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- Category: NW Essay Contest 2011
2011 Pure Love Essay Contest
1st Prize HS Cat. (grades 9 & 10)
Kotone N.
Age 15 , Grade 10
1) What are the benefits of keeping sexual purity before marriage?
Sexual purity is a controversial topic to discuss about. Religion, School, Family, and Experience, these are things that effect a person’s knowledge towards sex and their feelings. Is there really a straight answer to what is right or wrong? Why do teens struggle so much when we discuss this topic, “sexual purity?”
There is no doubt to say that it's a hard thing to keep sexual purity in the environment that we all live in today. With tons of media around us, it is really hard to look away from the sexual activities happening in this world. Teenagers are being exposed to a lot of sexual situations and they are not getting the education that they need to make the correct choices. When we think of sexual purity there may be lots of negative things involved but when you sort them out there are positive benefits that come out of this as well.
One benefit of sexual purity before marriage is that it gives us more time to grow. When we are teenagers, we are learning new things and growing into different people. We are exploring the world and looking at things that we want to become in the future. We are striving to find who we are (identity). If we do have sex at a young age, before we know who we are, it is going to confuse us even more. I believe that sex is about sharing your love with someone you truly want to be with. At a young age, you are still unsure about the type of person you want to be with. If you are not ready and the other person is also not ready, nothing good will come out of this relationship.
Other benefits that should be considered are the physical issues including health. To keep a healthy body for the future, the best thing is to be abstinence. You do not have to worry about any HIVor STD’s that may damage your body in the long Run. Also, you do not need any birth control to protect you from getting pregnant. If you do not want to put yourself through these risks, staying pure is the perfect and best way for you.
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There are lots of positive relationships that come out of staying pure till you marry. The most important is the relationship between you and your partner. By discussing about your sex life and telling them about your purity, you will have a healthier relationship with them. You can prevent yourself from any pure pressure that is happening in a relationship. Your relationships will last longer. Family relationships may be stronger as well. You will be able to feel more open towards your family member and they will trust you fully. Healthy relationships are a positive and supporting environment to be in. It is perfect for teenagers that are seeking for answers and identity.
Last but not least sexual purity before marriage is going to benefit you in the future. It is going to give your partner the respect that they deserve. When 2 mature people come together and truly love each other, they produce a perfect little baby. The end result is going to be that much more rewarding. I think that this is what makes a marriage successful. With a household that is stable and supportive, you can pass this to the next generation as well.
If you have sex at a young age, you are risking yourself to having a baby that you cannot support and love. It is not beneficial to the child or yourself or your partner. It is going to create unnecessary conflict and emotions that will not happen if you decide to keep sexual purity. I think that over the years sex has become more of a “for pleasure” than it is “a beautiful natural” action that people take. It had been misunderstood in the wrong direction.
Staying true to what you really want in your life is the key to everything. If you are unsure about sexual activity, I prefer you to wait and observe and sort out your life. What is really important to you, and what do you really prefer over the other? It is easy to say that you want to be keep your sexual purity till you marry, but it is another to act upon it. If you stump upon a decision, think over the benefits for you and your partner. Look for more information and if you decide to, you can do anything!
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- Category: NW Essay Contest 2011
2011 Pure Love Essay Contest HS (9&10) 2nd Prize
Breeon S. Page 1 of 2
Age 16. Grade 10
How Would Having Sex In Your Teens Affect Your Relationship With Your Parents, Siblings, Friends, And Peers?
Having sex while you’re a teenager can affect your relationship with your parents because you can lose their trust, hurt them, scare them, disappoint them and change their perspective of their little girl/boy. Most parents trust their kids from the beginning, but once you do something to lose their trust it takes a long time to gain it back. For example, I did something real bad in 2008 that disappointed my Dad to the fullest, and I didn’t gain his trust back till 2010. The feeling of not having a parent’s trust hurts and it can affect the rest of your teenage life. Your privileges decrease, you have to do a lot more to earn a lot more, you can’t create the memories that you would have with all your parents trust, and your parents actually have one good reason or more for why they shouldn’t trust you or let you do something.
Having sex as a teenager is one of the worse things you can do to hurt or scare your parents. Whether you’re their only child or not, they don’t want anything to happen to their babies, all they want to do is keep them safe, raise them right and point them in the right direction. I can only imagine how a parent feels when they find out that their little boy/girl isn’t a virgin anymore. If they can’t control what they’re already doing then they’ll try to teach them what decisions to make and how to handle certain situations. A parent finding out that their child is having sex as a teenager is scary, because of STD’s and no birth control. Their kids are their heart and world, the last thing they want to worry about is getting a fatal disease having sex, or having a child they can’t afford.
In the Bible, having sex before marriage is an abomination. I am a Christian, and since I’m no longer a virgin. I am celibate, because I want my parent’s trust, to be a good influence on my friends, a good role model for my little sister, gods favor, trust, love, a better, happier life, and life for eternity. I know that I’m old enough to understand what God is pleased with and the Word of God in church. I fear God and I know better. I know that having sex out of wed-lock is the worst thing you could do
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even though all sins are sins, they’re equal (a sin is a sin). One of my desires is to find my soul mate and have a family of my own, and that’s one thing that keeps me from having sex. I am grateful for my parents and love them; they’ve pushed me in the right direction. Even though I’ve experienced having sex behind their backs, I know how it feels to break their hearts and be looked at as dirty and a liar by my loved ones, the ones who brought me into this world, who raised me from birth, and kept me safe. They probably haven’t and will never forget, but forgave me because they love me.
Having sex would affect my friends, because they would feel like they’re missing out on something or just wants to fit in, so they’ll do it too. If your peers hear that you’re having sex, they could start stories and/or look at you in a completely different way than they did before. Having sex and being a virgin comes with two different reputations most of the time. If you worry about what your peers are doing or what they think, that is not important. The devil may try to make you think that it is okay for you to have sex, because everyone else is doing it too. WRONG! It is not okay, you shouldn’t want to be like everyone else. Everyone else might just look like they’re okay, but you don’t know what’s going on behind closed doors, you don’t want STD’s and diseases like some of them. It’s okay to be different, people, my elders have told me, it’s okay to be different. People feel like they want to fit in, get attention, or just be liked. But don’t pay attention to what everyone else is doing, pay attention to you. Everything that everyone else is doing in high school, like having sex, isn’t going to get them to be successful, graduate, make their parents proud of them, or make them feel good about themselves. They runoff at the mouth and tell you all the good things about having sex, but you don’t hear them telling you how having sex doesn’t benefit you or helps you in your future. There is always two sides to everything. I’ve learned that you don’t have to have sex to have fun or follow your friends/peers. Let them do them, while you do you, because you’re going to be the one that makes your future good for you. Your friends/peers are not worried about your future. But the ones who love you, your parents and your siblings care about your future and your life, and so should you.
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- Category: NW Essay Contest 2011
2011 Pure Love Essay Contest
2nd Prize Middle School Category
Latrice J.
Age 14 Grade 8
“Sexually Active at Age Thirteen”
“It’s my body I can do what I want!” Have you heard this before? Or, “Everyone else is doing it?” These are statements among teens that are heard frequently. When teens say this, do they really understand what they are saying? I’m guessing they do not. What they are saying is, “I will suffer the consequences, not any one else, and it makes it okay because everyone is doing it.” Well believe it or not, these are false allegations. God says in John 15:19, “The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you.”
When I read this scripture, I began to accept the fact that what every one else is doing doesn’t have to be what I’m doing. After all, everyone else is apart of the world and I am not. This is saying regardless of what the world displays, we should not be a part of it. You may have heard the saying “You are what you hang around”. This is sad, but true. If you start to hang around people who do drugs and have multiple sex partners, you will start to have these traits too.
There’s a 13-year-old girl in the eighth grade that is a dear friend of mine. She used to come to church, get great grades in school, and was a great athlete. Then spring break came. She began to go to parties, drink and smoke, and no longer attend church. When I noticed her behavior, I asked her why was she doing these things. She responded, “It’s my life and I’ll do what I want with it. Plus everyone’s doing it.” When she said this to me I couldn’t believe my ears. I told her she wasn’t thinking straight and that I would give her some time to think about what she had said. I called her two months later and she informed me she was pregnant and living with her boyfriend. I told her I had to call her back. When I hung up the phone, I realized that in a matter of two months she was destroying her life. Then I began to strategize how to get her out of this situation.
I thought of counseling, Child Protective Services, and even thought about having her move in with me. But when all my ideas failed, I finally thought God. He says in John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." My friend and I read this verse together and then that’s when we knew she would be make it through.
After the baby was born, my friend asked me “How have you kept your virginity for so long?” I responded by telling her that I never put myself in a situation where I feel tempted. I have had friends who told me to, “just try it”, and, “it feels really good”, but feeling good isn’t worth letting someone invade God’s temple. This is the same as saying, “Here! Take my new car!”, to someone who lives in Canada. I highly doubt you would see that car again. This is the same for your virginity. Once you lose it, you can never get it back.
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- Category: NW Essay Contest 2012
2012 Pure Love Essay Contest Alumni Category 1st Prize
Mikako I.
Age 17 , Grade 12
What are the benefits of keeping sexual purity before marriage?
As one of roughly 6.7 billion people on Earth, what can a person claim exclusively as their own? A house? You can pay monthly bills and have it signed under your name, but it was not built for you specifically; the house has probably had numerous owners before, and just the same, it will have a plentiful number of owners after you. What about even your family? Your mom and dad are someone else’s daughter and son and they are someone else’s sister and brother. As selfish as you might want to be in claiming even your parent’s as yours solely, it is not completely true. So in this vast and ever-changing world, what exactly can humans claim as wholly their own without being disputed? It is purity. It is the freedom from sexual contaminants. It is the innocence that has only one owner. This virtue that each and every single of the 6.7 billion people on Earth is born with is truly one of the only things that every single human being can claim as their own, regardless of money, race, status, or any other societal miseries that we have created and thrust upon one another. Guarding this kind of powerful gift that is only endowed at birth is essential, especially in today’s world. The benefits of protecting one’s sexual purity until marriage are numerous and central to not only physical health, but more importantly, one’s mental and spiritual sanity.
By abstaining from sexual actions before marriage, an abundance of physical benefits exist. The fact is, having sex even once is enough to get an STD or AIDS. According to the U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an average of 40,000 to 80,000 new cases of HIV are reported each year in the U.S. and it is estimated that half of all new infections are among people younger than 25. This means that for tens of thousands of Americans barely out of college and already facing the routine struggles of starting out their lives, an even heavier burden is placed on them through having to fight through sexually transmitted diseases that hinder and often times kill off their victims completely. Through holding off from sexual contact, you lessen the number of people that you would potentially be with, as well as the extent that you would go with your partner(s). By waiting until after marriage, you are able to prevent not only deadly diseases that would burden you for a lifetime, but even more significant is the possibility of having a child born out of wedlock. Kids are a gift from God. Really, truly, all children deserve to be loved. So when a baby is born in an environment where daddy does not always equal husband, and mommy does not always equal wife, how much love can he or she receive? Parental love is love from both parents and often times in homes where parents are not married, stories of abuse and neglect come about. Moms and dads are one entity to children. They do not think of their parents as a separate man and woman, but rather as one whole. We have all heard stories of parents fighting over child support and who gets the baby what weekend. I know that I have personally seen numerous girls carrying their babies to high school because they do not have anybody to baby-sit for them. Is high school a suitable environment for an innocent baby? Of course not. When I see situations like that, I am able to verify my truth that abstaining from sex until marriage is truly the smart thing to do. Not keeping sexual purity until after marriage is truly too cruel a thing to both yourself and a potential child.
Sex is often associated with love. This correlation could also be interpreted as the physical being associated with the emotional. This connecting line between humans is one that is often obscured. “If you love me, you will have sex with me.” That type of line is too often in society. “True Love Waits.” This saying that is inscribed onto my purity ring is one that I whole-heartedly agree with as a fact. True love in my heart is equivalent to love, trust, and commitment. By waiting until marriage to become sexually active, you are putting your trust and commitment level to the test. By knowing that your husband or wife is willing to wait for you, you are able to save your heart, body, and soul from disease and heartbreak. Sex is one of the most intimate actions that a human can do. The benefits of abstinence regarding more emotional issues are endless. Regardless of what gender, age, or type of person you are, you will always remember your first time being intimate with someone. That kind of encounter should be one that is cherished in mind and heart, not one that is connected to tears and future loneliness. When you finally do have sex, you want it to be with someone that you truly trust and love. Someone you know is willing to take the next big step by getting married to you and vowing in front of God Himself that he or she will always love and be with you for the rest of your lives. By having that kind of trust and commitment level through marriage, people beyond doubt are able to connect deeper with their partners through not just emotions, but through actions.
Keeping one’s sexual purity is something that should be, but is unfortunately not always kept in our culture. Sex does not always come with the promise of eternal love, but rather a moment of ecstasy followed by years of regret. Rather than heartbreak, people should set themselves up to the possibility of happiness by abstaining from sexual situations. By keeping oneself sexually pure until marriage, the benefits are eternal for your body, heart and soul.
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- Category: NW Essay Contest 2009
Abstinence
Latrice Johnson
To start off, I believe every person on earth should wait until they are married to have sex. There are multiple reasons why I strongly believe this. First of all, God would like me to be abstinent. Secondly, I am less likely to get diseases. Lastly, my virginity is important to me.
Have you ever wondered why God wants you to save yourself until marriage? Well, he wants you to because in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, he says, “I am your body, therefore honor God with your body.” This tells you when you sexually sin against your body, you are also sinning against God. Also, you should respect God and all he wants. God made sex for a husband and wife to enjoy, not for others to play with it.
Secondly, when you have sex with a man (not your husband), you may catch a disease. When you are married, you know if your husband has a disease. But when you are not, you don’t know. Even though you use a condom, a condom protects only 99% of diseases. Once you get a disease you have to tell every guy/ man you are ever going to be with. Who would want to marry someone with a disease?
Thirdly, virginity should be prided. When you lose your virginity, you are losing something special. You don’t know if you have met the right person until you know them. Your husband should be your first and last. Also, the only person you are intimate with should be your husband. My virginity is sacred to me and only my husband should be able to have it.
In conclusion, now that you know why you should save yourself, start now. You don’t have to do what everyone else is doing to be cool. In a few years, the people who had sex unmarried will be pregnant, have diseases, and may be living a life unpleasing to God. Hopefully this essay takes effect on you and you will now wait until you are married.
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- Category: NW Essay Contest 2009
Essay by Akalia Woods /age 13, grade 8th/ Middle School Topic#1. How can choosing abstinence impact your present and future life? Wow…that’s a pretty big question. How to start? To begin with, nearly every person who practiced abstinence that I know has (or has had) a very happy marriage. Most of the people out there who are getting divorced did not choose abstinence, and are reaping the sad benefits of their early decision. So, how can abstinence impact my future life? Well, for one thing, it’ll certainly help my marriage in many ways. Then how will abstinence impact my present life? Will it make it difficult to keep friends at school? Will it prevent me from watching TV? What about a book that has inappropriate material in it? Will abstinence keep me from that as well? I believe that any true friends that you have won’t care about whether or not you practice this ideal, and won’t pressure you either. If a friend dumps you because you don’t want to hear about the last date she went on, or the hottest movie star, then she wasn’t really a friend. If a friend just says “Okay, sure, whatever,” then you know that she will never really care too much about any of it. And if a friend says “Gee, that sounds kind of smart, actually…I think you should go ahead.” then you know that she will always be your avid supporter. So choosing abstinence will probably get rid of any “weird” friends that you have. As for TV, there is a lot of junk out there that is inappropriate, no matter what. But the first thing before you watch that R rated adult swim show, check why you are watching it. If it’s for all of the gross humor, you probably should go back to Spongebob. If it’s because you think you can ignore all of that and try to glean whatever value you might gain from it, go ahead. It means that you are looking for the silver lining in that very ugly little rain cloud. So choosing abstinence will also help you to stop and review your current lifestyle. The same should be said for books, really. If you are reading for the bad parts, don’t read it. If you just want to see the good guys prevail and get married, then you should be fine. In other words, abstinence doesn’t just mean not going on dates and stuff before marriage. It also means living in a pure, aware sort of way, so that you aren’t caught off guard and fall into the general cesspool of modern times by accident. I know that that has happened to a lot of people. So choosing abstinence will keep you away from bad influences, including television, books, music, and certain parts of the internet. So, to return to the main point, abstinence will not only affect your future by improving your marriage, it will also change your lifestyle. It’s not always easy, and it might be annoying sometimes, but in the end, it’s definitely worth it. At least you shouldn’t reap any bad influences in your later life from it.
