For
this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their
women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise
also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their
lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and
receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.
(Romans 01:26-27, NKJV).
There
are several forms of divine judgment described in Scripture. One of
these is the punishment of abandonment; when God removes His
protection and allows sin, and the deleterious effects of sin, full
reign.
This
is different from active judgmental intervention by God, and is in
some ways more tragic, for it shows how fallen human beings really
are, intrinsically. It
is never pretty.
In
this day and age, modern culture virtually denies that there is such
a thing as sexual sin. All manner of sexual activity has been
rebranded as “natural” or “normal” that in generations past
was considered unthinkable and shameful. The argument that something
is good
because it is natural has many logical flaws. Most fatal diseases are
equally “natural”, and painful death is most assuredly “normal”,
but does that make these good?
When
God gives humans up
to their own devices and fallen impulses, chaos, destruction, and
heartache are the inevitable result. It is only when He restrains
these “natural” activities that peace and safety are even
remotely possible.
Today,
promiscuity, homosexuality, adultery and many other forms of sexual
sin have been culturally normalized. This is tragic. In consequence,
incalculable damage has been done to individuals, families,
communities and nations. It is historical fact that when a
civilization turns away from God's design for marriage – one man
and one woman – the family unit is compromised, and with it, the
foundation and cohesion of a nation is destroyed.
While
all sin separates man from God, sexual sin is in its own special
category for it is something that a man or woman does against his or
her own body. It is the literal joining of one person with another,
and unless done within the confines that God has ordained, it is
always
damaging.
This
means that any sexual activity outside the boundaries of the marriage
bed is sin. Conversely, anything done within those boundaries, in the
love of a husband and wife for each other, is honorable and undefiled
(Hebrews 13:4). This is both liberating and perfectly sensible,
although the world views it as restrictive and dictatorial.
Biologically,
monogamous, lifelong heterosexual relationships are conducive to
healthier living than their transient homosexual or heterosexual
counterparts. Statistically, traditional couples live longer, have
more powerful immune systems, and less emotional and psychological
stress. These are facts, documented by scientific studies over the
years, but the world is increasingly unwilling to judge things based
on facts. Emotion is king.
And
while it is true that in times past, those guilty of sexual sin
suffered terribly at the hands of society, and in some places in the
world this is still horribly the case, the remedy is not rampant
permissiveness, but loving instruction in the truth.
Women
or men stubbornly practicing these kinds of sins, exchanging God's
perfect design for their own imagined wisdom, are doing themselves
and each other harm. And continuance in these practices is often a
sign of God's judgment of abandonment. He gives them up
to vile (shameful) passions.
And
in this, modern culture is complicit and will be held accountable.
Currently, in government schools in this country children are
propagandized into thinking that “anything goes” sexually, and
that your are “born one way or another”, and can do nothing about
it. This is conditioning of the most hopeless kind, taking away all
possibility of change. It is an overreaction to harsh condemnatory
practices of the past, and is equally destructive. It replaces the
possibility of a rewarding, god-honoring life with a prison sentence
of fatalistic resignation to the supposed fate of involuntary
psychological (not physical) gender identity, as if anatomy was not
in the least determinative. This is the arrogant folly of those who,
professing to be wise, became fools.
The
Bible views all sexual sin equally. Any and all sex outside of a
monogamous man-woman marriage relationship is sin. No sinful behavior
is beyond God's grace.
So
what is the Christian response in today's society?
It
is this: immerse yourself in the truth of God. He invented sex, and
marriage, and when practiced according to His perfect design, there
is no more satisfying or pleasurable way to live. And while we should
neither mistreat nor disrespect those who despise us and our
Christian beliefs, neither should we compromise on the Bible's clear
teaching on sex and marriage.
Sin
is sin, and requires the sinner to seek forgiveness and repentance
through faith in Jesus Christ. Then He empowers us to change – to
be transformed from darkness into light. There is nothing different
in that regard with respect to sexual sin. It is a serious and
damaging as any other sin, and equally subject to sincere faith's
transformative power.
The
difference is that today, world opinion is more and more arrayed
against all things Christian, especially in regard to sex and
marriage. While clearly foretold in the Bible, this turn of events is
no less problematic for the Christian attempting to live according to
scriptural principles.
This
will be harder for you than it was for me, sweet one, as society
becomes increasingly godless, but remain steadfast and loving, and do
not grow weary in doing good.
We
know who wins in the end.
Love,
Dad.
