins that contaminate their lives.” (Jude 1:23). 

The world is heading towards witchcraft because people want spirituality, the cravings of flesh and spirit are in us because we are both. Because the Church on a purity crusade condemns the flesh, people choose other mystical and spiritual arts so they can satisfy their carnal and spiritual yearnings at the same time. This is where we have failed.  Oh we get to pat ourselves on the back for our Puritanism on Sunday, but we lost the world because we will not sit down and have nuanced and complicated discussions; we are content to label, condemn, and burn at the stake; hmmm.. would we be the ones saying Crucify Him before Pontius Pilate? Probably, because we are Pharisees with labels, boxes, and delusions of moral superiority, and Jesus was nuanced, complex in his answers and had grace for failings while inspiring us to do better. I am convinced if Jesus visited churches today, most would not let Him visit, because He would be saying “Woe to you hypocrites and vipers!” “You Whitewashed tombs who appear holy and yet inside are full of lawlessness and dead man’s bones.” (Matthew 23). 

The truth is we are harlots, Jesus makes a Bride out of prostitutes like the Prophet Hosea, and even when we get in messes and sell ourselves at market like Gomer, Jesus buys us back every time. He knew who He was marrying, just as you marry or couple with people with tendencies, pasts, and fall out from bad choices, but you love em anyway. Does Jesus want us to grow and become more like Him? Yes, but the reason why isn’t purity superiority, it is he wants you to have an abundant life (John 10:10), and to spare you the consequences of bad choices that come from doing stuff he calls Sin, He wants you to stop being hurt, broken, used, abused, and tacked with the hard consequences of missing the mark. Take Lauren Diagle, a great Christian artist, the has Herpes. Now ai do not know if she contracted it as teenager via intercourse, or by blood or her parents had the virus and passes it on to her. Whatever brought that into her life, it has marginalized her because she has no spouse or kids, probably fearing giving it to a spouse and kids. A sin that either she did, someone else, or parents did has altered her life, that is what God wants to prevent, you being in that agony. Now I would tell Lauren Diagle that 3.7 Billion People have Herpes, that is more than half of 6 Billion people on Earth, and that its contagious to a spouse only in flare ups, and you can take measures of prevention; but in truth she could meet someone who has it already or God may have someone who says like Jesus, “this Herpes, like sin, I am gonna love you anyways.” I do not think Diagle who’s voice is incredible and could be passed to future gens of kids should be stopped because of purity concerns, they are even close medically to curing Herpes, just like other diseases have been cured. 

The Problem of Purity is we yearn for our Lord Jesus who is pure, and to aspire to be good, but we are also sinners who need His Grace and All Sufficient Forgiveness for our failings. In Jesus we are able to be both, Sinner and Saint, Harlot and Bride; Jesus loves all of us, the good and bad. Amen.