C2 – HUMAN SEXUALITY
Introduction
Religions revolve madly around
sexual questions.
Christian Fundamentalism: The
doctrine that there is an absolutely powerful, infinitely knowledgeable,
universe-spanning entity that is deeply and personally concerned about my sex
life.
Andrew Lias
Andrew Lias obviously has a distorted view of “religion” and “Christian Fundamentalism.” But his view is not unique.
For so many in society today who really have little or no exposure to true Christianity, including many who live within the Church family, the only real question of the Christian Faith has to do with how its followers live sexually.
When one listens to justifications for such aberrations as “open marriage,” the “good effects of sex outside of marriage – either pre-marital or from within marriage,” the freedom that exists in the “practice of sexual deviances,” the biological necessity of practicing “genetically driven homosexual lifestyles,” etc. there is always the diatribe concerning how “religion” has oppressed the proponents of such lifestyles. There is never any concern that the faith position may have something valuable to say to the discussion. The unfettered determination is always that “religion” has unjustly treated those who would want the freedom to practice any or all of the aberrations and treat them as a normal form of life. The concept that maybe God knew what He was doing when He made the statements He made through that part of His Creation that involves human sexuality is simply summarily dismissed.
It seems that the free sex memories are short and do not think back to the recent past. The relativistic ethics that were proposed in the 1960’s and supported in the theological realm by such person as Joseph Fletcher in his “situation Ethics” lead to many wonderful developments that are still plaguing human society.
The complete freedom of the sexual environment was proposed so long as no one was being hurt. The reward has been a proliferation of Sexually Transmitted Diseases that are often incurable. Further, the psychological problems that have developed in both men and women driven by the promiscuous practice of sex outside of marriage are almost completely ignored or falsely attributed to other causes in order to remove the stigma from mankind’s irresponsible use of God’s wonderful gift of human sexuality.
It was thought that the problem of unwanted teenage pregnancy could be alleviated by the introduction of “sex education” curricula in the school system. Of course, because faith and universal morality were considered oppressive to society, such would have to be taught with no faith or moral base. Thus, sex was reduced to an almost totally mechanistic approach of what to do, how to do it, and how to protect oneself from pregnancy and STD’s. The result is a marked increase in the rate of unwanted teenage pregnancy, a growth in psychological problems generated form this practice, and an increase in sexually related teenage suicides.
Similar problems can be found in the freedom of abortion. This murdering of unborn children was considered to be a solution to the number of unwanted children being brought into the world and the number of women being destroyed through the backroom butcher clinics that performed illicit abortions. Essentially, the legalizing of abortion has created a holocaust that outweighs the slaughter committed in the Second World War. While calling it family planning or early termination of pregnancy this practice has succeeded in becoming an alternative means of birth control and increasing the practice of unfettered and irresponsible sexual activity. Further, it has contributed greatly to an increase in psychological problems in those who chose to abort a child, in suicide among many who, without adequate support, become aware of the horrible act of murder they have committed, and, in a significant proportion, the destruction of the ability to have further children.
And, the current frontier for these “freedom fighters” is that of legalizing and normalizing the practice of homosexuality. Falsely claiming a genetic compulsion and likening the homosexual condition to that of a race these fighters have succeeded in having legislation passed that would move toward normalizing the sin. The fact that God calls this act an “abomination” is immaterial to these person as the Bible holds no place in their life today anyway. And, when a member of a homosexual group acknowledges that such is not right in the eyes of God and moves toward receiving the “healing power of Christ” the homosexual community angrily pressures the individual not to take such steps even resorting at times to death threats or beatings. When a Christian openly provides assistance to those seeking healing the same kind of pressures are placed upon that person.
It is no wonder that there is such a focus about what religion has to say about sexuality and that society does all it can to condemn religion’s statements. To recognize the position of Christian Faith’s position on sexuality would be to recognize the sinfulness of the world’s practice. And such would have to lead to either repentance, confession, and forgiveness or the choice of the destiny of hell. In order to justify its sexual actions the world needs to refute and belittle the faith position that God presents.
The Bible states that sexual sin is an extremely serious sin because it is a sin that is committed against one’s own body. All other sin is outside the individual. But sexual sin violates the individual’s body, which is “the Temple of the Holy Spirit.” And St. Paul admonishes us that we must not violate God’s Temple. To do so requires repentance, confession, and absolution. As the healing power of God’s forgiveness is required to release the sexual sinner so, in each of the above circumstances, the person has to understand that the practice of sexuality outside of God’s Will is a violation of that which is rightfully God’s Temple and needs the healing power of Almighty God.
And God
Created Humankind
The crowning glory of God’s Creative Act was the Creating of humankind. The bible tells us that God formed man from the dust of the earth. Further, the Scripture states that man was created male and female and directed to have dominion over the earth and to be fruitful and multiply.
The Genesis record states that after man was created God brought all living things to him for him to name (God gave man power over these beings by allowing Adam to Name the creatures). While Adam undertook the work and interacted with the creation of God, it was evident to God that he was alone and lonely. Thus, God took from the rib (or personality) man and created a being that Adam would name woman. And it was in this duality that humankind found its completion and fulfillment.
So compatible and mutually dependant were these two creatures and so essential were they to the completion of the beings of one another that the beginning of what Jesus would later state as being the fulfilment of marriage was instituted in the words of God in Genesis, “A man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife and the two become one flesh.”
While there are those who would dismiss this narrative from the Holy Word of God as being a statement of God’s purposes in the creation of male and female, it seems very clear that His Divine intention was for male and female to live together in monogamous relationship fulfilling and completing one another. Jesus referred to this same purpose while stating that there would be some whose purpose was to live a celibate life under God.
St. Paul has made it clear that the monogamous relationship between male and female is God’s divine intention. He calls any other form of sexual outlet aberration and idolatrous. Further, he commands husband and wife not to deny themselves to each other save by agreement for times of spiritual growth. Otherwise they are to come together, not only for procreative purpose but also for mutual pleasure and comfort. Hence the act of sexual expression is reserved by Divine Will for the state of monogamous matrimony and is to be both procreative and for mutual enjoyment.
God made mankind male and female in order that they could complete and fulfill one another. In this Divine Act of Creation each was physically, emotionally, and spiritually crafted such that the two together would become one flesh – one in purpose, one entity to fulfill that purpose, and one being working out the purposes of God in His Creation.
While the forces in society today that would destroy God’s economy try to illustrate the unfairness and oppressiveness of God’s Economy in Creation and have, to a large extent, succeeded in corrupting the pure vision of creation in the eyes of much of selfish and egotistical humanity, the Holy Word of God illustrating His Divine Will does not change. No revisionist act can change that economy. No revised interpretation can change that economy. The unchangeable WORD of the unchanging God still stands for His children who have come to Him in Jesus Christ and live by the indwelling power of His Holy spirit.
God’s Economy in Creation does not in any way belittle or disenfranchise either male or female in His Creation of Humankind. Rather, any attempt to revise the relative positions of the two within the one flesh designed by Almighty God is to degrade those positions as they attempt to function in the world. To personally alter where one stands in juxtaposition to the other is to violate the Will of God and to lessen the status of that person within the Creative Will.
This does not mean that mankind has not misapplied God’s Will over the ages. It does not imply that the relational positions of male and female have always been properly interpreted or applied over the years. But it does mean that any corrective action taken by humankind to correct any aberration must be undertaken in a desire to restore, not destroy, God’s purposes and design in the Act of Creation.
The absolute proof of the failure of today’s society, or even society throughout the ages, is found in the rising rates of human incompatibility. As secular humanistic “solutions” are applied that seem ever so reasonable and practical the results show growing division and incompatibility between the components of God’s Human Creation. There is no sign of success or improvement in the broken human relational condition.
The “rights” of either male or female as seen from the realm of secular humanism are totally irrelevant to any such correction. The perceived violations of either male or female rights corrected according to the will of any group of human beings are totally immaterial and unhelpful. It is only in seeking the true Divine Will in Creation and restoring that relationship that valid corrective act can be taken.
Any way one approaches the adjustment of human relationships the primary goal must always be the searching out in the Holy Word of God of the Divine Creative Will for such relationships. This is not a matter of human justice but of Divine Justice. It is not a matter of societal will but of Divine Will. It is not a matter of emotional desires of deviant society but of the Creative Will of God in His act of creating humankind.
Sexuality Within the Marriage Bond
As has been illustrated above, God reserves the act of sex for the monogamous relationship between a male and a female. Further, it has already been shown that such is a physical expression of the oneness that exists within humanity (body, soul, and spirit) in an extremely graphic, potentially procreative, and mutually pleasurable manner.
Following the expulsion from the Garden of Eden God to Eve about the “desire” for her husband. And, while that desire is well within God’s Creative Action in humankind’s sexuality, it would, because of the Fall, result in the pain of childbirth.
There is strong argument from the practices of Hebrew culture and from the Scriptural evidence with Isaac and Rebecca that the act of sexuality actually constituted the fact of marriage. It is noted that when Rebecca saw the man in the distance that the servant identified as being her husband-to-be, Isaac, that she dismounted from her camel. He saw her, took her into his tent where he had sexual union, and then he loved (was married to) her.
Jesus honoured the union of male in female becoming one flesh. He so stated in reciting the Genesis commendation that a man would leave his father and his mother and cleave to his wife and the two would become one flesh. He also honoured the Holy Estate of Matrimony in His attendance and miracle at the wedding feast in Cana.
St. Paul, while due to his human opinion that the Second Coming was imminent suggested that he thought it would be best for all to remain single like him, commended the monogamous relationship as a means of avoiding the stain of sexual sin outside of marriage. But St. Paul also went further in stating that this union of the flesh in sexual activity was not to be denied between husband and wife. Rather, it served to sanctify the union of male and female in that it made the fulfillment of sexual desire a matter of mutual satisfaction without sin.
Essentially, from Holy Scripture, we find that God created humanity with a unique sexuality that was designed not simply for procreation but also for mutual enjoyment and satisfaction. He created humanity for monogamous relationship within which sexuality would be an expression of the love relationship within which the human bond was to be lived. Male and female would desire one another. Male and female would fulfill one another. Male and female would live within the joy and excitement of having been created for one another such that they could live a unified life as one under God and experience a form of the expression of God’s love within and for one another.
Further, Almighty God teaches in the Holy Scripture that Christian Marriage is very different from secular marriage. Secular Hollywood style marriage emphasises a 50/50 relationship where all is shared equally. Love is based upon a give and take formula that inevitably leads to conflict and, as the statistics clearly show, divorce.
Christian marriage on the other hand is clearly based upon the expression of love that emulates the love of God for fallen humanity. In this marital relationship the Christian spouse pours out love upon the other with no qualifications or limitations. Love is, as taught in 1 Corinthians 7 & 13, an unqualified 100% giveness of the self to the other. Such love permeates all aspects of the marriage from spiritual through sexual and holds nothing back from the desire to be for the other to the benefit of the other.
The expression of sexuality in Christian Marriage is the total desire to please the partner as the first and foremost object in the act of sex. In this mode one clearly illustrates the love of Christ for the other and treats the other in the sexual relationship as Christ treats us in the relationship leading to, and living within, His Salvation.
While such a form of marriage is anathema to the feminist and other secular lobbies, it is the only form of marriage that works according to the Creative Will of Almighty God. While the secular position would deny the Christian stance as being valid as it too clearly illustrates the presence of God in all aspects of life, it is the Christian position that truly honours the love relationship in a monogamous marital relationship under God. In fact, since such is the relationship that needs to exist for a truly Christian marriage to exist, it can be clearly seen that true love within marriage can only exist under the Divine Will of Almighty God.
To violate this state of life as ordained by God is to walk outside of the Creative purpose and bounds. Those who do so bring upon themselves the consequences of such actions. It is impossible to violate the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony and not experience the inner sense of anxiety, pain, sinfulness, and violation of the other. Despite our world trying to eliminate these natural senses, they are still there and inevitably come to the surface. While their expression differs from total rejection and antagonism through to depression and, in some cases, even suicide, the fact of the pain remains.
Further, those who participate in the act of sexuality, regardless of its form or orientation, outside of the marriage bond are opening themselves to physical consequences that emanate from such actions. It is not a punishment that God imposes but rather a result of walking outside of the decrees of Creation. In this last half century since the onslaught of secular humanism’s pus for freedom to practice sexuality outside of the bonds of marriage in both heterosexual and homosexual environments the world has experienced an unprecedented blitz of Sexually Transmitted Diseases in the forms of the incurable AIDS, Herpes III, etc. together with the previously experienced syphilis and gonorrhoea. While these diseases would not be unknown in a strictly monogamous heterosexual environment, doctors know that their containment would be dramatic when compared to their spread in today’s sexually loose society.
Thus, there are many proofs in the example of today’s world that humanity needs to be obedient to the Creator God and express sexuality within the joys and excitements of heterosexual matrimony. Natural law as well as Scriptural Law clearly illustrates the benefits of the heterosexual matrimonially based love relationship between male and female.
Despite the attempt of sinful society in its pressure groups, courts, and political gurus to lead humanity into the arms of Satan via the legitimization of sexual sin, humanity needs to use the obvious teachings of natural law together with the Scripturally stated teachings of the Creator God to determine that obedience to Almighty God is the only way to a sexually pure and fulfilling life. While obedience to anyone or anything is an aberration to many in today’s society, it is the basis upon which the relationship with God is honoured and the total fulfillment of life within matrimony is found.
Homosexuality
As the world today grows in its desire to be free of obedience to anyone or anything there is a great pressure to legitimize or normalize anything that is outside of obedience whether to prior norms of society or to the Holy Word of the Divine Loving God. And sexuality is the field in which the pressure is greatest. That is why it seems to the casual observer that religion is primarily concerned about sex. Yet, the reality is that, due to the Satanic pressures placed upon humanity in this area of life – one in which mankind has always been susceptible to being led astray, the world of faith, especially that of Christian faith, has been required by Almighty God to respond to this sinful environment.
In the past half-century there has been pressure to accept sexual behaviour outside of marriage as being the norm and as being acceptable as a means of breaking the “tyranny” of religiously imposed standards. Situation Ethics stated that stepping outside the bounds of marriage if the partner was not being harmed as an acceptable activity. Further, for those not married, sexual involvement, so long as it was an expression of love, was to be seen as totally acceptable. Then the “open marriage” came on the scene. In this aberration husband and wife openly consented to the other having sexual experiences outside of their marriage – so long as the “real love” was for the one within marriage. Following this came the pressure to make all forms of sexual expression, with or without love, totally acceptable. After this came the pressures that are prime today to legitimize and even bless homosexual relationships between two men or two women.
In all of this, if God’s Will, God’s Creative Purpose, or God’s Holy Word were to be brought up the servants of Satan within and outside of the Church would condemn such thought as being unreasonably oppressive. Despite the devastating effect of all the obvious emotional, psychological, and physical diseases that are clearly resultant from such activity the proponents of legitimizing these lifestyles continue to reject the clear teachings of Almighty God and to explain away the obvious consequences of such sinful activity.
In the case of homosexuality, there has been a progression from seeing this aberration from God’s Creative purpose as being sin to being a disease to being uncontrollable activity to being genetically driven to being an acceptable alternative race to the heterosexual race within society. All of these approaches have been proven bogus but are still used by those driving toward making these actions justifiable in today’s society. The problem that arises is that all of the studies that purport to illustrate the genetically driven nature of homosexuality have flaws that render them totally unscientific. The 1948 and 1952 studies of Kinsey, the Simon LeVay research of 1991, the Bailey& Pillard Study of Twins, the Dean Hamer Linkage Study of 1993, etc. all demonstrate major problems with samples that were not drawn from a homogeneous population but rather from a restricted population group. Further, while obviously attempting to prove a predetermined point, they also failed to study alternative possible conclusions from the same data. The inconclusive and misleading conclusions of these studies are not to be seen as persuasive or valid. Byne and Parsons in reviewing these “studies” state, “While behaviour must have an ultimate biologic substrate, the appeal of current biologic explanations for sexual orientation may derive more from dissatisfaction with the present status of psychosocial explanations than from a substantiating body of experimental data. Critical review shows the evidence favouring a biologic theory to be lacking.”
Be this conclusion as it may, the whole thought of the genetic link receives its most debilitating blow from and observation from The Rev’d. John Stott. When being interviewed for an Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, Stott was asked whether his opinion concerning the sinfulness of homosexuality would be changed if a genetic link were to be proven. John Stott’s response was, “What difference would it make?” He went on to explain that he was certain that a genetic link could be established within families of murderers or thieves but this wouldn’t cause society to legitimize these activities. The situation becomes a matter of God’s Creative Will rather than the effect of the collective consciousness of sin within humanity.
Thus, a genetic link really is neither here nor there. The problem is in the wilfull violation of God’s clearly established Creative Will and whether or not mankind is willing to be obedient to God or humanity’s perverse thought structures.
When the field of physiology is introduced, the prevalence of STD’s amongst homosexuals (male homosexuals have an average of 26.9 partners per year) and the incidents of health problems such as “Gay Bowel Syndrome - amebiasis and giardiasis” clearly illustrate the abnormality of this lifestyle. These health problems that are developed in both male and female homosexuals are not simply a private matter. Rather they are costs that affect everyone all through the health care system.
While these discussions of the so-called scientific data justifying homosexuality and the physical nature of homosexual activity certainly cast a doubt on any validity to the lifestyle without referring to Holy Scripture, there are other factors to be considered.
Studies clearly show that homosexuals are far more likely to expand their sin into the area of child molestation (paedophilia). While positing such a claim will raise the ire of the homosexual community, there is little argument against it. The homosexual community will point out that homosexuals commit only around 33% of such offences. But in actual fact this is a self-condemnatory response as this means that less than 3% of the population is admittedly committing 33% of the offences.
Further to the statistics are the open movements for man/boy relationships made in the article “Male Intergenerational Intimacy” 1990 in the Journal of Homosexuality and the March 26, 1992 issue of the Sentinel in San Francisco. In the former David Thorstad of the North American Man/Boy Love Association wrote “The issue of man/boy love has intersected the gay movement since the nineteenth century,” and then complains that paedophilia is being suppressed by the “gay movement” which “seeks to sanitize the image of homosexuality to facilitate its entrance into the social mainstream.” With such evidence together with the statistics of offence, it is difficult not be wary of homosexuals and paedophilia.
Dr. Elizabeth Moberly illustrates how, rather than being a genetic driven lifestyle, homosexuality is a wrong-minded expression attempting to satisfy a deeper need. She acknowledges emotional and sexual shortcomings in many persons – not just homosexuals. But she then posits that homosexual sexuality is a bogus attempt to find that love relationship that is missing in an otherwise normal life.
One priest, in responding to Dr. Moberly’s thesis submitted this situation, “This individual spoke of a time of experimentation in the homosexual community, and being drawn farther and farther into that lifestyle. For this person, the arguments of the “pro” side seemed convincing. Direct exposure to the whole of Scripture became the key to being released from bondage to this lifestyle. it was also through developing healthy male-male relationships that change was enabled. This individual indicated that after reflecting on Scripture, for him, for the church to bless that lifestyle would quench the power of the Holy Spirit to change a life. As I have listened, I think your arguments about misplaced loves and the need for the church as a vehicle for healing are right.”
This leads to the view of Holy Scripture concerning homosexuality. The pro-homosexual community places much emphasis upon the “love” passages of Scripture as being overriding when compared to those that condemn homosexuality. Further, they try to explain away the Old Testament as being pre-scientific and hence meaningless to us today. Further, the false posit is made that the Bible is unfair to women and homosexuals and hence should be reinterpreted to justify such “normal” situations.
Te most prevalent homosexual stance today is that the condemnations of homosexuality are either cultural or aligned with temple prostitution in the pagan cults.
But God’s Word still stands supreme. Once it is seen that the Word of God is one of God’s magnificent miracles whereby He gives man access to His Will in Creation then seeing his purposes in human sexuality is clear and simple. Despite the wining screams of liberal theology it is clear that God has made male and female to be mutually complete and complimentary in living out His purposes here on earth. To God the whole concept of sexuality outside of the unique monogamous relationship between one man and one woman is anathema. When it comes to expressing sexuality within two individuals of the same gender God is clear in calling it an act of abomination.
Those who wish to justify the practice of homosexuality would point out the Levitical condemnation has to do with temple homosexuality used in the practice of idolatry. On the other hand, a correct reading of this verse in Leviticus 18:22 sees the word “Tow`eebaah” which is translated as “abomination” actually indicates that the act of homosexuality is, in itself, an act of idolatry. The New Testament confirms this in the writings of St. Paul where, in Romans 1:18ff, he indicates that placing anything outside of God’s Will as being of more importance than God or His Will is, in itself, idolatry. Further, St. Paul clearly shows in 1 Corinthians 6:9ff along with other parallel verse that those who practice homosexuality will never inherit the Kingdom of God. Then, in Ephesians 5:5 St. Paul clearly equates sinful activity as being, in itself, idolatry.
Thus, it is clear that, to accept homosexuality as an alternative way of life, it is necessary to ignore, rewrite, reinterpret, or revise the meanings of Holy Writ. And such is not viable if the unchangeable nature of Almighty God as shown in Jesus is to be accepted.
Christians must be wary and aware of the revisionist language that
makes it difficult to stand against the efforts to justify homosexuality as an
alternative life style. The term sexual preference instead of homosexual
indicates a free choice for that which God calls an abomination. The homosexual
community tries to place Christians on the defensive by labelling anyone who
opposes homosexuality as homophobic. Yet the term refers to those who area
afraid of the concept of homosexuality and not to those who recognize it for
the sinful nature it exudes and lovingly call the homosexual to the healing and
embracing power of Jesus. The use of effeminate terms for God is espoused as
showing the “all embracing nature” of the Godhead. In reality such shows in God in terms that He Himself has
not used and tends to apply goddess heresies to the nature of the One True God.
Such terms tend to adjust the meaning of the Gospel from “repent, believe, and
obey” to one of “accept yourself as you are regardless of what God has said in
His Divinely Inspired Word.” In this line of thought Pastoral care is reduced from
challenging in faith to accepting all alternatives as equally good. Christians
need to learn to not be phased bby this deception but rather to stand firm for
the clear Will of God as clearly expressed in His Infallible Word – Living and
Written!
The truth is that, contrary to the wishes of
the homosexual lobby, the sinful disease of homosexuality can be cured through
the all embracing Cross of Jesus Christ. Christians need to embrace the
homosexual in love and to call him/her into the love of God through Jesus
Christ. The broken same sex relationship needs to be replaced by the love of
the Body of Christ and the Wholeness of the Gospel.
Again, the key is a desire to be obedient to
the Creative Will of Almighty God with Whom “all things are possible.” The
homosexual lobby denies this possibility and states that those who are so “cured”
are only fooling themselves. If an individual who is active in this form of the
healing ministry openly advertises seminars leading to such healing it almost
certain that there will be open and aggressive homosexual opposition to such –
even to the point of the leader receiving death threats. Why, because the deep
down ingrained knowledge is that such flowing forth of the love of Christ will
ultimately lead to the healing of the individual and showing the false nature
of the homosexual lobby.
Hence the reality is, once again, the need
to make the first principle of life “obedience” to the Divine Holy Will of the
Creator God. Something has gone wrong in the past of the individual that has
led to an abnormal development in the psyche of an individual who then falsely
seeks to fill the void caused by such an aberration in life by undertaking
homosexual activity. The proof is in the fact that homosexual activity is like
a drug that never finds total fulfillment or completion but rather constantly
seeks for a greater high. Further, as shown above, the diseases, psychological
and physical, that result from such activities such activities are not within
the design plan of the Creator of God.
Obedience is the key! All healing comes from
that initial determination to be obedient to God and then to try to understand
His Will thereafter. The healing and normalizing of the homosexual can only
come through a personal commitment to Jesus Christ and a desire to completely
obey Almighty God no matter how such may go against the intelligence and
desires of fallen humanity.
Christian Teenagers and Sexuality
Christian teenagers face an especially
difficult challenge in the world of today!
The sad truth is that Christian parents
abrogated their responsibilities toward their teenagers some 40 years ago
leaving the teens to find their own way through the minefields of developing
sexuality. Satan saw the opening and stepped in to bring “sex education” into
the schools in a “non-sectarian” manner in order to “fill the void” left by
those abrogating their responsibilities.
Thus, instead of teaching concerning
sexuality from Christian parents whose responsibility it was, teenagers then
and today receive their education concerning human sexuality from the
secularized environment. Of course, using multiculturalism as the excuse, such
education is totally relativistic from a moral point of view. Because nothing
is intrinsically right or intrinsically wrong according to “modern” educational
standards all such education needs to be based upon the language of sociology
which, in itself, has a valueless base. Each student is encouraged to throw
away any learned value structure from the home environment and to develop
his/her own set of values based upon this valueless base. The only clearly
definable statement made in many “educational” environments is that any concept
of God’s Law is always treated as oppressive and irrelevant in modern society.
(of course, there are some teachers in some specific school environments who
resist this Satanic by-line. But they are few and far between.)
The benefits of such an approach are
illustrated by statistics quoted in Josh McDowell’s work entitled “Why Wait?”
(1987) where it is shown:
1.
Illegitimate
births in women of 19 years of age or under has increased from 15% to 51%
2.
3 out of 4
teenage pregnancies are unintentional
3.
400,00 (USA)
of such pregnancies end in the murder of the unborn child – a 100% increase
4.
137,000 (USA)
end in miscarriage
5.
Of the 490,000 births to teenage mothers 270,00
are outside of wedlock – a 300% increase
6.
Since the push
in sex education for the proper use of condoms and other modes of birth control
teenage sexual activity and teenage pregnancy have increased a whopping 400%
7.
STD’s have
increased in teenagers at an alarming rate with gonorrhoea alone in teenage
girls increasing by 400% and the incidence of STD’s second only to that of
girls in the 20-24 year old age bracket.
In his further work “Right from Wrong”
(1994) McDowell points out that today’s teenager nurtured by the “modern”
concepts of sex education and family life education are 6 times more likely to
commit suicide.
It is in this environment that Committed
Christian Teenagers are being brought up. They are under consistent pressure to
belong to the group. In the movement for self-determination, the pressure for
conformity is high. To be a member of the gang the Christian teenager is
pressured to put aside the Christian values in favour of the valueless, follow
your feelings, if it feels good it must be right, environment. Otherwise they
may find themselves ostracized by the group – including many of the teaching
authority figures in many circumstances.
In order for a Christian teenager to be able
to withstand this force a strong Christian parental presence is essential as a
support mechanism. This presence must uphold and openly discuss God’s Creative
Purposes in Human Sexuality. The teenager needs to know that parental love and
care is unconditionally present together with the unrequited Divine Love of
God. The teenager has to understand the magnificent beauty and pleasure that is
wrapped up in God’s Design Plan for Human Sexuality. They have to be taught by
parents as well as within the Church that the joys of this Godly Plan are
wrapped up in monogamous Christian Marriage between one male and one female.
The “system” will work against that thought. Satan has his way in the
educational environment and uses the age old weakness of humanity to drag
teenagers away from that oppressive God in Heaven. It is only through Christian
Parental Involvement that the onslaught can be overcome.
Satan is ensuring that the lies of Hell are
deceiving the world today. Only the teachings of Christian Parents can overcome
the secular commitment to the ways of evil and disillusionment.
Again, it all comes down to obedience to God
in the face of secular pressures. Without family support the teenagers are left
floundering in the challenges to God’s Will and Life Fulfilling teachings. But,
with the example and active participation of Christian Parents ,teenagers are
given tools with which to cooperate with the indwelling presence of God’s Holy
Spirit in withstanding the onslaughts and the wiles of these Satanic pressures.
A commitment to Obedience to Almighty God as He has shown us through His Divine
Love in Jesus Christ is the key in the face of a disobedient and self-developed
value system that lacks both honesty and consistency.
Conclusion
Human sexuality is a special Gift of God to
the Crown of His Creation – Humankind. No other species experiences sexuality
in the way that mankind experiences it. Human sexuality embraces the oneness of
male and female as an entity under God, the mutual desire and need of one for
the other, the joy, excitement, and fulfillment that comes in a monogamous
human relationship between a male and female, and the similarity of the Love
that develops between the monogamous male and female to that of the Love of God
for humankind as expressed in the Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ.
The key to the maintenance of God’s Creative Design is that of a willingness to obey Him in all aspects of human relationships regardless of the demonic false intelligence of man expressed in the day-to-day societal values where everything goes as long as it is desired by humanity. Obeying God often means allowing our fallen human desires and wishes to be submitted to God’s Word – Living and Written. And it is herein that we find the fulfillment of human existence.