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Review Summary: Good book, sobering message |
Date: 2008-05-06 |
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Details: I came away from reading this book with mixed feelings. On the one hand I think it holds some excellent pieces of advice for young girls who are wondering about sexuality and its complications. It encourages abstinence which I wholly agree with and gives advice to women who are scarred from past sexual sin. On the other hand, I felt a sense of great sadness for Lisa Bevere and the scarred women she is writing to. I always have a hard time relating to people who have made such mistakes because, by the grace of God, I managed not to make them. I think this is a very good, if sobering book for anyone to read, not only for the excellent advice, but because it gives a glimpse into the kind of mindset women are left with when they allow themselves to fall into sexual sin. I always notice the difference between women who have relatively pure pasts as opposed to women who don't. The women who have stayed pure always seem to have retained a sense of innocence which the women who made mistakes lack. They are happier, more comfortable in their own skin and less legalistic much of the time. Women who have made mistakes often suffer from guilt, (as Lisa points out) depression, and are more inclined toward legalism. They associate things with their past sin which unscarred women would never think to. (For instance: I can watch a James Bond movie and never once feel a pang of regret OR the desire to be like the women in it.) Read this book no matter what age you are and learn a sobering lesson from its author. If you are thinking of falling into sexual sin, please, please reconsider. The consequences are all right here in this book. You don't want to live with them. |
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Review Summary: Why Reasons Work Better Than Rules |
Date: 2008-01-20 |
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Details: Whether you are a young girl wondering if all the hype about "saving yourself" is really worth it, or a woman who chose another path and now wants to get rid of the shadows that choice left behind, this book will help you.
So many lessons give us the rules without the reasons, and Lisa compares that to a parent's response to a child's nightmare. She says, "It would do no good to shake my finger at my child and tell him the rule that there's no such thing as monsters. Instead, I sing him a song and give him something to dream about." The rule is purity, and one of God's main reasons for wanting us to be pure is so He can communicate better with us. He wants to sing us a song and give us things to dream about. Lisa states that "God wants us to be wholly free so we can be wholly His."
This book also accompanies a teaching by Lisa called "Purity's Power" and power with God is the main reason for keeping pure. Women need to see just how much power we have and just how often the enemy wants to strip it from us. Often, we allow the enemy to strip our power by exposing us. Or we strip it by giving it away to someone who does not cherish it. But that's not the end of the story. My favorite thing about this book is how Lisa teaches us to keep the power we have and to regain the power we've lost.
If you are a mother who is having trouble coming up with reasons to inspire your daughter to purity (or whose daughter has turned a deaf ear to all the speeches about buying cows vs. free milk), you'll find plenty of new inspiration in this book. If you are a woman with shadows in the bedroom, this book will show you that God looks at you with a love that can dispel every one of them.
As a 43 year old woman with no daughters, I thought I was only reading this book to prepare for teaching a group of Missionettes at a local camp. I never realized how much healing and strength it would bring to me personally. I recommend it to every woman who believes in God. It will help you to see yourself through God's eyes, and it will help you see other women and girls you may need to teach or mentor through His eyes. And if you can get a copy of the audio or video of "Purity's Power," I would recommend that as well. |
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Review Summary: GO READ THIS BOOK....EVERYONE!! |
Date: 2007-10-18 |
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Details: Reviewed By Bethany Regattieri
This is book is absolutely fantastic. EVERYONE should read it. It teaches about being Pure and following God because we are all his children!
It has truly inspired me to be a better person. I have heard Lisa Bevere's talks on "Purity's Power" and reading this book has given me the confidence to stand up for what I believe in and not let anyone make me feel less of myself. We are all BEAUTIFUL IN GOD'S EYES. I can see the change in myself and I thank you for spreading the message Lisa.
I Recommend this book highly!
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Review Summary: The Patriarchal Cult of Female Sexual Purity: Not for Modern Society |
Date: 2006-12-13 |
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Details: I received this book as a gift and read it out of curiosity to see what the Christian fundamentalist community had to say about sex.
I'm continually astounded that contemporary people fail to comprehend the significance of the social and historical contexts in which the Old and New Testament were written. The concept of female sexual purity, while marketed as a moral injunction, is in actuality merely a way of insuring legitimacy of offspring in an era when people had no access to birth control, did not understand female fertility and the concept of once-monthly silent ovulation, and had only a rudimentary grasp of the mechanics of conception - conflated with religious law.
The one-size-fits-all, "just say no" approach to human sexuality, while appropriate for minor children whose moral development, discernement, and life-experiences have not caught up developmentally with their fertile physiologies is a resounding non-answer to adults, who must either marry, or by default be automatically condemned to a sexless life of involuntary celibacy - or suffer "automatic damnation" should they elect to experience a healthy, adult sexuality outside of marriage.
It is virtually impossible to cultivate a healthy realtionship to one's burgeoning sexuality, neither unduly mystifying it nor unduly profaning it, in a religious culture of arbitrary suppression, guilt, secrecy and shame based on anitquated notions of female sexuality.
A marriage ceremony is not a permanent blanket endowment - but rather, a daily, ongoing process of re-dedication to the sacred intent of the relationship. Marriage in and of itself neither automatically "sanctifys" nor renders consensual each sexual encounter - our civil law recognizes that rape can occur even within marriage. Likewise, who may realistically deny the transcendent deep communion and love which may be present between those who are unmarried ?
Didn't someone famous say "Let those who are without sin cast the first stone ?" ...
As for the author, the writing is clumsy and the observations are trite and puerile. I was curious about her qualifications and was appalled: no formal theological education, no background in counselling or marital therapy - in short, the awkwardly-written exhortations and opinions of one woman. How did this get published ?
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Review Summary: The power of purity ... |
Date: 2006-12-04 |
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Details:
This book is about:
How to gain freedom from all the lies you've been told about your sexuality.
And since author Lisa Bevere is very well able to speak for herself, I will let her:
"And why, why, why would I write a book on the virtues of sexual purity when it appears nobody is really interested or listening? And to whom would I write? In answer, this book is for daughters in waiting. It is for mothers to remember. It is for every fallen one who longs to be lifted. And it is for those who've kept themselves, to know and fully realize their reward and be encouraged to remain strong.
"This book is a letter from a generation of mothers and mentors who have known regret, to the daughters of this generation that they might be kept from our failures, and inherit the promises and not the pain. It is a tool for mothers who feel they can't tell their daughters no because years ago they themselves said yes.
"This is not a book of do's and dont's ... it is a book of restoration. A glimpse at how God sees things, a revelation of His original intent. Some might call it an impossible fairy tale, but I believe it can be true. Rules will never set us free, just as fear and control will never keep us safe. It is truth that frees us, one that looms larger than all the lies presently surrounding us. Truth is the dawning of morning where there has been a gross and long night of darkness filled with horrible disappointment and despair ....
"Why have I told you this? Because I believe God wants to tell you a bedtime story, to rock back to sleep what's been so rudely awakened. One to softly lull passions back to a place of waiting and resting in slumber, a story to restore to a dreamlike state what was awakened before its time. A place where fears are calmed and hope is restored. A haven where shame is not permitted, and everything is fresh, new, and clean as flowers after a spring rain."
-- pp. 10-11
This book, if you let it, will take you on a journey from shame to restoration.
And that's the power of purity & a clean heart -- which only God can provide to the fallen, amen. |
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out of 29 Reviews
