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Monday, 16 April 2012

Sin and Sexuality



"The Church gets sex wrong ALL the time"

"God is anti-sex"

"God hates sex" (replace sex with a variety of things)

"The Bible is unrealistic and puritan in its attitudes to sex"

These four, and a myriad of others, are common things we see - with variation - as charges levelled at the Christian faith on a regular basis. Growing up in a culture that has seen the internet arrive - the information superhighway - has meant that I'm all too familiar with just what individuals of a bewildering array of preferences and persuasions think about sex. And the Church - in all its various, often ugly forms, has often jumped into debates about sexuality. And the Church often gets it wrong. 

There are a million reasons why the Church - followers of Jesus - get it wrong.

The first is because, like every other person born on this planet, followers of Jesus started out as sinners. We are grateful - in differing amounts - for God's awesome grace in saving us. We are - hopefully - striving to live as Jesus taught, as the Bible hopes we might, as living sacrifices, aiming for holiness. Yet we remain weak, and human, and susceptible. The Church, on a good day, can act as a prophetic and challenging voice to contemporary culture. Sometimes - like this post shows - that actually reflects reality, and we see a glimpse of what the Church could and should be being like. Other times - and this is common - we get it totally wrong.

It's why the Church needs to be careful and apologetic and beyond gracious in loving engagement with the homosexual 'issue', and of course homosexual individuals and groups. We need an approach to the subject that is new, but old.

It's why the Church needs to remember the importance of proper biblical interpretation around marriage - I think particularly of texts like Ephesians 5.

It's why the Church needs to be one that has space for people who are single - whether they struggle with or embrace that state of singleness.

It's why the Church needs to stand up for things - lovingly - that do go against God's design.

But the Church has often got sex wrong by making it something it dislikes, when actually sex in its proper place is an incredibly God-glorifying, God-pleasing, and worshipful thing. Speaking as an engaged male, I'm excited about it. Reading Song of Songs, and being taught on the issue over the years has made me excited - but its an excitement that needs to be tempered by the expectations of our culture. I love this post from my theology student friend on Sex (particularly pornography) as the media God. It hits the nail on the head.

According to the Bible, and traditional Christian teaching, sex - that is, physical expression of romantic love - is reserved for a heterosexual, marital, monogamous relationship. Simply put, sex is for husband and wife. Jesus upheld this - and challenged conventional thinking (then and now) by stating that looking lustfully is the equivalent of adultery.

That is the core of the Christian sexual ethic.

One man, one woman, once married.

Anything else - whether we like it or not, whether its easy or not, whether we think its ok or not - is a sin.

Thats God's standard.

Its a difficult standard.

And we need to stress that its Gods, and not ours. Because to moralise and pontificate on our own merits is not only foolish but also downright dangerous. Man-made ideas, ideologies, persuasions and perversions are NOTHING compared to God's perfect plan.

And the Church - and individual Christians like me - needs to recognise that we are not yet perfect. That we can and do still struggle, to varying degrees and in various ways, with sexual sin. 

Over the next couple of weeks I will be looking at some issues broadly connected to sin and sexuality - but not any further on the issue of Homosexuality, as its been covered already here. I hope these will be useful and informative for someone, somewhere, and as ever comments, suggestions and questions are more than welcome!

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UPDATE 29/11/13 - A great new website launched today, looking at this complex issue through the perspective of individuals, theological thought, and book reviews. Endorsed by some great folks and well designed, check out Living Out!

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