So, uh, purity. Purity. We're talking about purity today.
We've been waiting for this one, huh? Yeah, we've been waiting and they've been waiting. Hey guys, I'm Angela. Hey guys, I'm Mari.
And this is Girls Gone Bible. We're a faith-based podcast where we talk about Jesus and... God and the Bible and life and mental health. And we don't usually talk about sex, but today is a different type of day. So we just want to start out with saying not that this is going to be a graphic episode in any way, but this is a topic around sexual immorality as the Bible would describe it and purity and abstaining.
And so if you are a parent and usually listen with your kids or you are in high school or... Middle school, I don't know, ask your parents, but I just want to give that before starting. You know, this is somewhat of a difficult topic for us to talk about.
It's really personal, and fortunately, we found a video that kind of sums up everything that we've been experiencing and, you know, everything that we've gone through up until now and where we're at now. And so it better explains where we're at than we could. So play the clip. God has brought me a mighty long way. You looking at a miracle.
I haven't had no say. Okay you guys, hi! Let's actually get into today's episode. So what's up, Mar? What's up?
I don't know, you guys, it's 7 p.m. 7 30, almost 8 o'clock at night. We've never filmed late, this late in the day before. Yeah, at this time we're usually making necklaces out of gum.
After, what is it, 6 p.m., her and I are just, we're done. We're, like, in bed. Like, we act like we're 12 years old. Angela makes legit necklaces with gum.
She's like. It's not okay. We lose it after, at nighttime. So this is definitely. I can't believe we're filming right now.
I know, and I can't believe what we're filming. Guys, this is our most asked about topic ever. Purity. Sexual immorality, sex before marriage. I don't know where to start and I just want to preface this by saying I used to be such a private person that I wouldn't even put captions on my photos because I felt like that was too much of a look into my brain and now I'm gonna come on and talk about my sex life or lack thereof too.
I know, but it's you know what I we really wanted to wait. and make sure the time was right to really do this episode. And I'm actually really excited because I think it's one of the most important topics when you're on your journey with Jesus.
Absolutely. I mean, for Ari and I, this has been the most pivotal, transformative part of our whole faith walk. And you guys, every week, can you guys talk about sexual immorality?
Can you talk about sex reform? And we're just like... Hey, okay, yes we will. It's, and you know, let's just get into it, okay? Let's just, okay, first we're gonna be reading out of 1 Corinthians chapter 6. We don't even, we haven't, we haven't really, how was your week?
You know, the people want to know. Oh, we had Easter. Yeah, how was your Easter, Ange? It was amazing. Since it wasn't with me.
I know, we actually didn't spend this Easter together, which is crazy. We spent it together last year. I was with my family in Florida. We had a great time.
Yeah, we just, I went to church every single day for a week. You really did. I said, what are you going to church for today? You said, they bless the food.
I said, who? I know, the Catholic Church. So my family, obviously they are super Catholic, and I love the Catholic Church, and I love going to Mass, especially like on holidays and on Easter.
And so, but I didn't know that they really go all out, and they were having something every day. I was there every day. It was a lot of fun. How was Boston? Honestly, it was so nice.
I got my mom to come to church and it was really, really nice. It was really cool to have all my friends and my mom and dad at church together. It was the first year where we were all at church together.
That's beautiful. I had a moment where I was just looking at them and I said, thank you, Jesus. Look what you did.
That's incredible, though. You really rallied everyone. Yeah, two years ago, I would not have been able to get my mom to church, so it was a really beautiful morning. Let's go, Birdie. That's my girl.
Okay, anyways, sex. I'm just kidding. Sexual immorality.
We're going to be reading from 1 Corinthians 6, starting at verse 12. Avoiding sexual sin. You say, I am allowed to do anything, but not everything is good for you. And even though I'm allowed to do anything, I must not become a slave to anything.
You say food was made for the stomach, and the stomach for food. This is true, though someday God will do away with both of them. But you can't say that our bodies were made for sexual immorality.
They were made for the Lord, and the Lord cares about our bodies. And God will raise us from the dead by His power. just as he raised our Lord from the dead. Don't you realize that your bodies are actually parts of Christ?
Should a man take his body, which is part of Christ, and join it to a prostitute? Never. And don't you realize that if a man joins himself to a prostitute, he becomes one body with her?
For the scripture says, the two are united into one, but the person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him. Run from sexual sin. No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. Don't you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God?
You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body. Man, that's good.
So the whole... book of Corinthians. So Paul is writing to the church of Corinth because at this time, basically the church of Corinth was, they were absolutely buck wild, full of sexual immorality, worshiping idols, but not just like having sex outside of marriage. They were doing like very perverted, gross, weird things.
They had completely lost it. And so all of this is talking to them and obviously encouraging them to turn and repent from the things that they're doing. And he's making it so clear that sexual sin is literally the worst sin that you can do against yourself it's the only sin that is against your own body and it is so harmful to you and in the culture we live in people have no idea ari and i once didn't have an idea like we have now so i think the one thing that we should do is we should just get into it and just share our hearts and you know we've come this far telling everything here we go again Can you please go first? No, it's you today. You want me to go first?
Um, okay. Um, no, I... Really? You want me to go first?
Yeah. Okay. Well, okay. No, I'm just trying to think of...okay, so... I...
Okay. Just give me a minute. Okay, this is really vulnerable.
It's really hard. Um, no, I'll go first. Okay, so... Nothing is funny. I want you guys to understand, if you see us laughing throughout this thing, it's because we're uncomfortable.
I can't even... I did not know I was actually going to feel this uncomfortable, because in my normal life, I have... No shame.
I'm very open about where I've been and where I'm compared to where I'm at, because all it does is bring more glory to Jesus. So, you know, me and you have been on this journey together and it's been truly the most beautiful journey ever getting to grow together and, you know, living in purity together. It's just been watching you and I'm sure you watching me on this. It's great. No, it's just been, it's been, honestly, it's been hard, but it's been so beautiful.
Why don't you start by telling us, because I honestly don't know if I know the whole story, what... What was the pivotal point for you? Yeah. Okay, so I guess we should make it clear that Ari and I, once we're living a life where purity was not in our lives by any means.
And I'm just going to be completely honest in saying, so while Ari and I, you guys know this, we grew up Catholic. We went to Catholic. I went to Catholic school my whole life.
All the things, my family, my mom is a spirit-filled Catholic who loves Jesus with her whole heart. the biblical principle of abstaining from sex before marriage was so not even in my hemisphere of anything I think it's really important for people because Ari and I have been spending a lot of time in like the bible belt recently and we have so many incredible friends from the Christian community we have so many friends who save themselves for marriage who are virgins before their whole life until they got married and that is the most beautiful honorable you Like it is, it truly like brings me to my knees how beautiful that is and how faithful they are to God in that. However, not however, and at the same time, that is honestly a small part of the world that is like that and thinks like that. Most of the world, purity is weird. Abstaining from sex is weird.
I love Jesus my whole life. I thought people who saved themselves for marriage were weird. Oh.
I'm not kidding you. I know. A year and a half ago, I looked, I actually met a couple and I said to myself, what is wrong with them? I know.
They're saving themselves. That's what's the whole point of a relationship then. I know.
I was so foreign to me. I literally thought it was bizarre. Yeah.
So I think it's, I love that you say that. I think it's important for people to know that when you don't know something, there is no shame in it. Because most of us don't know. When you're not. in the super Christian culture, that's not going to be something that's in your, in your world.
And it wasn't for us. It wasn't for me at all. In fact, like, I just, sorry, it's, it's okay.
I'm trying to figure out what, so. Yeah. And, and, and I just want to say something too, when you don't have God in your life, it's like, you almost have a hardened heart.
I didn't, I was so closed off. I had no idea. Anyway. So when, what, so. What, like, can I ask you, what was like the moment where you were like, I can't do this anymore?
And so you basically, so you did, you basically never felt conviction when you, because you've been, you've had Jesus your whole life, but you really started getting close to God. It was about four years ago where you really were starting to submit yourself, right? Yeah.
And so. Did you feel conviction during that time, like around four years ago? That's such a good question. So this is what I felt. Because even after I started reading the Bible, I'm sure that I felt conviction.
Because so my whole thing, and I know that you're in the same boat, was like, if you're in a relationship, it's fine. If you're not in a relationship, it's not good. So I... It's just so funny to have come into this whole world and have my whole life flipped upside down because I had gone my whole life being relatively a good girl. That's what I was always known as and being quite innocent to the world.
And so whenever I was, I remember when I would be in a relationship, no, I wouldn't feel conviction. But I also didn't have any community around me to show me that that was wrong. I couldn't have conviction for something that. I did not feel was wrong. And I believed I read the Bible and I believed the Bible and I loved the word.
But this was the one area that I thought a thousand percent I would never submit to God because I would it did not seem possible. It did not seem plausible. And I simply just didn't want to because I thought it was weird. I thought it didn't make sense. So going off your question, it's not that I felt conviction when I was when I, you know, was partaking in these things.
But what I did feel was I knew the spiritual repercussions of having sex before marriage because I felt them in my spiritual life. So there was a lack of fear of the Lord that I had. So that was the reason why I wouldn't submit that area.
However, I did know that, like, for example, if I would be in a relationship and me and that person would break up. there would be a part of me that would be so relieved because I would be like, OK, cool, I can be celibate now. You know what I mean?
Oh, wow. That's interesting. So I knew it was bad for me. Yeah. But it.
I didn't know that it was hurting Jesus. You know what I mean? I knew it separated me from God.
I knew these things. But again, I was living in the world so much, like I was in the world fully, completely. I didn't have one Christian friend and I'm reading the Bible and I'm seeing what he's saying.
But again, like when you, we'll get into it the moment that it happened, but it wasn't until we got some Christian friends that confronted us with the lifestyle we were living that we were like, this is crazy. But the moment that I, so it had been a couple of years that I was like, oh, I know something's not right. I know this doesn't.
You felt it. Oh, yeah. And then I did start to have conviction. Yeah.
But not conviction like, oh, I feel ashamed. I would be like, I'm anxious. I know that I've opened a door.
I know that I've let, you know, demonic oppression in through this area of having sex before marriage. And then so Ari and I met. basically and you know we go on this journey together and of course we're still the only Christian friends that we have and it's like everything in our lives started to change except this one area and then how did we get there and then okay so we start the podcast right and this is we should get into ministry and this is still an area of our lives that we did not ever think we would ever stop this situation.
You know what I mean? And I still wasn't fully convicted when I first started. I know me neither. Yeah. I was, it's so weird.
I was, but again, I really think it was the lack of the fear of God that I was just like, yes, I know what he says, but he loves me so much that it's okay. And I'm still, I rack my brain all day trying to figure out how I was so close to Jesus and I was still able to do these things. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. And then, I mean, I think you should take it over.
Yeah, so I really didn't. I think I looked at God as like he was a God of grace and he was a God of love. But I didn't know that he was like a father who is a God that we have to fear.
And so I was like really submitted and I was really. I just started to read and learn and it wasn't even that I was like reading about sexual sin a lot. It was something that I felt like I, I, how do I put this? I was, this is so vulnerable.
Holy moly. I know. Okay.
Okay. That's okay. Jesus.
Let me just pray real quick. This is the most nervous I've ever been. Don't be nervous.
I know. It's really. vulnerable i know but you have nothing to be nervous about no no you can be i know no um so i think what happened was i was watching what he did i was seeing the rapid miracles and changes he was doing in my life and how he had changed my life so quickly because i was I'm being obedient.
And because I was so, um, I was, I was so submitted to him and because I was constantly running to him and I had this beautiful relationship with him and I'm watching what he's doing in my life, but, and I'm, and I'm doing the right thing, but then I'm going and doing, I'm like, I was like almost picking and choosing what I wanted to do. That's what I was doing. And so it.
I'm not even kidding you. It was, it's, he started planting the seed in me because in my head, I thought, well, I'm in a relationship and, and it's okay. I'm not just, I'm not sleeping around.
I've, I've never done that. I've always been in relationships, but I could, I was, I was getting signs. Like I felt it in my gut.
And then I'll never forget. We went to, uh, um, we were in church one day and it was Pastor Torrey. And he said, you know, he was talking about laying down the sexual sin. That's when I'll never forget.
get that sermon. That's when it started. And he said, you know, I'm just, I didn't think I was doing anything wrong. And then he just talked about, and then one day I just knew and I had to lay it down and I, I couldn't lay it down on my own.
So I ran to him. I said, God, I need your help. And that's sort of the way I was like, I knew I could, I couldn't do it on my own because I, I was, I don't know.
I just. It was something that's been a part of my life and my relationship and intimacy with my partner was a way that I found love. If I'm being completely vulnerable and honest. So I didn't know that you could just connect to your partner without that. And so I think what really made me say I have to lay this down is fear.
Is fear of him because I heard him so loudly be like... you follow me or you don't follow me at all. And so, so I just, and the thing is, is like, He is so, he gives us so much grace and he gave me so much grace, but I couldn't, I couldn't sit on here and talk and have one foot in and one foot out anymore.
I was sick. Like I started to feel really sick about it. And so I just knew it was like one day I was like, I can't, I can't do this anymore.
Like I have people. I have young people that are looking up to me and that are following me and that want to be like me and that are listening to me and actually respect me. I have to live a wholly respectable life.
And there were moments where I thought to myself, I'm never going to be able. How am I ever going to be able to do this? Just just just lay all this down. But I because I feared him so much. And there's a difference between.
fearing the Lord and being scared of the Lord. Fearing the Lord means you run to him because you can't do it by your own power. So you run to him and say, Jesus, I can't do this on my own.
I need you to fill me up with the Holy Spirit. I need you to take it out of me. Take the lust out of me. Give me a clean, new, pure heart.
And boy, will he. You think that it's impossible. And I'm telling you, the way I live holy and just in clean is, is. is so, it's just so, I, I, it's, it's not hard.
It's not as hard as you think it is. And so, yeah, that was the day I, I, I laid it down. So beautiful.
I mean, I have watching you in this situation. I mean, Ari's obedience. So I, I do want to preface this by saying that like, you know, Ari and I started the podcast and then it was literally, truly like a couple episodes in. The massive transformation in our life literally happened in the span of like the first few episodes where we simply could not live. I mean, it happened so quick, I think, because my whole thing is about the fear of fear of the Lord as well.
That's where my life changed in this area, too. OK, so I was starting to feel that way. Right.
And then we we we meet these Christian friends. And so I'm feeling convicted as I was in my relationship and doing it. And then we go, we meet these Christian friends and we're sitting with them. And what did they say?
They were like, you can't call yourself, you can't call yourself a true follower. You can't call yourself a true Christian if you're, if you're, you know, committing sin and you're having sex when you're not married. Yeah.
And. I will never forget that moment when she said that and it was like a slap in my face and I remember sitting there at dinner and I couldn't even hear anything my whole body went numb and I was just sitting there being like how could she she's sitting there like who is she to who is she to say that and she didn't know that we were whatever but she was just speaking and you know what that was the best thing that she could have said to me in that moment. And I'll never forget getting in the car.
And that was sometimes you have to be told, you have to be slapped in the face with the truth, even if it hurts, even if it's harsh, because that in that moment, I was like, oh my gosh, she's right. You can't call yourself a true follower of Christ when you're sitting there going to church. I love Jesus.
I have this beautiful relationship with Jesus. And then you're going out and you're having sex and you're committing sin. That's not a true follower of Christ. A thousand percent. And that was the moment where I was like, that's it.
And I never looked back. That's why it is so important to have godly people in your life and not be surrounding yourself with people of the world. Amen.
Worldly people. Yeah. That moves right into...
When, because our stories in this are so interconnected because, as I was saying before, I was always able to kind of just the way that you were, I was able to pick and choose what part of the Bible I wanted to live by. And it was usually the parts that were good for me and benefited my life and were, you know, didn't, you know, cause me any like nuisance in any way. And. There, this topic, just specifically on sex, because I was laying things down left and right, and I was so obedient to God, and I heard his voice so clearly. But this one area of, of, you know, sex before marriage and sex, sexual sin was, my heart was so hardened to it.
Like, I would be listening to a sermon, and I'm like a sponge when I'm hearing about Jesus. Like, my heart is just wide open. And I swear, if someone mentioned sex or, you know, abstaining from sex immediately, I would close up, and I'd be like, that's I respected it like I loved it for other people I was like that's great for them and I hope that they fall away because I care and because I know it's good for them I knew but I was like but for me absolutely not um and it's just so many like truly the enemy will convince you of such crazy the craziest things telling me that this isn't possible for me that I would never do you well I'll get there but like While, yes, it was difficult in a lot of ways, it was also one of the easiest decisions I've ever made in my life. And I went so long thinking having the enemy talk to me crazy, telling me that this would be just impossible for me. It was a lie.
It was a lie completely. You think something is going to be hard, but then you're like, whoa, why is this so easy? So I'm in a relationship at the time.
And, you know. Ari is coming to this realization and I'm coming to it as well, but I am kind of masking it because I'm like, absolutely. I'm literally running from God. He's pressing in and he's pressing in.
And I'm just like, no, no, no, no, no, no. I, I'm having, I'm feeling the same things that you are, but I'm almost like pretending like I'm not because I couldn't face it. And there was, um, a moment where like, so at this point you had kind of been like, I can't, like, I can't, I can't like this is we can't this can't happen anymore and I'm like that's really great for you Ari I'm so happy for you well I'm not there and then so I'm I'm sitting here and and you know I'm in I'm in this relationship and Ari and I I'll never forget it just like that girl spoke to us that day and it and it changed something in you you spoke to me that day and God spoke through you to me slapped me in the face you said something Because we're on the way to the gym, it's like nine o'clock in the morning, and I'm telling you about a story about something that whatever, you know, and I'm like telling you this story just so nonchalantly, I'm telling you this story about sin, like it's nothing, which is just so crazy to think about now. And you looked at me and you said, not judgmental, not mean, not like truly, she just said it just she was genuinely curious.
She goes, It's so crazy that you're so close to Jesus and you don't feel any conviction for this. And I went, I'll never forget it. I like truly everything in my body went numb. I heard it so loud and clearly.
I just went, what am I thinking? Who do I think I am? What am I doing? How can I? I'm boasting in the Lord.
I take so much pride in my relationship with Jesus. And I'm doing the very thing that like. It's not, it's hurting him. It's hurting me.
It's hurting everybody. Like, I don't think I all like, I don't know if there's any sin that separates you from God more than having sex before marriage does. Anyways. So I go and I'm, I'm in a relationship and you know, luckily I start having a conversation with the person that I'm with and, and he actually, it's really incredible.
He actually met me. with the same thing. And he said, you know, actually, I feel like God's been talking to me about this as well. And so we're like kind of on the same page, but it doesn't end there. Right.
And then, so I don't know how much longer is whatever things are, whatever, God, this is the heart. I can't even put sentences together. I can't even explain what I feel.
Um, so good. And then, so I have this moment where I'm, it's like, Like probably it's like one o'clock in the morning and I'm watching TV. And this is how I know that God is speaking to me because it's not like I'm in a, and God is speaking to in a sermon as well, but it's not like I'm in a sermon watching Toray talk about sexual sin. I'm probably watching like Bachelor in Paradise at one o'clock in the morning, just like at the, looking at the TV by myself. And I just hear so clearly because at this point we're like, what, like a few episodes into Girls Gone Bible maybe.
And like Girls Gone Bible very quickly became our life, our love. The most important thing to us, aside from our relationship with Jesus, and like we're talking about having fear, you know, fear for the Lord, it's not until maybe... We were given something that we know could only be from God because anything else in our lives, any success in our lives or anything that we could boast in, um, in ourselves for like, we don't have to fear God for that. Cause we did that.
This is something we know this is from Jesus. We don't deserve to be sitting here. We had dirty hands and he gave us this thing and I don't know why. And I still don't know why.
And we're so grateful to him. Sorry. We're so like, so we're sitting there, I'm sitting there and I just hear him so clearly tell me, you know, I don't need you, right? And in that moment, I don't know how you would describe it spiritually. One day, maybe I'll be able to put words to it.
It's as if the scales were off my eyes. There was no, it was maybe it was deliverance in that moment. I had immediately thought.
You're absolutely right. There is no more. And from that second, I went, I had a conversation probably that night or the next morning with the person that I was dating. And I was like, oh, I'm actually serious now.
Like there's no more. And he was by the grace of God, absolutely on the same page. And we, we only dated for a little while longer, but we were completely successful in completely stopping it right there.
And yeah, it's crazy. It's really crazy. It is.
And you know what's funny? I watched back on the first couple of episodes that we were filming, and I still was severely depressed. And I had a relationship with him, and I still was, I had such a lack of peace.
I still was suffering immensely in my head, even when I was reading the Bible, and it's because of the sexual sin. A hundred percent. That's what it was. And the minute I laid it down.
Oh, I just, I want you guys to understand something. The way I, the way Angela and I both are now and, and just, it's like this like pureness and holiness. Yeah, man, it is unbelievable.
There is, there is no anxiety that sits right here. There is no more lack of peace. And it's like, People are wondering, well, I have Jesus and I'm reading the Bible and I'm doing everything right and I'm going to church.
But are you going home and are you still having sex with your boyfriend? Are you still doing, you know? I'm telling you, when you live knowing that God is watching and judging everything you're doing, it changes the way you live. Please, please, it changes the way you live.
And honestly, when I think about it, I think. Why would we want to have a father that's just full of love and grace? I know. We need some, we need, a good father is going to be strict. He's going to put you in your place.
He's going to judge you. He's going to commend you. He's going to, what's the word?
He's going to... Convict? No, when he...
Condemn? Condemn. No, he doesn't condemn.
No, he's going to, um, but he teaches you a lesson. Discipline? Yes.
He's going to discipline you and teach you lessons when you, when you don't do the right thing. And so, um, he'll give you grace, but when you know, when you know better and you still don't do better, it, you're going to live a very, very dark, um, a life that has no peace in it. Absolutely.
Well, just like how you're talking about, you know, I mean, you can literally see in photos and in videos and you can see in our eyes that there's um uh there's not the same purity that we may have today in our eyes like i think about during this is the thing about all of it and and i just want you guys to understand ggb gang first of all we are not here to tell why do you think we always say hey we're right with you we have no place to judge you this is not a place for judgment or condemnation we want to tell you guys this because this has drastically improved our lives like you wouldn't believe and we'll we'll get into all the ways that it did but when I was living a certain way and being a certain way this is kind of where I was at with it I and I know so many people are on the same page with me as this that I didn't think because I used to be a provocative sexual person and when I was this way I didn't think that I was contributing to evil in any way. I didn't look at lust and sexuality and sensuality and provocativeness. Like I didn't see that as being a bad thing.
I thought evil was being a bad person. I thought that evil was like lying, stealing and cheating and being mean to people. And I know that I don't do any of these things.
I'm a good person. I'm not contributing to evil because I'm sexually expressive. These are all lies from the enemy.
God. does not want that for us. God wants us to have clean hands and a pure heart. And acting in that way is simply... As countercultural as it is, and you know, we're here today to take a stand for purity.
We really are because we know that we're not doing it because the Christians are yelling at us in the comments. Like we're doing it because that's what God says. That's what he says in his word. And we've seen it play out in our lives, how much better our life is.
And the closer we are to Jesus, the more pure we are in heart, the less we think about these things, the less we act like this. Yeah, it's so true. That's exactly how I used to think. I used to be like, well, I'm a good person.
I mean, we're not hurting people like sex. It is, I didn't realize, oh, well, that's why I had such, that's why I was so depressed all the time. That's why my relationships were failing. That's why we're giving our bodies to people that there's a reason why God in his word, he says what he says.
There's a reason for it. He's not just, he doesn't want to punish us. He doesn't want us to just.
You know, he's not depriving us from, you know, fun and joy. He wants us to have that, but there's a reason why he wants us to wait. Yeah.
I was, I, as I look back and all those fun times I thought I was having and whatever, it led to death. Yeah. It led to just depression. I had no peace.
You know. Thank you for mentioning that it leads to death. Scripture says that the wages of sin is death, and I have never seen something play out harder from the Bible than that. Sin leads to death. What does that mean?
Death, having sex before marriage will bring death to your peace, death to your joy, death to your relationship with God, death to your spiritual life, death... to your ability to hear God's voice. Sin separates you from God.
I think about, I learned the most incredible and horrific thing when we're doing the Easter episode and the reason why Jesus said on the cross, Father, why have you forsaken me? And that's the first time that Jesus ever says that he is separate from the Father because he always says that they're one and they're together. And yes, he's quoting a Psalm from the Old Testament to prove that like, the prophecy is being fulfilled in him being the Messiah. But also in that moment when Jesus was on the cross, he became sin for us. And sin can't be with God.
And because he became sin, he was no longer with God. And that's why he says, why have you forsaken me? It's the only moment where Jesus felt separated from God.
That's exactly what happens to us when we commit sin, especially sexual sin. I will literally almost do experiments in my life to see how do I feel when I'm having sex versus how I feel when I'm not, which is so crazy to think. But like it was as if I needed to I knew I knew that there was a difference and I knew it would kill my spiritual life.
I wish I had. I told you about it. I had a journal entry where I was writing to God saying, being like, Jesus, I'm dead spiritually because of the sexual sin.
I don't know what to do. You know. And it's like we're sitting here having a pity party for ourselves and we're anxious and we're depressed and we're this.
And I do. I feel for you. I understand.
But if you're drinking, if you're doing drugs, if you're doing this, if you're doing that, if you're having sex before marriage, I'm sorry to tell you that is probably contributing to so much of you being unwell. I know. And honestly, it's like I want to give... I, we were there and that's why we're being hard with you guys. We want to give you guys grace, but we also have to kind of slap it in your face a little bit because you are truly, and I only say this because I lived it.
You are not going to see, you are not going to experience true fulfillment and life and peace if you are sinning. Yeah. And that's just the truth and hear it and change it.
And, and, and, you know, and you can be delivered from it, but listen. There are times where it is hard for me. I'm not going to lie. I sometimes struggle with it. It's not easy.
Let's be honest. Sometimes it's not easy. No, yes. Okay, let's be honest. We're not in relationships right now, so it's a little bit easy.
But I can only imagine that when you do get into a relationship, it can get tough. And that's why we have to constantly be in fear of the Lord. What does that mean?
Constantly running to Him, constantly getting on our hands and knees and saying, Jesus, this is hard. Can you help me? I need help. Take the loss out of my heart. He is such a good father.
I think that's why it's so easy for us, because we are constantly in relationship with him. We're constantly talking to him. Jesus, get this out of my heart.
Can you tell the story? You don't feel comfortable. You can cut it out. You had told me a story where you were like, I had, you're probably not going to want to say it.
Nevermind. Yeah, no, I can. I can lightly touch on it. And there was a moment where I was...
That's ridiculous. There was a moment where... I was feeling something.
No, stop. There was a moment where I was confronted with something, and I simply asked God to take it out. Listen, we don't have to be weird about it.
I asked God to take the lust out of my heart in a moment. I'll never forget it, because in that moment, I realized that when you call on God, He says in Scripture that there's no temptation that has ever overtaken man, and that... God will always provide a way of escape.
And if you call on Jesus, He will provide a way of escape for you. I asked Him to take the lust out of my heart in a moment, and in a moment He did, and it worked. And I knew in that moment that what I wanted or what I was feeling was not good because I asked Him to take it and He did, you know. But the fear of the Lord is the only way to resist temptation because you can love Jesus. all you want.
The scripture, Psalms 24, three to four, who may ascend the mountain of the Lord, who may stand in his holy place, the one who has clean hands and a pure heart. To ascend the mountain of the Lord means to get into God's presence. Having clean hands and a pure heart are two different things. Having clean hands means that you're not doing things, you're not acting on them, but purity starts in the heart. Just because you're a virgin doesn't mean that you're pure.
And virginity ends at marriage, whereas purity is forever. Purity is a destination that you reach. It's something that's ongoing for the rest of your life. You keep your heart pure.
And so the most important thing that you can do, especially before marriage, is to get this part of your life in order. And I'm so happy that we have because people think that when they get married, all of their... like temptation doesn't end when you get married. Like the enemy will send you some crazy things. Why do you think people cheat?
Nobody gets married. Most people with the intention to eventually cheat. Things just happen.
Things get muddled. You get, it says in scripture that you must flee from temptation. Like don't try to fight it.
Don't try to call it, you know, flee, run away from it. And that's what we're doing. We set such strict boundaries on our lives. We know what's okay and what's not laying up with a man. is not okay. Spend it like doing all this stuff is not okay.
I'm going to actually sound like a really kooky Christian and I don't care because, you know, I'm cool, but I'm tell you, there are things that I seriously just don't do anymore. And where I used to make fun of people, I understand now because we are unfortunately living in a very, like we're living in a, in a, in a weird world right now. Everything is sexual.
everything. I don't watch certain movies anymore. I'm telling you.
I don't watch anything. I don't either. I watched a movie a couple weeks ago and there were multiple sex scenes and it's just.
I can't believe it. I can't believe us. I can't believe I'm saying this.
I can't watch sex scenes. No, but honestly, and you know what's so funny? I'm watching the sex scene and I'm thinking, I'm not even married. Why? are they promoting this?
But it's true. It's like, can you blame the world? That's what we're glorifying.
Every single movie they're, they're 16, 17 years old. They're having sex where we're, we're, we're living in a culture with, with, um, new age feminism talking about, uh, do you do what you want? It's, it's our body hook up with whoever you want. And that's not even the way women are supposed to be.
We are living in such scary times. I was actually living with a bunch of, what are they called? Heathens?
Nephidite? Nephilim? Nephilim?
I don't think so. How do you say it? Hermaphidites?
No, Genesis. Nephilim? Nephilim? There's a bunch of nuts here.
But no, we really are. It's really hard. I'm telling you, I and me and you both. I live in a bubble. I don't want to be in that world.
And that's why we have to be so careful with where we go, places where we're going into, things we're watching, music we're listening to. And I hope I don't sound like, you know, a little dorky, but it's true. We have to. I'm telling you, I am, you can't, you can't tempt me.
Like I'm very, you, I can't be swayed. Let me tell you something. I'm hanging out with the wrong crowd and I'm like going places. I will be you, anyone, any of us will be tempted. We have to be so careful.
You have to. You have to because we can all be swayed. Matthew 5, 28 says, But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
It all starts in the heart. That's why you have to be so unbelievably careful. I know we say your gits and eye gaits. It's true. I'm telling you, I listen to much of the wrong music.
You can find me acting up, you know, like truly. I will start like feeling different. I can't, I have not, and I don't care if people think I'm weird.
I won't watch sex scenes. I can't. I think it's weird. I think it's disgusting. I'm like, first of all, I've always hated sex scenes in general in movies even before.
I used to. hate them because I thought it was so distracting. I honestly think it ruins cinema. I think it's distracting. I don't think it ever, I've never seen a sex scene add or move or like contribute to a storyline in a good way.
Like I just, I hate it. But anyways, just like you're saying, it's all so sexual. Everything is so sexual. The people, Instagram is so sexual, like everything.
And I hate to say that I was at one point somebody who contributed to that. I hate. that so much.
I simply didn't know. Like, I really didn't. I did not know that Matthew 5, 8 says that blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God.
Yeah. I can't tell you guys what my relationship with Jesus is like now compared to when I was having sex before marriage. Blessed is the pure in heart for they will see God. We see him, like we literally, sometimes like when we're, it's as if he's here with us in the room, like that's how close we are.
We see him like that because our hearts are pure. And if we, if where our hearts are impure, people say all the time, like, why can't I hear God? Why can't I see him? And I'm always thinking like there's something that is, that is standing between you guys. There's some sort of impurity that's stopping you from seeing God like that.
You know, I love that you say that because I think about my life right now. And honestly, like I never want to act like my life is perfect, but my life is pretty, pretty. I never thought I could live a life of bliss and peace. And I truly do every single day. And it's because we're living in holy.
We're holy. We're living in purity. So when you are really following, being a follower of him and doing things right, He has you in the palm of his hand.
You can't, you're so connected to him. I always just say, I'm like, I just feel so protected by him. Like I'm in this, it's like I'm in this protectance of him.
I look at my life before and I would always have really weird, demonic, just weird things happening in my life. Nothing ever went right. I was always just kind of flowing through life.
So true. And it's because I was living the ways of the world. And when you're truly being a follower of Christ, his hand is on you in a completely different way. So true. And that is the way you want to live your life.
Absolutely. I think about it all the time. Having sex before marriage simply just brought so much chaos to my life. So much chaos. Chaos, exactly.
Just everything is so... I can't tell you the moment that I laid that down. It's as if truly God just, just like set my life in order.
I have peace. Our lives are not perfect. We are not exempt from pain. Tragedy still happens.
There are forces at work all the time trying to ruin our day. Like, of course, but there is favor from God on us in a completely different way. And this is the thing about, because we're going to do our next episode is most likely going to be on how to.
overcome sin in general, not just sexual sin, but all sin. But I just want to say that, of course, it's not easy all the time. It's not. And, you know, there are just to be completely honest with you guys, as I can only speak to the women there, we have hormones and we have cycles and there are times in our, in our cycles that you have to be aware, um, where you might have to fight off temptation more than other parts of the month. And.
I don't care how weird this is to talk about. This is real and this is, and we're all going through it. So it's, it's stupid for us to not have these conversations.
There are times where you need to be aware. You need to guard your heart more than others. I know that's the case for me. I literally know when I have to be on guard because things are just different in your body. But the thing about it is like, I love Jesus so much that I love him more than all of these other things.
He changed my appetite. He changed the desires of my heart. I hate these things.
Just like how I hate alcohol because I know I've come into agreement with God that this thing is my enemy and it's bad and it will destroy my life. One sip will destroy my life. I'm the same way about sexual immorality and having sex before marriage.
I am in agreement with God, and that's why it's easy. I love him so much, I don't even think about it. I will never betray God for this thing. No.
And we don't even walk the line. We don't even go there. And people ask all the time, what's the line?
What can you do? What can't you do? My advice is nothing.
Honestly, nothing. I don't care. I don't care how weird that is. You stay as close to Jesus.
It's not how far can I go. It's how close to Jesus can I get. That's the point. Yeah, yeah.
And, you know, I'm sure there's some people that are in relationships that are, I just, I don't want you to feel bad because there are some people I know that are listening right now. They're in relationships. They're living with their partner.
They just, they're having sex. Guys, I just want to say this. And if.
these two girls can change up our acts. Just like how Ari was talking about that, you know, you might already be in a relationship where you guys are having sex. You might be living with somebody.
You might be, I don't know, you may have a baby out of wedlock. Like I completely understand. And I want you to know that there is grace for you.
There is. And God loves you so much. And the beautiful thing about purity is that it's not something. that's lost, but it's something that's pursued.
It's never too late to pursue purity. If it wasn't too late for us, I promise you it's not too late for you. And the beautiful thing is that I don't want you guys to feel overwhelmed because I know that I used to, my heart used to harden so quick when I heard this conversation because I wasn't ready to hear it. So I don't want your heart to harden, but I just want you guys to know that God is available to help you. The Holy Spirit is our helper.
And if you invite God earnestly and wholeheartedly, just invite him into the situation. Hey, God, I don't know what this looks like or what this could look like or how we would even go back from this or where we would go from here. But at least I'm inviting you into this situation, Holy Spirit.
So just start a work in me, start a work in my relationship and in this house that we're living in. Just start. We just invite you.
It says in Psalms 51 10. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. That's a prayer. Create in me a pure heart.
I pray that all the time, not just about sexual sin, but about every sin, about every pride, bitterness, resentment, just anything, literally anything. Ask God to help you. Yeah, no, and he will, and he did for us. And that's why I'm telling you guys, it isn't as hard as you think it is. It's not.
I honestly, I don't even, I, when you are, when you are living in purity and you have that holiness, you don't, your, your desires change. He does that. He changes the desires in your heart. He, you're, I, I look at things in such a different way.
I don't, I don't look at things in lust. Like I used to, I look at things in such a pure way because I have him and he helps you. Do you know how proud he is? How?
how proud he is of his sons and daughters that come to him and say, hey, I'm sinning and I can't do this by my own mind. I'm like, I want to be better. I don't want to keep sinning.
I don't want to keep, I want to do right by you. You don't think he's going to come and help you and take that desire from you and be there and go on this journey with you? Of course he will. He is such a good father.
But he's, he, I am the biggest blessing on my journey with God is, is being in, like scripture says, be, you be in reverent fear of the Lord as we are temporary residents. And we absolutely need to be, because if we aren't in constant reverent fear, we are going to be living and doing whatever we want and thinking he's just going to keep forgiving us. No, he won't.
Because once we know better and we keep on doing things that aren't in the word. We're going to keep living a dark life with a lack of peace. And that's not the way we are meant to live this life. There is a reason why it says in the word everything it does.
Amen. No, I mean, it says in scripture that if you go on, if you continue sinning, God will take his hand off of your life. And that's not to scare you guys, but I know that's what really kicked me into shape.
Was that I was like, I just like all of a sudden had a deep and like a true. Right. Because a fear of the Lord doesn't mean, like Ari said, it doesn't mean that you're scared of God.
It means that you have a deep reverence and an incredible respect for God. If you have respect for somebody, you're not going to cross them. That's what it's like. I respect God so much that I'm like, oh, I'm not even going to go there. I'm scared to betray him.
I'm scared to hurt him and let him down. Yeah, that's the moment I had. I was like. You have literally saved my life. You are the greatest father.
He loves us so much. How can we keep continuing to not follow his word? It's a slap in his face.
And sexual sin, yes, even though you can be the best person in the world, you can do the right thing, you can be a good friend, but sexual sin is one of the biggest acts of sin. And disobedience. And disobedience. And you're hurting yourself. You're destroying yourself.
You're defiling yourself. Trust me, I know this all sounds crazy. If you told me a year ago, we're 10 months into this thing. We're about to be hitting a year soon. If you told me even a year ago that I'd be sitting having this conversation with you guys, I would have said no way.
But one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit is self-control. And self-control. is available for all of us. It's a gift from God that you can acquire, that you can ask for.
Discipline, that's why fasting is such a beautiful thing, because it's that physical discipline that you're denying yourself, you're denying your flesh, and you're relying on God and what He wants for you instead, and relying on God to sustain you. And fasting is a great way to practice that discipline. So when you're hit with that physical temptation, which we all are, it's impossible not to be.
And like Ari and I were saying, like, Trust me, if we could do it, so can you. This is not something like biologically, physically, this is not something that I ever thought I would be capable of. And then now when I've actually submitted, one of the ways to overcome temptation is to realize that it doesn't have power over you.
The moment that I realized that this thing that I've been listening to lies from the enemy, thinking that I'm so sexual and I can't, there's no way. I literally thought like that. And then all of a sudden God opened my eyes and I said, you know what?
I'm gonna decide right now to not be a sexual person and then all of a sudden I wasn't. And that's all it takes. That's all it takes is to come into agreement with it and now I go, my days and the person that I used to be with these physical temptations and these desires and these, um, this inability to, you know, like not have this thing in my life. I don't even know who that person is.
It's not who I am. I know. It's simply just not who I am.
And I'm not saying that. it's going to be this easy for everybody, but it's a decision that you make and it's possible. Again, like we said, if it was possible for us, it's possible for anybody. Um, can we talk really quickly just about, can we talk about hookup culture a little bit? Yeah.
Because we live in a world, you guys, where hookup culture is so unbelievably prevalent. How can something, think about this. casual sex how can something so intimate be casual it's just not possible you I'm gonna talk to you guys like you're my friend not like we're the bible girls on a christian podcast like you're my friend to my ladies because it this is directed at you and it is meant to but I always think about when you're just hooking up with somebody that you're not even in a relationship with you're literally giving your body to a dude who sometimes doesn't even care whether you live or die. There is no such thing as no strings attached. There are many strings attached.
And I just want us to be all so unbelievably for real with ourselves and think about the moment where you have a hookup situation and that person leaves or you leave and you don't even have a connection to this person. They don't even care what you're doing the next day. You just did the most intimate thing you could possibly do.
And then nothing. You can't tell me that you feel good afterwards. And you can deny the shame that you feel.
You can mask the emptiness that you feel. You may think you're filling a void. You're not. It's a lie. You think this thing is good for you.
It's not. And the beautiful thing, though, like I said earlier, is that purity, again, is not something that's lost. It's something that's pursued.
So it literally says in Isaiah 118, Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. Psalm 51 7 says, Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. There's two of these references in the Bible about God making us white as snow.
When you are in Christ Jesus, and you put all that stuff behind you, I don't care what anybody says, you are white as snow. I stand here before you today, Ari stands or sits before you as well. We are white as snow and nobody can tell us otherwise. I don't care what anybody in the comments says.
I know. And we talk to so many people that just say, I'm living in such shame. I don't know what to do. You don't have to.
No. You don't have to. I don't even think about anything for a second.
All I think about is how I'm living now and it's pure and it's holy and it's a life of peace. And I... I just want you guys to all get there. And if you guys are feeling depression, anxiety, just, just, just, and you can't seem to understand it, well, this is why.
If you're reading the Bible every day, if you're going to church, if you're, if you're living in sin, that's why. Amen. And also know too that, you know, you hear it all the time, but I want you guys to really know that you were bought at a price. We just celebrated Easter, what Jesus went through.
It was costly. It cost him a lot. You were bought at a price.
Your body is expensive, and you better treat it like it is. What are we doing giving our bodies to people who don't deserve it? That's so crazy.
They don't deserve it. Do not lay up with a man or a girl. Please. It's like, honestly, they don't deserve it.
Your husband or your wife. I can't believe I know this sounds weird. I can't believe I'm sitting here saying stuff like this.
But it's the truth. It's the truth. It is. only meant God created marriage, a man for a woman and a woman for a man. And there is nothing that anybody can tell me otherwise.
Not only that, but it's like, let's just talk about something real quick. So we're in relationships for three, four years where we're giving our bodies to them. And then, and then it ends. So you just, you just gave your, your whole self to someone for so, so many years and then it ends. And then we're wondering why we're so.
depleted and broken. Truly, I know. This is why.
There's a reason why he makes the rules the way he does, you guys. I know. It just is.
And thank you because that contributes to the fact that like so many people, not just men, don't want to get married. Why would anybody get married when they're getting all the benefits of marriage before they're married? You're living with him, you're cooking for him.
washing his clothes and you're giving him your body. That's what I always say. And it's like you want God to have his hand on your relationship and you, and then you're just going to go behind his back and you're going to be having sex and you're going to be living with your boyfriend or girlfriend and then you get married.
You think God's going to have his hand on your marriage and you the way that it's intended if you're not following the rules of the Bible? Yeah. I can't believe I'm saying this.
This is so funny. But it's real. It is.
It is so real. And what God does for us every single day and the love that he gives us and how he we always have access to him and how he literally suffered and what he sacrificed for each and every one of us. And we can't have some some self-control.
Yes, you can. Yes, you can have self-control. Yes, you can have discipline. And yes, you can lay that thing down.
I'm telling you guys right now, it's. I want to come from a place of love, but I also want to come from a place of realness. And if that and if my friend didn't slap me in the face that day with the truth and say it to me in such a harsh way, the way she did, I would have probably never woken up the way I did. So please listen to me. If you are in a relationship and you are still, you know, kind of you don't know how to lay it down.
Yes, you can lay it down. Yes, you can. Because if we can, you can. Please understand.
And relationship is beautiful and going to church is beautiful and reading the Bible. It's all good. But you have to lay it down. You have to lay it down if you want to live a life of peace. Amen.
And understand, too, that, yes, purity. costs something, but sin costs way more. Thank you. And purity you gain. It's, you're not being, I always thought, but why would God hold something so good?
Living a life of purity and being as close to Jesus as you can be when you're living pure, it, nothing compares to it. No sex, I promise you, will ever compare to the goodness that comes from having a pure heart and clean hands. Listen, we're out of time, but. We're going to do a whole episode on sin, and I know this was a lot to take in.
We appreciate you guys for giving us an opportunity, and we should give a big shout-out to our guy, JC, for giving us so much grace. I didn't know who you were talking about for a second. I thought you were talking about Justin Timberlake or your friend, JT. I know.
I was like, did he give you that? It's a JC. Jesus Christ.
Anyways. Thank you, Jesus, for giving us so much grace. And God, the beautiful thing about what God does is he's always looking at the person that we're going to become and not the person that we are.
And that's where the grace and the mercy comes from. He's always looking at us like they're going to be a finished product one day. And thank you, Jesus, that he didn't look at where we were and what he gave us.
So much grace. And he gave us the time to figure it out because it didn't happen overnight. But we want you guys to understand that. We've walked this out in our lives.
Nobody made us. Nobody told us. We don't have parents telling us to do this. We didn't grow up in the church, go on a youth group camp, whatever they do over there.
Like we just lived this out in our lives. God came crashing down and that's what happened. Yeah. And we want to, for anyone who's younger, we want to, we don't want you to have to live the way we did.
It was really tough. It was really painful. I went through so much heartbreak.
I went through so much pain. I had such a lack of peace. I went through hell. And I don't want you guys to have to live like that.
I really don't. I want you guys to listen to the words that we're saying and say, wow, let's do this thing right. Let's follow the word.
It's... It's the only way to live a good life. Truly.
You know? Well, who would have thought, man? You and me, celibate, sober, anti-swearing.
He's got a possible. I mean, it's like, truly, do you understand? Do you understand that God literally used us as guinea pigs?
Oh, wait, I know this is a master class of, this is what happens with the Holy Spirit. But you can watch our first video to now. Listen, I'm telling you guys right now.
You guys think, oh, why are these girls, why are these girls that like had, like used to post these photos, girls gone Bible, like, you know, didn't grow up in the church. Oh, I'll tell you why. Because he wanted to use us two to be like, if they can do it, anyone can do it. And it's the truth. It's the truth.
Sometimes we look at each other and we go, he had to choose. He had to? I mean, no, that's why he chose two people. So it would be the sharpest contrast ever. Ever.
But and you know what? I'm just going to say Ari and I, we're clearly not the poster children for purity. We're not. And we're never going to come on here and pretend to be something that we're not.
We don't even know how. If we could, we'd probably be a little more normal and a little less whacked out in the head. However, we're here to literally show you guys what God has done in our lives. And honestly, it's freeing for us to be honest, because if we came on here pretending to be perfect. We would absolutely drown, and it would come out because it's not possible.
So I'm glad we're able to be honest like this. I'm going to have nightmares about this episode forever. That was really hard. I'm not kidding.
That was an easy. No, I know. Okay.
We love you guys. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May he make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you.
May he turn his face towards you and give you peace. We love you guys so much. We love you guys so much.