I looked up the history of purity rings and here's what it said:
“Purity rings really got their start in the 1990s when the Bush administration began promoting safe sex and STD/STI prevention/protection. "Under the Bush administration, organizations that [promoted] abstinence and [encouraged] teens to sign virginity pledges or wear purity rings have received federal grants. The Silver Ring Thing, a subsidiary of a Pennsylvania evangelical church, has received more than $1 million from the government to promote abstinence and to sell its rings in the United States and abroad.” 1What is a Purity Ring?It can be simple or it can be fancy. It can be cheap or it can be expensive. It does not matter. A purity ring is a ring that represents a promise, vow, commitment or goal to abstain from sex until marriage. Purity rings are typically worn on the left ring finger. It is significant, in the fact that it is the same finger on which a wedding ring is worn. It is to remind an individual their desire and goal to abstain from sex until marriage. Once marriage takes place, the purity ring is removed and replaced with a wedding ring" (http://www.purityringsonline.com/history-of-the-purity-ring).
No, its not bad to promote the idea of saving sex until marriage. But, I think we are missing something. In our culture, we try to mask the root of problems by creating some sort of legalistic promise that we do our best to keep.
When I got this ring many years ago, for me, at that time it was a legalistic issue of trying to be "really good" and doing my best to keep the promise I made. Now, it's so much more. I don't wear this ring to say, "Hey, look, I'm perfect and I have it all together", but I wear it as a physical reminder of how broken I am and how dependent I am on my sweet Jesus every day of my life. What I like about my ring is the heart in the center of the cross. This represents so much to me. It represents the fact that Jesus holds my heart, it represents the overwhelming grace my sweet Jesus has on me due to the cross, and it represents how satisfying my loving Jesus is.
"God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him." -John Piper
God gives us commandments throughout Scripture but even more so, He is concerned with the heart.
Many of us see Christianity as a duty-defined willpower of do's and dont's. God sees it as a passionate love-affair with our Savior.
In Mark 12:28, the legalistic scribes asked Jesus what the greatest commandment was. They were looking for something tangible to do or not to do. But, Jesus replied in verse 30 saying, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength."
Love God with all your heart (to where it physically affects you).
Love God with all your soul (with all that you are and with a driving passion).
Love God with all your mind (where it adds to everything you do and has an internal aspect of who you are that is then shown externally).
Love God with all your strength (and the totality of your life being dedicated to loving God).
Why is God more concerned with the heart than following a bunch of commands? Because the heart is our source of life (Proverbs 4:23). The heart contains the motives. When we are passionately in love with our Savior, we see how satisfying He is and it becomes easier to love Him deeply above all else. If you are anything like me, you are so dependent on Jesus that every day you need a physical reminder of how broken you are and how dependent you are on the grace of the cross. I am so dependent on Jesus that I need a physical reminder to pray that He will sweetly satisfy me that day.
I am so dependent on my Jesus that I have to ask Him every day to satisfy my heart and help me to love Him with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength.
"I realized that manageable, duty-defined, decision-oriented, willpower Christianity now seemed easy, and real Christianity had become impossible...That is supernatural. Now there was only one hope, the sovereign grace of God. God would have to transform my heart to do what a heart cannot make itself do, namely, want what it ought to want. Only God can make the depraved heart desire God."
-John Piper