In the 1990s and into the early 2000’s the purity movement was all the rage among evangelicals. It was all about saving yourself for marriage. It spawned an industry—with rings, and other items being sold. Hundreds of books were written about it.

If you have not noticed, that movement is dead. Josh Harris and others of its heroes have recanted the movement or the Christian faith altogether. Why? What happened? After all, doesn’t the Bible teach abstinence until marriage? It is worth taking a look deeper into the movement.

It was not just a biblical response. It was reactionary.

The free sex movement of the 1960s wreaked havoc on our society and upon the family unit. Many of the children of the 1970s and 80s were growing up in broken homes. By the 1990s, sex before marriage was assumed as normal. We faced the rise of the AIDS epidemic and its consequences. Christian leaders looked to the future with alarm and foresaw the world in which we are now living. Many Christians, disillusioned with the public schools and Christian Schools (and even churches in some instances) began to withdraw into the fortress of their own families to protect their children from the dangers ahead. Homeschooling exploded. The education process was a religious and moral indoctrination (not necessarily a bad thing). However, it was a moral movement more than a truly spiritual movement. It was about raising kids that lived right, had good families, and—oh yeah, were saved and might go to church.

It was in this context, that the purity movement exploded. It was an outspoken challenge to young believers to reserve the sexual relationship for marriage. Now please do not misunderstand. I believe in reserving the sexual relationship for marriage. My wife and I did that. We also taught that to our children. We believe it is right. Pre-marital sex is sin, plain and simple. …

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