A woman’s body is not sin.

By AD 200, 3 things were considered forgivable by God, but not by the Church.

Apostasy. Murder. Sexual immorality.

Though the concept of the Church refusing to forgive something that God has is questionable, it shows you how much the Church hated sexual misconduct and immorality. Church leaders were accused of sanctioning sin if they even attempted to readmit someone who had done any of these things.

Now sexual sin, misconduct and abuse has become associated with the Church. How did a place meant to be a safe haven become a house of horror for many?

My aim in this post, is to explore a few common doctrines and practices that I believe have contributed to this and give some biblical propositions on how we can work towards rectifying this.

Strap yourself in. Let’s go on a journey.

Patriarchal purity culture

The term ‘purity culture’ was coined to describe a movement that started in the evangelical church in the 90’s to encourage abstinence and sexual purity. It started in response to the effects of the sexual revolution, which promoted sex outside of marriage. It was characterized by purity rings, purity balls and strict male-female friendships/relationships. It started with a noble Christian motive, but started promoting things…