In today’s climate, it is easy to see that chastity is not valued. Movies, TV shows and books are loaded with sex. For many, waiting until marriage to have sex seems outdated and puritanical.
The #Me Too movement has focused a spotlight on our sexual mores. Yet, the problem didn’t begin yesterday. The erosion of our attitude toward being chaste has evolved over time. Now, a local group, Universal Chastity Education, is hoping to refocus our thinking on chastity and the benefits of being chaste.
UCE plans a “Chastity Heals” event beginning at 6 p.m. Dec. 1 at St. Paul the Apostle Church, 1132 W. Oro Grande Drive in Pueblo West. The event begins with a 6 p.m. soup supper, featuring speaker Dr. Kim Dernovsek, one of the UCE’s founders. She will talk about her experiences in helping to reduce the numbers of AIDS/HIV victims in Uganda, Burundi and Tanzania through the teaching of abstinence programs.
Following Dernovsek’s talk, from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., a prayer vigil will be held. Although the event is being held in a Catholic church, it is open to all denominations. “We want this to be a time for the Christian community to come together very humbly in the spirit of repentantness to examine our lives and ask for God’s grace for us to live the way we should live and pray for all of our leadership of all our churches,” said Lynn Gimlin, a UCE board member.
“This is not just one denomination. This is not Protestant, not Catholic. We’re coming together as a Christian community to seek grace on this issue.” To reserve seats or group table at the supper and/or to sign up for an hour of prayer in the chapel, contact Sarah Smith 248-8828 (call or text) or by email: contact@uceglobal.org.
The choice
To many, living a chaste life, especially for younger individuals, seems like the toughest of roads. In reality, it makes life easier. Sex before marriage comes with great risks:
Sexually transmitted diseases are on the rise and are risky to one’s health. It has been estimated that 65 million people in the United States live with an incurable STD. Another study reported that one in four Americans has genital herpes.
Pregnancy is another issue that becomes a concern when couples are having sex before marriage. Most contraceptives are not as safe as people think they are. Condoms promise a 97 percent chance of success in preventing pregnancy. That is for perfect use. In reality, they are only around 85 percent effective. Unwanted pregnancies can cause great complications to the lives not only of the adults, but the child, as well. Divorces often occur because of sex outside of marriage. Chastity can help with all of those problems, said Dr. Ken Dernovsek, UCE founder. “Being chaste will prevent many of the reasons for marriages breaking up and dissolving,” Ken Dernovsek said. “If we really are chaste, both as individuals and then to our greater society, that helps to deal with all the issues, so that they don’t become issues.”
Developing good habits
Chastity is different in different stages of our lives, Dernovsek said.
“In the case of a young person with all their hormones raging, it may be difficult,” Dernovsek said. “They have all the issues of those around them, the internet with pornography. That’s something, if they develop good discipline at that time, it holds them in good stead throughout the rest of their lives. “If you’ve already established that (chaste behavior) in your life, it makes it easier to not have problems in the future.” It’s as easy as “ABC,” according to Dernovsek. “Abstinence, be faithful through Christ, that’s our ABC,” Dernovsek said. Dernovsek said living a chaste life involves more than sex. “What is chastity?” Dernovsek asked. “It’s a term that people, a lot of times, don’t understand. It’s purity in body, in mind, in heart and in spirit. It really is something that is, if we embrace it as individuals and as a society, removes a lot of the problems that we’re having to deal with.”
Dernovsek said the “Chastity Heals” event will encourage us to look inward and, hopefully, follow the path that God has taught us. “We will talk about and pray about what’s best,” Dernovsek said. “Like anything else, in business, sports, you do what’s the best practice. What’s the best practice for our sexuality? It’s chastity.”
Dernovsek often reads a statement from one of the UCE’s first directors in Africa: “Many people speak of making love without realizing that we cannot make love. God himself is love. We can only love in his love and in accord with his design. In chastity a person strives for a mastery of feelings and passions and takes responsibility for actions. Chastity gives great freedom. Freedom from slavery to passions, freedom from any sexually transmitted diseases, freedom from painful memories or past relationships.”
Gimlin said there is a need for us as Christians to “pray for ourselves. That we will be right. That we will live right. “This is what God has taught us. Come together and ask his power. To live the way we’re supposed to live. To seek his faith with grace. To turn away from anything that we need to turn away from. Repentant of sins. Start living with chastity throughout the rest of our lives.” Even for those whose lives haven’t been chaste up to now, there is hope. “Our God is a forgiving God,” Dernovsek said. “Ask him for forgiveness and he forgives. Because of that, tomorrow is the first day of the rest of your life.”
Prayer vigil
The aim of the UCE organizers is to have every hour of the night covered by those who will pray.“One thing we’re going to have there for people is different things people can pray about,” Dernovsek said. “One of them is a list of all the churches in Pueblo.” Another item people can pray for, Gimlin said, is the willingness to heed the message. “We need to pray that we have the humility to hear the message and not complain about it, because it is the truth,” she said.
Source: https://www.chieftain.com/entertainmentlife/20181126/choosing-chastity