Born Again Virgin? I don't think so...

Okay, so as most of you reading this know.. I just recently came out as an atheist on the blog channel I'm running to keep folks updated on my pregnancy. For those of you who didn't read it, and want to, you can find it here. I outline some of the reasons why I've come to believe that there is no supreme being, but mostly it's just a general post.

This new blog channel, however, is going to be used strictly for my thoughts on religion. 

I do want to point out a few rules, and these are important, so listen up! 
1. THESE ARE MY THOUGHTS! 
2. IF YOU DISAGREE, FINE. IF YOU WANT TO TELL ME WHY POLITELY, FINE. 
3. ANY RUDE COMMENTS (telling me why my beliefs are dumb/wrong/etc, preaching, trolling, etc.) WILL BE DELETED AND USERS BLOCKED. 

I am going to be pointing out why I disagree with certain things I have found, that seem to be within the religious realm, that I just think are well.. dumb.
Now, I know that not ever Christian (or other religious affiliate) thinks/believes/acts 100% the same, and I'm not generalizing. I will be pointing out the specific cases that have brought me to the point I am making.

So, enjoy!

Born Again Virgin? I Don't Think So...

Okay, so earlier today on the Cult of Dusty Facebook page, I was commenting on a photo posted by another user. The user and I got on the topic of Born Again Virgins, and alas, a blog post idea was born.

A quick search on Google brought me to the Born Again Virgin homepage. I read the homepage. One of the first things I noticed on the homepage was that the author had quoted a Bible passage:

"But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." 1 Peter 2:9 (KJV)

She then says, "It states that we are PECULIAR people. What does this mean? We are to be different! We are to stand out!"

Another quick Google search, and the first thing we find, is that though peculiar can mean "odd or strange", that is not not what it means in this context! Peculiar, in this context, means "belonging exclusively to." To make the passage easier to understand, and ensure I had the right idea, I looked it up again, on biblepassageway.com using the New Living Translation. In place of "...a peculiar people..." the NLT says "...a people for his own possession..." (to read the whole passage, click the excerpt). 

I decided to look past this, what should we call it, error in interpretation, and continue on through the site. The next page I visited was the About page. The first thing I read was "The New Breed of Singles." I'm pretty sure when I saw this, my eyes widened, but I continued. "Born again VIRGINS is the new breed of Singles in today's society. Purity is what every soul desires after." I had to stop here and make sure I read that correctly.

Yep, I did. It says PURITY is what every soul desires after. Isn't marriage proposed in the bible because sexual gratification is what every soul desires?

To quote 1 Corinthians 7: " But because there is so much sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman should have her own husband. 3 The husband should fulfill his wife’s sexual needs, and the wife should fulfill her husband’s needs...5 Do not deprive each other of sexual relations, unless you both agree to refrain from sexual intimacy for a limited time so you can give yourselves more completely to prayer. Afterward, you should come together again so that Satan won’t be able to tempt you because of your lack of self-control." (NLT)

I feel the need to point out here: one aspect of sexual immorality is fornication. Fornication is sexual intercourse between people who are not married.

So, right there, it points out that if one's husband or wife does not (for lack of better terms) put out enough, THEIR LACK OF SELF CONTROL will send them astray. I'm sorry, but that to me, does not point to PURITY being what every soul desires after.

Even after this, I kept on reading. The next portion said, "However, it is never too late to re-establish your virtue. It is possible to become a virgin again."

Alright, next definition: VIRGIN: a person, typically a woman, who has never had sexual intercourse

Now, in my opinion, if that is the definition of VIRGIN, then the only way for someone to "become a virgin again" would be for them to get in the time machine with Doc Brown, go back to the day they lost their virginity, and stop themselves from losing their virginity. But, at this point in time, that is not possible, and therefore; it is too late to 're-establish your virtue' and it is NOT possible to become a virgin again.

Now, looking at it from a biblical standpoint. It still.. IS NOT POSSIBLE. 1: The punishment for sexual immorality is laid out in black and white in Leviticus 20. As it says on ChristiaNet, punishment for sexual intercourse outside of marriage (as well as other sexually deviant acts) was stoning. That means DEATH. Now, please, tell me.. how are you to become a virgin again, if you are dead for your previous sexual immorality?

The site goes onto define a born-again virgin. The definition says, "A Born-Again Virgin is a child of God that is free from impurity or stain." 

They threw in "Children of God." Now, I cannot say these people were 'children of God' before they took the vow to be 'Born-Again Virgins,' but if they weren't then they are now because they know they messed up when they had that one-night stand, or slept with that married guy, what have you. However if they were, I bring forth, Hebrews 6: 4-6.

"4 For it is impossible to bring back to repentance those who were once enlightened—those who have experienced the good things of heaven and shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the power of the age to come— 6 and who then turn away from God. It is impossible to bring such people back to repentance; by rejecting the Son of God, they themselves are nailing him to the cross once again and holding him up to public shame." (NLT).

So, if these people were followers BEFORE their sexual deviance, this passage says it is IMPOSSIBLE to bring them back to repentance (sincere regret or remorse), because they have shamed God. Let's look at the word sincere for a moment. The word means: proceeding from genuine feelings. As a female, who is sexually active (yep, I know, I'm going to hell), I can genuinely tell you, the only way I'm going to be SINCERELY sorry for my sexual delinquency.. is if the man I have sex with is ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE! 

The last part of the site I'm going to quote, well I guess there are two, are the ending of the definition portion. The site says, "Everyone make mistakes. But when you choose to become a Born-Again Virgin, God will wash away your wrongdoings (sins) and this will make you clean again... Furthermore, it is recapturing a life of purity and self-dignity that God wants you to have." 

Okay. So we know that as humans, we make mistakes. And one of the biggest things that Christians like to push is that those mistakes will be forgiven! Now, though I'm atheist, I have gone to church before, and I have been told, that the only way your sins are forgiven, is if you are truly (sincerely) sorry for what you have done. As you just read, that does not always happen, especially when our world is ruled by our desire to have sex and our lack of self control. Also, if you're dead (let's face it, the punishment (in a biblical sense) for sexual immorality is death) you can't ask for forgiveness, therefore; you can't be washed away of your sins. 

Now, I can honestly say that I'm not married. I can honestly say (as was stated at the very beginning) I'm pregnant. I can say that the baby was conceived out of wedlock, and I can say I lost my virginity as a teen. Sure, I wish I hadn't lost my virginity to who I did, I wish I had waited until a more suitable time. BUT: My wishes, DO NOT change the fact that I had sex, that I am no longer a virgin. And I cannot go back with Doc Brown (though it would be freaking epic) and change the decisions I made then, nor would I want to. These decisions made me who I am, and I like 'me.' 

Do these people honestly not realize, that all of the consequences that there are in their lives are going to be the same after they become "Born-Again Virgins" as they are now? Do they even see the consequences this could have in the future, in their love life (assuming they don't have children)?

Tom: "So, are you a virgin?"
Mary: "Yeah, I'm a virgin. Well... I wasn't, but I talked to Jesus and now I am."
Tom: "So, you've had sex?"
Mary: "Yeah, but I repented for that, so now I'm a virgin."

Yeah, I can't see that ending well, can you?

My last point is, well it's actually a question... if these people's self-dignity and purity was so important to them in the first place... and purity is what every soul desires... wouldn't they have abstained from sexual delinquency in the first place?

* Just a note * Okay. So I think I linked all of the pages I went to for my information, hence why you see so many hyper-linked phrases. I just want to throw it out there, I will ALWAYS use the New Living Translation when quoting the Bible, unless the quote is not my own. I like that one, it's easy to understand.

Anyways,
Have a great day/night, whatever! (: