Need help discussing personal purity, sexuality, and entertainment choices with your teen? I found an insightful new resource to share with you and it’s one that will shift how you and your high schooler engage with television and movies from this point forward.
*This is a sponsored post and I received complimentary access to this course for review purposes. As always, I was not required to write a positive review and all opinions are my own. You can see my full disclosure for any additional information.*
My husband and I are old millennials who both grew up in evangelical churches. Because of that, discussions about purity, sexuality, and entertainment all happened within the walls of our churches instead of our homes. In fact, sharing this with you now takes me back to the days of True Love Waits pledge cards.
Anyone else remember the pledge ceremonies from the 90s?
In addition to True Love Waits, the purity focus within Christian culture at that time also left us with the “input, output, what goes in is what comes out” cliche. That meant the media we allowed to enter our minds and hearts would be reflected in our words and actions.
True Love Waits and Input, Output aren’t bad messages on their own, but they’ve left us looking for more when it comes to parenting our own children and equipping them to make biblically sound decisions about engaging with culture.
That’s why a course called Personal Purity Isn’t Enough: The Long-Forgotten Secret to Making Scriptural Entertainment Choices grabbed my attention so quickly.
Navigating Sexuality and Entertainment with Personal Purity Isn’t Enough
Created by author and teacher Cap Stewart, Personal Purity Isn’t Enough is a self-paced online course that teaches Christian teenagers how to navigate the highly sexualized entertainment options that are so readily available today.
This happens through ten lessons that each include a video introduction, audio teachings and corresponding transcript, questions and scripture references for discussion and meditation, and a movie recommendation.
More Course Specifics
Before I jump into my big takeaway from the course, here are a few logistical things to note about Personal Purity Isn’t Enough:
- The course is suggested for ages 15 and up. While it can absolutely be beneficial for Christian adults of any age, I think it’s unwise to introduce this course to teens younger than the recommended age due to the nature of the conversations happening within it.
- This is *NOT* an anti-Hollywood message; it’s a love your neighbor message. There’s no call to boycott all the things produced by whatever network currently has Christians on Facebook riled up. In other words, it focuses on our behaviors as Christian consumers rather than the entertainment options available to us.
- Some of the movie recommendations have an R-rating, but not because of sexual content. Stewart is intentional with the selections and explains the recommendations in detail at the end of each lesson. You’ll want to keep that in mind when deciding if you want to view the movies with your teen.
- The course can be used by individuals, with an accountability partner, or with a small group. There are separate pricing plans for all three.
A New Outlook on Personal Purity, Sexuality, and the Entertainment Industry
That all sounds great on the surface, right? I mean, all Christian parents want their teenagers to avoid oversexed TV shows, movies, and even worse, straight up pornography.
But here’s the thing: the Personal Purity Isn’t Enough course goes far beyond knowing when to skip a scene or how to control lust. It’s not a replacement for or an updated version of the True Love Waits and Input, Output conversations I heard in my youth group days. It’s a completely different outlook on consuming entertainment as a Christian.
Loving Our Neighbors
My son is a little under the recommended age for the course, but I worked through it myself so I can gauge when it might be appropriate for him. Before I ended the first lesson, I realized I have always made my viewing decisions about me.
I never considered how scenes or episodes I’ve skipped (and sometimes not skipped) over the years affected the actors and actresses on display.
Don’t get me wrong. There’s great value in keeping whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, and whatever is admirable front and center in the streaming queues, but the conversation on sexuality and entertainment can’t stop there.
Personal Purity Isn’t Enough is a valuable tool for discussing sex and entertainment with teens because it not only addresses how sex-filled media content affects our Christian walks, but also how the content affects our neighbors in the entertainment industry.
Friend, personal purity isn’t enough for us or our teens.
We can’t love our neighbors while consuming content that made them feel vulnerable, exposed, ashamed, or scared while working to produce it. That’s the unique outlook this course provides and, while I’ve never before seen anything referencing this component in discussions about purity, sex, and media, I now realize it’s needed now more than ever.
Start the Conversation on Sexuality and Entertainment in Your Home
Ready to learn more? Get all the details about Personal Purity Isn’t Enough and preview a lesson through the button below:
Save 40% off course enrollment!
Use the coupon code Homeschool to save a generous 40% off enrollment, which brings the cost down to $29. (The code is only valid through December 25, 2020; don’t miss out!)
In closing, I happily recommend Cap Stewart’s Personal Purity Isn’t Enough course for parents who are looking to add a new perspective to the sex and entertainment discussion.
Every lesson serves as a valuable reminder that our entertainment choices don’t merely impact us as consumers and a call to love all of our neighbors well.