Purity IX

If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.

- From 1 Corinthians 15

Purity isn't just a way for people with stronger willpower to act like they're better than others. It's inextricably linked to our eventual eternal life. You want to be pure, because you want to live forever.

Isn't that the root of all of our problems? Isn't the fear of death the thing that drives all of us? Don't we fear death even more than we love tasty foods? Wouldn't we choose to live forever, if all we had to do was give up alcohol, forever? Would we forswear sex itself, in order to be immortal?

We must know, intuitively, that eternal beings do not need these physical things that drive us. 

It seems a very accessible equation. Eternal life = purity. You won't be selfish in eternity, because there's no need whatsoever, to be selfish. Who cares? You'll live forever! Go enjoy the moment!

It's the whole point of the Gospel - how to get eternal life! In His wisdom, God has made it so that flawed, selfish (i.e. sinful) people will not live forever. You must be pure to make it . . . because we want pure (i.e. unselfish) people to dominate the eternal realm. The idea that evil can exist eternally is a human invention. God wants goodness to prevail. 

If you value eternal life, I hope that you will also value purity, because the two are linked.

And if you value purity, you will certainly let the perfect standard weave it's way through all of your life decisions. 

Devotion to purity is not a rejection of others. It is not a judgment on them. It is simply a personal standard you have accepted for yourself, like an Olympic athlete trains to bring down his times, or to increase her capacity to score points. And purity itself requires us to be kind and unselfish towards others. 

Purity is a win-win. 

And I hope that, when a person goes into the voting booth, they will vote not only for fairness and caring, but that they will consider the goals for society, of making it a pure place; a place where people are safe, focused on the long-term, and where they put the needs of others ahead of their own.