Chastity
- "And also it grieveth me that I must use so much boldness of speech concerning you, before your wives and your children, many of whose feelings are exceedingly tender and chaste and delicate before God, which thing is pleasing unto God;"
- Whoredoms more serious than pride.
- "For I, the Lord God, delight in the chastity of women."
- Sexual sins are second most serious kind next to murder.
- "And notwithstanding this great abomination of the Lamanites, it doth not exceed that of our people in Moriantum. For behold, many of the daughters of the Lamanites have they taken prisoners; and after depriving them of that which was most dear and precious above all things, which is chastity and virtue--"
Notes
Book of Mormon Usage
The word, "chastity," only appears twice in the Book of Mormon; Both times in the context of apparently coerced sexual activity.
The word, "chaste," appears once, appearing to be a synonym of tender and delicate.
The typical guilt-heavy idea of losing one's "chastity" does not seem to be present in the Book of Mormon's usage of the term. I'd be inclined to consider the idea of losing one's chastity, in the Book of Mormon, with the idea of being sexually scarred, or mistreated, possibly also relating to the semitic idea of dishonesty, which describes the idea of using deception to lay a trap. Hence, chastity might be lost when a woman is trapped for the purpose of sexual exploitation, which doesn't lay guilt on the woman, but the loss of chastity is still considered bad just as we consider rape bad today. There's significant speculation in this, as we only have 3 samples to work with in the text. Whatever the meaning might be, it's important to be aware that word usage in any translated text may not perfectly match one's cultural expectations.
Common Church Usage
Within the Church we have the concept of the "law of chastity" which can be a very specific thing that doesn't seem to relate to sexual coercion at all, and even in its most vague explication, still doesn't have much to do with sexual coercion. Within the context of marriage, western sexual hangups often led to couples being condemned for their sexual behavior that some individuals found shocking. The Church has clarified that bishops are not to be asking married couples about their specific sexual behaviors, and it is well understood that the only sexual behavior between married couples that is really condemned by the Church is spousal rape, which practically seems to align well with what the Book of Mormon has to say on the subject, even if the word, "chastity", itself, and the way we use it, does not align very well.
Western Origins
- Chaste - Webster's Dictionary 1828
- Chastity - Webster's Dictionary 1828
- Chaste - The American Heritage Dictionary
- Castus (Latin) - Witionary