Young Christians say that the church is not doing enough to equip its members with practical skills needed to maintain a life of sexual purity.
Speaking with the Freedom Come Rain newspaper, some young Christians expressed that there are too few opportunities being created to educate single persons on how to maintain a lifestyle of purity. This loophole has made it easier for them to make an error.
Christian single Shenile said the topic of sex is considered taboo in some churches, and based on her observations, if it is discussed, it is discussed amongst already married couples.
“It’s not something that I’ve seen often. I grew up in the church, and one thing I know is that this is one of the topics that you don’t really find that there’s a lot of teaching on in the church,” she said.
Isha Panton echoed her thoughts, saying that the real issues that young Christians find themselves battling are not discussed. She stated that purity is taught in terms of living a holy life, but the topic of sexual purity is excluded from those conversations.
“Yes, we have been learning about purity, but the meat of the matter, where purity is concerned, like the real issues that young people are having, is not being dealt with as to how you must deal with your emotions, sex, and all of these things; how to approach these things in righteousness,” she said.
Romario Allen expressed that, based on his observations, the messages have been taught; however, they take on a more theoretical form, which lacks the explanation of practical steps which aid single Christians in maintaining a sexually pure lifestyle.
“So it’s like a parent telling a child to do something without explaining, like just expecting the child to know, but they need to know how to do it,” Allen explained.
He went on to say that should an individual confess to committing a sexual sin, the reaction to that admission is likely to encourage that person to continue on that path, citing what he calls the back-bench story.
“And then, like, if it is that person who messes up, it’s not dealt with in the proper way. Because they would like to shun the person who fell instead of embracing the person, in regard to just helping them to understand that everybody falls, but they don’t stay fallen. They’re more to push the person further by their actions.”
Shenile said that it is important that more opportunities and forums that allow for these skills are created, as they serve in preventing the development of the incorrect mindset toward the topic and ultimately marriage.
“So if the church is not facilitating or having that space where we can learn about it properly, then people are going to find other ways to learn about it. And if you learn about sex from the world, then you’re going to learn about it the wrong way. So the church has a role where they need to step up, and they need to move away from this culture where sex is taboo and start to really teach young people or people within the body of Christ about sex and how to navigate sexual [discussions] safely as a Christian.”
