PURE LOVE CELEBRATION IN SEATTLE
In April 30, 2011 Pastor Robert Jeffrey of the Seattle New Hope Baptist Church hosted a "Pure Love Celebration" to promote chastity, a life style with no sexual relations of any kind before the proper and committed marriage. The Annual Pure Love Celebration brought over 100 young adults and their parents to participate in a purity ring ceremony, a chance to win over $2,000 worth in prizes, enjoy a gospel showcase provided by Daystar Baptist Church Praise Team and Choir, hear "Blaze", a well-known Christian rapper, and other musicians.
The program began with a prayer and welcome from Associate Pastor Rev. Rick Thurston followed by a unique praise dance by the Daystar Baptist Church Praise team, a moving and inspirational dance depicting the beauty of salvation.
The theme of this year's faith and Abstinence program was "plan, promise, and purpose," which was delivered by Minister Dottie Hepzibah, who also shared her life experiences and gave a very detailed description of purity and innocence using the metaphor of a crystal glass that gets smudged and finally shattered by improper relations started by seemingly innocent actions.
Her main message was based on I Peter 2:11 which says, "Abstain from fleshly lusts that war against the soul." Minister Hepzibah continued her message by saying "[we have] two powerful but demanding appetites: the need for food and the passion of sexual desire." She encouraged listeners to settle the battle in their minds first then explained the promise of giving oneself to one person is to please God. In 2 Corinthians 10:4 it says, "For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses."
During the purity ring ceremony, Rev. Richard Rivers of the Greater Skyway Community Church explained the meaning and importance of keeping pure and innocent, while participating church representatives came forward, prayed, and anointed those who made the promise. All the participants read a Pure Love Promise: I, [name], freely and sincerely dedicate myself to "Love the Lord my God with all my heart, with all my soul and with all my mind; love and honor my parents by keeping my faith and fulfilling the Pure Love Promise; love and honor my future spouse, my future children and myself by saving all sexual relations until the day of my marriage ceremony."
Yvonne Silva – Benavides introduced the legacy of Jin Joo (Pearl) Ellen Byrne, whose short life was the inspiration to create this Celebration and to have an annual Pure Love Essay contest open to all students in the community. A video clip of Jin Joo, then 16 years old, was shown of her preaching on abstinence and pure life style at the "Speaker's Corner" at Hyde Park in London in 2000 during the Pure Love Alliance European Tour. "Only by giving your 100% effort into the relationship is there a guarantee for success," she expressed during her speech.
This year's Pure Love Essay Contest topics were as follows: How can being sexually abstinent before marriage help you to achieve your potential? How would having sex before marriage affect your relationship with your parents, siblings, friends and peers? What are the challenges of remaining sexually abstinent and how can you overcome them? Explain why all the major religions teach about sexual purity before marriage and fidelity in marriage. Excerpts from the winning essays are available on www.ultrateenchoice.org.
