Messages By: murnie48

    I am the mother of six children, five boys and 1 girl.  My oldest is 26.  I think purity is an issue for everyone, not just girls.  The pressure is on our children from a very early age to "couple up."  And I think parents are the worst culprits.  Two year old babies do not have "boyfriends' or "girlfriends."  But I hear parents talk about it all the time. 
    The idea of encouraging our children to pledge to purity beginning at the age of 11 is absolutely not too young in this day and age!  However, I think it should be a pledge made by parents to their children and children to their parents.  And it should be modelled by parents! I gave each of my children a "purity ring" when they turned 13, but it was a private pledge between me and my children.  I would be afraid that these girls would then become targeted by those with less than "pure" motives.
    The statistics have been in for a long time.  Premarital sex does not lead to good marriages.  A healthy attitude about oneself, support and love of emotionally healthy parents, the support of a positive community like a loving church family, positive activities like sports and community involvement -- these ALL contribute to good, strong marriage. 
    Sexual immorality and infidelity are RAMPANT in our society.  This behavior is not making us stronger and wiser.  It is making us selfish and weak as a country and society.

  I totally agree.  "It is all about caring, trusting, sharing and having fun. " And most importantly, respect.
  There is a little over 15 years age difference between my husband and myself.  He is 36 and I am 52.  Most people we meet for the first time would never think that we are not just a couple years apart in age because we are a good match.  We like each other. He thinks I am intelligent, beautiful and hillarious, and I think he is the cleverest man I know.  We have six children between us; including four of mine from a previous marriage. We celebrated 12 years married this summer, and look forward to at least 60 more together.
  We faced some resistance from his mother and grandmother in the beginning (his father had already passed away), and I was initially uncertain, no, even terrified of what was happening.  I did not want to harm our children, his family or our church community with our relationship, so we tried to be very careful how we pursued it in the beginning.
  It comes down to the two individuals and their families and their community.
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