Saturday, May 10, 2014

The Consequences of Sexual Immorality

In case you hadn't noticed, our culture is obsessed with sex. It is used to sell everything, from cars to clothing. It's in most of the movies. There's hardly a movie or show made in the last 20 years that doesn't show, insinuate, or assume that the main characters have sex, whether they're married or single, in a relationship or "just friends." People talk about sex at work. They dress provocatively in public. It's on billboards and in video games and books. In short, sex is everywhere. But one of the most inappropriate places to be infiltrated by our culture's obsession with all things sexual is our schools. Our schools now actively encourage young children to "experiment" with sex at younger and younger ages, telling them it is normal and even good for them.

There is a reason that there is a push in our culture toward sexual behaviors in children. There are very few things as effective at creating a dependent culture that votes for goodies from the government and that needs abortion “services” on a regular basis than teaching young people to have causal sex early and often. The liberals, and especially those in the abortion industry, have a vested interest in “values-free” sex education (i.e. sex-ed that teaches promiscuity) because it produces the results they want to see in the culture.

On a more spiritual note, there are few things as effective as sexual immorality at turning young people away from God. The pull to partake in sexual sin is strong, especially in a culture that no only tolerates it, but actively encourages it and looks down on those who choose to abstain. And once young people start down the road of sexual sin, the destruction and fallout in their lives and their souls is tremendous. They learn to want detached sex or porn or a multitude of partners rather than the fidelity of marriage. They develop a taste for ever more debased activities. They seek to fill the emptiness with sensual pleasure. They start to see God, with His rules about sexuality, as a kill-joy rather than a loving Father. They see rules, in general, as merely ways to stop the fun. They can no longer trust that anyone has their best interest at heart, not even God. They become jaded and selfish.

All of this pulls them farther and farther from God and from even wanting to do right. And in the process, they will kill their children through abortion to avoid unwanted consequences. They will divorce, if they do marry, because they no longer know how to be satisfied with one real person. And those children that do survive to be born will be raised in broken homes, deprived of a mother or father, and learning to repeat all the pathological behaviors of their parents and then some.

There’s a reason for the many admonitions against illicit sex in the Bible. Because sex is so entwined with who we are, it has a tremendous power to be used for evil and to deeply harm people and destroy families and children. Used for good, sex is a powerful force to bind families together – husbands and wives to each other and to their children – to provide a stable environment suitable for teaching character and morals and truths about God. But outside of marriage, that powerful force is only destructive.

18 comments:

  1. We also know Satan's favorite way to lead people to Sin is to make them thing God's laws are more restrictive then they really are. Just study Genesis 3.

    So all your valid points are not a reason to be Legalistic and simply dismiss Christians who want to suggest that maybe the Bible doesn't condemn something mainstream Christianity thinks it does. Because have been unanimously wrong on many issues.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm not at all being legalistic in claiming that sex outside of marriage is sin. Everything in the Bible condemns sin outside marriage and points to marriage as the proper place for sexual expression.

      Legalism is trying to earn your way to heaven by following the rules. I don't at all advocate that. No one can ever be good enough to earn heaven.

      On the other hand, though, permissiveness (i.e. refusing to call sin sin) is not Biblical either. Isaiah 5:20 says "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil." The Bible does set forth moral standards and it is not legalism to state that something is morally wrong when the Bible says it is.

      Delete
    2. Nothing in The Bible actually says that. It's just drawn from conclusions about Adultery laws (where were not Gender neutral) and stuff about Virginity. The Song of Solomon however condones Non Reproductive sex outside Marriage.

      The calling Good Evil is part of that too, and I feel Augustinian sexual morality does that a lot.

      Delete
    3. I don't anything about "Augustinian sexual morality." I do know a lot about what the Bible teaches about sex and it never condones sex outside marriage. The Song of Solomon is about married sex. One has to go to great lengths and do lots of mental gymnastics to deny that the Bible teaches that sex should only be between a husband and wife.

      Also, adultery laws and premarital sex laws of the OT (in that these things are wrong) are still binding on us now because God's moral law never changes. Ceremonial laws for the Jews in their theocracy do not apply to believers now, but God's moral law is unchanging because it is an outgrowth of God's nature. What God found morally abhorrent then, He still finds morally abhorrent today.

      Even in the NT, Jesus taught that not just having sex with a woman who is not your wife, but lusting after her is a sin. Jesus' statement makes no sense if having sex outside marriage is not sin. How could it be sin to merely lust if actually doing the act were not sinful?

      In the early church, the teachings on sexual morals were upheld as being something the church still holds to as being part of God's moral law (Acts 15). Specifically listed as being forbidden is the Greek word "porneia" which is a generic term for sexual immorality that includes fornication (pre-marital sex), adultery, and incest. Even where the topic of sex is discussed (in both OT and NT) without forbidding specific acts, the assumption of the writers is that sex is only permissible between a husband and wife and that all other forms of sex are immoral.

      Delete
    4. I should also point out that the people who claim the Bible doesn't say anything against pre-marital or extra-marital sex usually have a vested interest in denying what the Bible clearly teaches (and what millions throughout history have understood the Bible to teach) about sex. In other words, they are living in that sin or have engaged in it previously and are desperately trying to deny that they have done anything wrong.

      Delete
    5. I don't need the Bible to Condone something to approve of it. I need it to Condemn something in order to condemn it

      There are no premarital Sex laws, just Virginity. Which applies only to Women, and which is not effected by all sexual acts.

      Jesus's statement was on coveting another Man's Wife. Greek and Hebrew used the same word for Woman as for Wife.

      When Jesus said he fulfilled all the Law that was Moral too not just Ceremonial. He lived a perfect life so we don't have to worry about it.

      The Early Church became very problematic very fast. One of them Castrated himself.
      http://sociallyliberalfundamentalist.blogspot.com/2014/08/how-is-sex-defined-in-bible.html

      Delete
    6. You need to understand that in Biblical times, there were only 2 kinds of women - virgins and wives. That's precisely because sex was understood to be acceptable only between a husband and wife. So laws about "virginity" are referring to pre-marital sex. If a man had sex with a virgin (i.e. an unmarried woman), he had to marry her (i.e. provide for her for the rest of her life) - which was for her protection because women had to have a man to survive. If he had sex with a married woman, they both had to die for the sin of adultery. Either way, sex outside marriage was not acceptable.

      You're right about the Greek word for woman and wife being the same. Thus, you can't say from that verse that Jesus meant only married women shouldn't be lusted after. He might well have been saying women in general. Considering the OT laws about pre-marital sex, Jesus was no doubt referring to all kinds of lust.

      Delete
    7. "When Jesus said he fulfilled all the Law that was Moral too not just Ceremonial. He lived a perfect life so we don't have to worry about it."

      Are you saying that we don't have to worry about living moral lives because Jesus did it all for us? Are you saying that we can just sin and it doesn't matter? Because the Bible is pretty clear about that.

      Read Romans 6:1-7. Paul answers this very idea. Shall we continue in sin because we get grace through Jesus? Absolutely not! If we belong to Christ, we have put away the sinfulness of our old life and live for Jesus now. The Bible speaks of being crucified with Christ - dying to our old self and being made anew. James tells us that faith without works is dead. Anyone claiming to be a Christian and yet continuing to sin without remorse or repentance is a liar. The new self given by God hates sin. if one doesn't hate sin, one isn't made new.

      Delete
    8. I'm saying as long we're trying to be Loving caring individuals, and follow the Golden Rule, the Details are not something to be dogmatic over. That's what Reading Romans 12-15 tells me.

      "You need to understand that in Biblical times, there were only 2 kinds of women - virgins and wives." No actually there were Widows and Divorced Women, and Rape victims.

      Since the Context of Jesus saying that was Adultery, I allow the context to tell me he meant. But I also feel your misusing the word Lust.

      There is no passage clearly saying all Sex outside Marriage is Sinful. Nothing that doesn't Violate the Golden Rule,r or what Jesus called the Two Greatest Commandments, can be deemed a major Sin to me.

      Delete
    9. The details are absolutely something to be dogmatic over when it's something the Bible has clearly defined as sin. And not only is premarital and extramarital sex shown as being sin, it is counter to God's design for sexuality. In the same way that adultery and other sins have bad consequences and ruin lives, so too does premarital sex. The bad results also testify that this behavior goes against God's good design for sexuality. People may think they're just having fun, but binding yourself emotionally (which sex does, inherently) to someone who has made no commitment to you is a bad idea. Not only does it usually lead to heartache, but you can actually destroy your ability to be intimate in marriage by having multiple partners before marriage. And sleeping with multiple partners leads to disease. Also, many children are born to unwed parents, despite the use of contraceptives (which don't work 100% of the time) or are aborted. These children, even if they survive, are robbed of the stable home they need for proper development. There are many reasons that one can point to that show that premarital sex is against the design for sexuality.

      Sex is designed to permanently bond a man and woman together and cause them to make a stable home for any children that may be born of their union. The emotional bonding aspect of sex is inherent in sex. Sex isn't just two people rubbing body parts together for fun. It has ramifications for their physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being as well as the potential for creating new life. It's a powerful force that is unlike any other human activity and that is why God has placed rules for its use that are for our good.

      Delete
    10. Marriage won't exist at all in the Resurrection. Do you expect Sexual expression to cease? Because the Resurrection is merely our restoration to how we were before The Fall.

      Yes I believe Sex is an emotional thing, and I do believe there are Sexual sins. But I'm not a Phrasiee on the subject.

      Delete
    11. Yes, sex will be a thing of the past. Sex is a part of our lives here on earth, but not our life in heaven.

      I'm not a Pharisee either. I actually practice what I preach and I don't add regulations that aren't in God's word.

      Delete
    12. NO, Sex will happen in the Resurrection, since there are people who's Eternal Destiny isn't decided yet at the end of the Millennium.

      What Jesus said there only addressed Marriage, not Sex. Marriage as we know was not created till Genesis 3 after The Fall.

      Delete
  2. "Yes, sex will be a thing of the past. Sex is a part of our lives here on earth, but not our life in heaven."

    Your proof for this?

    Personally, I think Jared is wrong on everything he says here, but you have no real basis to determine that humans will not be sexual beings in the next life.

    What other of our attributes will be removed from us? Intellect? Sense of humor? Jesus - in his glorified body - ate food given to him.

    Jesus only said we will not be "given in marriage" in heaven.

    You're making a strikingly authoritative comment, without any real Biblical basis.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There are a number of factors that go into my statement, which I don't have time to discuss in a lot of depth right now. In short, it's a picture based on the whole of scripture and the view it presents of sex and of the afterlife.

      In the Bible, sex is always portrayed as being designed solely for marriage. Premarital and extramarital sex are always condemned as wrong. Sex is not bad in itself, but is wrong outside the proper context of a lifelong, comprehensive commitment between a man and woman that is oriented towards forming a family - i.e. marriage. Within marriage, sex is celebrated as good and something that married people should partake of regularly. From what we know of the design of sex and it's ability to form lasting emotional bonds, it makes sense not only that the force of this bond is damaging outside of marriage, but that it is a good within marriage for the strengthening of the partnership between man and wife and in helping them overcome the difficulties that come with marriage.

      The procreative aspect of sex also points to its destructive nature outside marriage and it being a good thing within marriage because a marriage that forms a stable home with a mother and a father is the best context for the creation and raising of children. Creating and raising children outside the protective environment of marriage hurts those children. Having sex outside marriage often leads to the formation of children who are then raised without the stable married home they need.

      Given this Biblical view of sex and its purpose and the statements given in the Bible that there will be no more marriage in heaven, it is a logical deduction that sex will not happen in heaven.

      In heaven, the context of sex (marriage) is gone, the purpose for sex (binding husband and wife, creating children) is gone, and the need for sex (physical desire for another human being) will be converted into a desire for oneness with God Himself, not another human being. It is this union with God that we all long for and that marriage and sex provide merely a glimpse of. The Bible teaches that marriage on earth is a picture of the union we will have with God. Once we reach heaven, we will have the real thing - unity and communion with God - and not the mere symbol. We will be the bride of Christ and unite with Him.

      As for the question of "what other attributes will be removed from us," sex isn't an attribute of who we are. The longing for intimacy and full knowing and pleasure that people seek in sex will still be a part of us, but will be fulfilled in other ways. Because of what the Bible teaches about sex as a picture of the union with God in heaven, we know that what we now feel as sexual longings will be fulfilled in knowing and communing with God.

      Delete
  3. I really think you're stretching it. A lot.

    And you're wrong, because sex existed before God ordained marriage. I think you're kind of anti-sex, really. Kind of a mix of Puritan and Victorian.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sex between people didn't exist until God ordained marriage. The first marriage happened at the time when the first man met the first woman. I'm pretty sure Adam didn't have sex with Eve before he met her and he met her at their marriage when God brought them together.

      As for me being anti-sex, that's actually really funny. My husband saw your comment, looking over my shoulder, and laughed. I'm a big advocate for healthy sex lives for married couples. I'm a frequent reader and commenter on several Christian sex blogs and have a great sex life in my marriage. I want every married couple to enjoy the freedom and pleasure and satisfaction of a great sex life together. I am not at all anti-sex.

      Delete
  4. So when we get our glorified bodies at the resurrection, our sex organs will fall off?

    ReplyDelete