Virtuous Reality Blog

As the official holiday of love, Valentine's has become a day known for chocolate heart boxes, flying cherubs with arrows and of course, flowers (all of which are covered in layers of pink, white and red). But before running out and buying those little conversation hearts or cards that sport a red lollipop, check out what You Tube can offer instead!

We challenge you to 'spread the love' and share it with everyone in your address book and/or your friends on MySpace or Facebook.

What would you say is the greatest expression of love that we can ever experience?

Sanctus Real: The Face of Love

"The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing." [Zephaniah 3:17]

"Neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." [Romans 8:39]

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!" [1 John 3:1]

"Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love." [1 John 4:8]

"This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." [1 John 4:9-10]

"No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us." [1 John 4:12]

Check out Sanctus Reality, a video blog from Sanctus Real.

If you haven’t heard, the latest buzz surrounding the Jonas Brothers’ trio headlines their commitment to sexual purity. As stated in Details Magazines (March 2008):

“On a quiet Friday morning in a dressing room at Madison Square Garden, the Jonas Brothers hold out their hands to show off their purity rings. Kevin, Joe, and Nick Jonas - the teen-pop trio who stand, at this very moment, on the brink of hugeness - wear the metal bands on their fingers to symbolize, as Joe puts it, "promises to ourselves and to God that we'll stay pure till marriage."

While the brothers have received much criticism from the media, the rings are “just one of our ways of kind of like being different than everybody else out there,” according to Nick.

Bravo boys! Thanks for standing up for what you believe even when the media and the industry may not agree. Even though you are constantly adored by screaming girls - you’ve managed keep your promise to purity in spite of the overwhelming pressures around you!

I am reminded of I Corinthians 2:11-16. In a nutshell, the world does not understand the things of God because they do not have the Spirit of God in their lives. According to verse 14, "The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned." For those of us who believe and are followers of Christ, "we have the mind of Christ" and therefore understand His commands and ways. Yes, this means we are to live according to a higher calling, even when the world thinks it foolish and foreign.

So, we applaud you for not following suit with the countless teen superstars that have preceded you. Keep it up!

Background:
Mostly touting “True Love Waits,” purity rings first made their debut in the 90’s. A movement targeting teens, purity rings are a pubic display of one’s choice to remain sexually abstinent until marriage.

Source: Gordinier, Jeff (20008). The Total Awesomeness of Being the Jonas Brothers. Details Magazine, Feb. 19.