Sex is a Big Deal

At the risk of beating a dead horse, as the saying goes, I am going to break another taboo and talk about sex again. This topic is important to me is because it is apparently quite important to God. I also believe that an echo of God’s level of concern is heard in the human tendency to make sex such a big deal. Due at least in part to the hormones God gave us, the so-called sex drive is one of our strongest impulses. This makes sense because procreation was among the first commands given to humans in the Garden of Eden. God wanted His human partners to fill the Earth with His family. He built them so that command would be as important to them as it was to Him. As a bonus, He also made it enjoyable.

That combination of hormonal need and physical enjoyment helps explain why sex has become such a hot topic. The fact that it was originally intended to be a private, intimate matter between married couples explains why we used to be told not to talk about it in polite company. In an earlier generation, even parents were uncomfortable having “the talk” with their post-pubescent offspring unless they lived on a farm where copulation was openly practiced among the animals, and with a little imagination, a child could infer what lay in his or her future. You just didn’t talk about it.

The development of mass media and its cancerous growth into every minute of our waking lives brought a new element to the mix. Because it is such a strong motivator in humans, sex became a marketing tool for unscrupulous people. I say “unscrupulous” because I believe biblical scruples would have deterred people from using sex to sell things. Sexual desire has been conscripted in the service of selling just about anything you can imagine. Advertisers use it shamelessly to sell all manner of products. Movie and television producers use it to improve the ratings of their productions which then add to their profitability. Because we have become such a media-hungry, consumer-driven society, the sexualization of our lives was inevitable.

The perfect storm of sexualization was strengthened by the introduction of easy, economical birth control in the 1960’s. The decoupling of sex from procreation tore away a big reason why women had avoided uncommitted sexual relationships. Casual sex became carefree sex when pregnancy was no longer a likely result. The thing that everybody was thinking about became the thing everybody was doing. Since everybody was doing it, it became less uncomfortable to talk about it.

Here enter the perverts. I know pervert is an old-fashioned word, but it is the perfect word. To be perverse is to behave “contrary to the accepted or expected standard or practice, often in spite of the consequences.” Nothing better describes the media onslaught driven by the LGBTQ+ community. Homosexual behavior is not new, nor is its acceptance among certain segments of some societies. What is new is the demand that perversion no longer be considered perverse – meaning contrary to accepted practice. We are being told we must accept homosexual relations as normal human behavior.

This perverse attitude has been adopted by some people who read the Bible and become uncomfortable with the proscription of homosexual relationships. Rather than do the honorable thing and abandon the Scripture as regulatory, they attempt to rewrite it to suit their perversion. They invent new categories of behavior that are not found anywhere in Scripture and then claim that since these new behaviors are never prohibited, they must be approved by God. (For more on this see “Things God did Not Say.”)

I don’t mean to turn this into another rant against homosexual behavior alone. (You can read my previous posts listed below.) Pre-marital and extra-marital sex are just as perverse. They are also more common, sadly, even among Christians. The difference is there is no sex lobby pushing for acceptance, unless you count the media. Name one television show or movie plot that discourages unmarried sex. The damage to the soul that is inflicted by extra-marital or pre-marital sex is plain for all to see.

Almost everyone knows someone like an acquaintance of mine whose life was torn apart by the unfaithfulness of his parents. The he-said, she-said battle in the church turned against his mother, and although he was raised in a Bible-believing, church-going home, he has not been back to church since. The fact that he is on his third marriage could very well be a consequence of his wounded heart. The skyrocketing divorce rate and increasing acceptance of living together without the covenant of marriage reveal the attitude that what once was called perverse is now considered normal behavior.

The enemy of our souls knows how strong the sex drive is in us. He knows if he can pervert God’s purpose for sex, he can mess with God’s order in creation. He has proven to be a master at this; even formerly sound Bible preachers are falling for the lie that loving, monogamous, covenantal homosexual relationships are acceptable to God. “Good Christians” tell themselves they deserve a little “on the side” if things aren’t perfect at home. These lies strike at the core of God’s plan for His human family. Destroy the family, and you will destroy godly society. Satan knows that. That is why sex is a big deal to God!

Related Posts: The Bible on Homosexuality; Things God Did Not Say; The Uncomfortable Subject; Have You No Shame