by Danielle Zinn

Created on: April 13, 2009

The value of purity has lowered in our world over time. People continually discover new ways to compromise it and find ways around it. The problem of devaluing purity is not only found in relationships but also in food, resources, and intentions. What is purity? According to "Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary" purity is defined as "the quality or state of being pure" and when a substance is referred to as pure, it can also be known as, " spotless, unmixed with any other matter, characterized by no appreciable alteration, marked by chastity, and containing nothing that does not properly belong." Some synonyms of pure are: innocent, guiltless, unblemished, chaste, clean, uncorrupted, unmixed, and genuine. What does the Bible, specifically the book of Proverbs have to say about purity? Proverbs talks about the value purity has or should have in our world.

In Proverbs 15:26, Solomon (the author of the book of Proverbs) mentions the fact that God hates the thoughts of the wicked people, but the thoughts of the pure please him. This encourages us, as believers, to strive to become pure. We are called to think pure thoughts. This command is given to us in Philippians 4:8 by Paul. It says, "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is pure, think about such things." So, as children of God, we need to cling to purity and not shrug it off as an old command, but one that we should be abiding under even now.

The next Proverb that talks about purity is in chapter 20 verse 9. The point of this verse, I believe, is to make it clear that there is no one who is pure and without sin. In Romans 3:23 it states that, "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." The connecting theme in these two verses is that all people, everyone, but Jesus has sinned and no man is pure, so we should not label ourselves as having obtained or reached a point of purity, because every one has sinned at one point or another in his life.

Proverbs 20:11 talks of how our actions define us. One way they define us is through our actions. If our actions are pure and right, then we also as people are pure and upright people. So the same would count for the negative descriptions as well, if our actions are mean and angry or evil and corrupt then we would be labeled as mean, angry, evil and corrupt people.

The word innocent' is used in Proverbs 21:8, but because it is a synonym of pure' we will substitute it, just like in a math problem. The main idea of purity in this proverb is that the actions

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