I’m part of a ministry called (HEART)VIRGIN. And people, even Christians, have told us that our standard for purity is too high and that we are over the top.

But our standard for purity is not too high. The world mocks us and says that we are “over the top” in our endeavors to live thoroughly clean and pure in the midst of such a sensual world. But the world contradicts themselves… and they contradict themselves SEVERELY.

We are part of a Photoshopped generation.

The very same beautiful models and actresses who set the standard of what it is to be “beautiful” in and of themselves fall short of that standard. What is projected on the magazine cover, in the commercial, in the advertisement, on the billboard, is THE OUTCOME OF POST-EDITING IN PHOTOSHOP. The skin tone is made clearer. The waist is made thinner. The eyes more alluring. The hair more flowing. The teeth brighter. The lighting is made perfect so that shadows add more dimension to their cheeks, their breasts, and their legs.

Even to the world, the original is never beautiful enough… no matter who you are.

And this is deceiving to both men and women. It deceives young women in giving them a false sense of an unrealistic beauty. They desire to be beautiful at that standard when indeed the very model that inspired them did not meet it. Young men are allured and given a false sense of sensual gratification. They then have this high expectation with what their significant other’s physique should look like. In their mind, the woman’s natural shape and form becomes distorted… becomes… edited.

And we… we are the ones who are unrealistic?
We… we are the ones who are over the top?

No wonder so many women feel so insecure in themselves! No wonder so many men thrive on porn and masturbation! We have become Photoshopped! Women can’t feel like they are good enough. Men can’t see women in their true shape and form. Something, somewhere, has to be touched up. This is unrealistic, imaginary, delusional, and all-out deception.

Nicole Weider grew up in Los Angeles, California where, at the age of 17, she took on a career in Hollywood acting and modeling. Ranging from simple JC Penney apparel to Victoria’s Secret lingerie, it was natural for her to subject her beauty in front of a camera.

Eight years later, she became born again and has begun a ministry called PROJECT INSPIRED. I am blown away at what this woman of God is doing. If you are a young woman, you need to follow her blog, her twitter, and her Facebook.

Through her years of modeling, she noticed that every single shot of her and of the women she worked with that was used in every single published print was post-edited in Photoshop. EVERY SINGLE ONE. EVERY… SINGLE… ONE.

When we don’t look at porn, when we see our beauty according to the Word of God, when we commit to be a (HEART)Virgin… don’t say that WE are missing out. Don’t say that WE are over the top. And don’t you dare say that WE are unrealistic. What are we missing out on? Make-believe? Illusion? Fiction? Mock ups? …. Photoshop?