"They will become one flesh..."

Sex. Well, by experience I’m more or less totally unqualified to say anything on the subject! However I’m beginning to wonder, in light of various things that I’ve listened to and read recently, whether we are all, in one way or another, unqualified to make any comments on it. One of the Guardian supplements recently ("Between you, me and the bedpost" :: 02.04.2008 :: Kira Cochrane) ran an article that discussed the topic of sexual partners – specifically in light of the revelation by Liberal Democrat leader, Nick Clegg, that he has had “no more than 30” sexual partners. (As an aside - I was consequently tempted to hang a “SEX GOD” banner from his office window, which is located just round the corner from where I live… I resisted the temptation!) Relationships expert Carol Martin-Sperry noted in the article that our society has “reduced sex to something functional, that we can measure through tallies and numbers. Whereas sex used to be about, if not love, at least a hope for some kind of connection, these kinds of questions reduce sex to something similar to going to the gym for a workout.”

So, as a “red-blooded 21-year-old boy”, who has a girlfriend, who lives in this 21st century society, who is given free condoms by the university health service after each visit, who is expected by non-Christian and even some Christian friends to be having sex and who most definitely has a sex drive, what does someone in that situation do? Do I view my desires as the bane of my life? Is my girlfriend an object of love or temptation? Can my sex-drive be “God given”? Is my sex drive part of what it means to be made “in the image of God”?

Well, the Bible clearly teaches that sex is a gift from God. I know most people gawp at the suggestion. We seem to have this idea that when Adam and Eve started doing the things that two naked people do, that God was looking down wondering “what on earth (pardon the pun) are they doing? That wasn’t what I had in mind. I’m going to have to have words with Adam about this!” No, Genesis tells us that “it is not good for the man to be alone” and that man will “be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.” Sex was God’s idea. We are, in so many ways, made for pleasure, and sexual pleasure is one of those pleasures that we are most definitely made for. But, that also means that sex and sexuality is one of those things, like everything else, that became distorted when man rebelled against God. The Bible uses the word “lust” to describe our distortion of sex and sexuality. So, if lust is therefore a distortion of what it means to be truly human what can we do? Well, fortunately, God has outlined his plan for sex, his ideal, his intention and he hasn’t kept it a secret, he has revealed it in his word.

Sex, in a truly human way, is part of how we glorify God. Abraham Kuyper says that “In the total expanse of human life there is not a single square inch of which the Christ, who alone is sovereign, does not declare, ‘That is mine!’” Sex is included in that. My dear friend Larry has posted, on his blog: Photizo, an excerpt from a sermon on sex, which clearly summarises the supremacy of Christ in our sex and sexuality. Therefore, the way that I treat sex whilst single is just as important as how I should treat it if married. My sex drive is God-given; it is part of what it means to be created in his image – to be truly human. My desire for my girlfriend should be so much more than just a desire to be united with her physically, but should be a desire to be “one” with her, in the same way that God, in the trinity, is one with himself. The Hebrew words are the same, ‘ehād. “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is “‘ehād”.” (Deuteronomy 6:4) “…and they will become “‘ehād” flesh.” (Genesis 2:24)

In his book, “Battles Christians Face”, Vaughan Roberts, summarises the problems that we have with lust in this way:

“One helpful book [“Sex is Not the Problem (Lust Is)” by Josh Harris] on the subject defines lust as: “Craving sexually what God has forbidden… to lust is to want what you don’t have and weren’t meant to have. Lust goes beyond attraction, an appreciation of beauty or even a healthy desire for sex… Lust wants to go outside God’s guidelines to find satisfaction.” It is about me: my desires and satisfaction; the other person is often incidental. But, in God’s creation design, sex in marriage should be self-giving and focused on the other person.”

So… sex. I thank God that as Christians we can affirm the God given joy and delight of truly human sex and sexuality, and that although I may be no expert on the subject matter that I can be sure of God’s purpose for sex in the world that we live in.

God bless.

Dear Freedom

"In the beginning...again..."

I’m not an American, I’m not a biologist, I’m not in the movie making industry and I’m not interacting with any of those sorts of people, but I do feel like I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place with the recent production of “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed”, which has been released in the States this last week. I’ve been reading the blogosphere for the last few weeks now as I’ve watched one after another slamming article released by the likes of PZ Myers, Richard Dawkins and others on why “Expelled” is erroneous in its scientific claims. My problem is that these men know what their talking about when it comes to biology, evolution and the way that life works. Whilst I may disagree with their tendency to then turn their scientific claims into worldviews and life philosophies, I cannot ignore the scientific conclusions that they have drawn. Doubtless their presuppositions and the ways in which they view life will massively influence the way that they carry out their science, but they are not world class scientists in their respected fields without reason.

“Expelled” seems to have lumped creationists, intelligent design-ists, theistic-evolutionists and really any scientist who believes in a personal God into one category. This is something that I abhor. Believing in a creator God does not lead to automatic conclusions as to the means by which the creation and creating occurred. There is, largely, a consensus, within Christianity, on the purpose and reason for creation, but not for the methods and means. For many years now those who have been advocates for intelligent design have tried, seemingly fruitlessly, to disassociate themselves from right-wing fundamentalist protagonists of six day creationism. The two are simply not the same, despite the many generalisations. There are many different forms that intelligent design takes and each scientist comes to the table with their own semantic background. There are even those scientists who do not believe in any sort of personal God and yet are investigating the idea of intelligent design because intelligent design does not necessitate a personal creator “god”.

So, what do those Christians, who don’t believe in six day creationism, do? What do those Christians, who’s understanding of intelligent design doesn’t sit comfortably with the semantics of “Expelled”, do? What do those Christians, who are deeply ashamed of the copyright infringement, the deception of world class scientists, the exclusivity of “open screenings” and the repeated claim that this has been done in the name of Christ, do?

My reaction has been one of embarrassment, anger, shame and increased frustration. The smoke screens of the scientific world have been provided with yet more fuel to burn, the non-existent, yet gaping, whole between science and Christianity has been massively widened and the majority of the scientific world has had itself yet more alienated from the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ by a film that purported to expose the intellectual abuse of Christians by non-Christians. It, “Expelled”, appears, in many ways, to have done the reverse, with large numbers of non-Christians, both scientific and not, being hugely offended and outraged by the biased, fallacious and inaccurate claims, apparently, made by the film.

So, what do I know? Well, I know that neither belief in evolution or intelligent design necessitates or negates belief in a personal creator God. The space-time events of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, however, do require us to investigate his claims, and the claim of the Bible, that the God who created the universe (by whatever means) does desire to have a relationship with us. However the Bible also clearly explains that the only means by which that relationship can be had is through believing and trusting in the substitutionary death of Jesus on the cross. This is the clear message and true truth of the Bible that requires acceptance by all. Any feelings of being stuck between a rock and a hard place will always placated by the ultimate and liberating truth that is found in Jesus Christ.

God bless.

Dear Freedom