Sep 8, 2026 · 17 min · 10 segments
What happens when the rules you were given for purity don't match the life you end up living? Beth Hill grew up inside purity culture's strict guidelines for dress, dating, and desire, and in this…
It was late evening as our small group of teenagers traveled back to the boarding academy from a weekly community Bible study outreach in a neighboring town.
The dark shadows outside the fifteen-passenger van's windows were punctuated by occasional streetlights as the vehicle made its way out of the city.
My fourteen-year-old heart began to flutter as the boy in front of me slid his hand over the back of the seat to grasp mine in his.
We had liked each other for several months, and the van's darkness provided a perfect opportunity to have some minor physical contact without the staff's watchful eyes intruding.
Dating relationships weren't allowed at our school, and both of us knew what the consequences would be if we were caught.
Social holiday, we wouldn't be able to communicate or interact with each other for two weeks.
But even that grim prospect didn't dampen the allure of reaching out and intertwining fingers.
A few years after that quiet night in the van, a phenomenon called I Kissed Dating Goodbye emerged on our academy campus.
The book, written by Joshua Harris, a then twenty-two-year-old evangelical Christian who has since left the faith, was the start of a rolling purity movement across our campus and a glimpse into a sliver of Adventist lifestyle at the time.
It was late evening as our small group of teenagers traveled back to the boarding academy from a weekly community Bible study outreach in a neighboring town.
The dark shadows outside the fifteen-passenger van's windows were punctuated by occasional streetlights as the vehicle made its way out of the city.
My fourteen-year-old heart began to flutter as the boy in front of me slid his hand over the back of the seat to grasp mine in his.
We had liked each other for several months, and the van's darkness provided a perfect opportunity to have some minor physical contact without the staff's watchful eyes intruding.
Dating relationships weren't allowed at our school, and both of us knew what the consequences would be if we were caught.
Social holiday, we wouldn't be able to communicate or interact with each other for two weeks.
But even that grim prospect didn't dampen the allure of reaching out and intertwining fingers.
A few years after that quiet night in the van, a phenomenon called I Kissed Dating Goodbye emerged on our academy campus.
The book, written by Joshua Harris, a then twenty-two-year-old evangelical Christian who has since left the faith, was the start of a rolling purity movement across our campus and a glimpse into a sliver of Adventist lifestyle at the time.
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