Dr. Russell Moore of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary writes regularly at Moore to the Point and occasionally answers questions that have ethical ramifications for those who desire to walk with Christ. His most recent question came from a young woman who desired to know how much she needed to know about her potential spouse's sexual past. Her question:

Dr. Moore, in his usual candid-yet-compassionate way, answers her question with both compassion and forthrightness. The key part of the answer for me was the following:

You are not “owed” a virgin because you are. Your sexual purity wasn’t part of a quid pro quo in which God would guarantee you a sexually unbroken man. Your sexual purity is your obligation as a creature of God. And you have rebelled at other points, and been forgiven. If you believe the gospel, you believe the gospel for everyone, and not just for yourself.

If your future husband is repentant, and forgiven, and yet you are “tortured” by the thoughts of his past, then the issue for you is one of personal pride and a refusal to see oneself as a gospel-forgiven sinner.

In my years as a student pastor, I counseled countless teenagers on this very issue. My advice was the same as Dr. Moore's regarding the sexual past of your future husband or wife. As much as it may be your desire to marry someone with a pure past, it is not your birthright.

What are your thoughts?