Post by Mongo the Destroyer on Nov 23, 2018 21:40:07 GMT -5
[Note: I changed the title because....well....Kanyon, lol. But yeah, people were asking about the sex issue and so I decided to turn it into a post for my blog- and then post what I wrote for that here.]
One of the biggest myths that is spread among non-believers (and believers too now that I’m thinking about it) is that God and the Bible are anti-sex. This is absolutely not true. After all, right away in the second chapter Scripture states, “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24). Yeah, that’s not just symbolism about emotions or something, that’s body meeting body. And the Bible gets even more explicit later when Solomon advised in Proverbs 5:18-20,
Solomon loved boobs and even brings them up again in a different book of the Bible. The point is that the Lord is totally pro-lovemaking. But…just in a very specific circumstance. This is where people start getting upset and say things like that the church uses the Bible’s views on sex to control us or other outlandish sort of statements. In reality, the Lord uses boning to teach us about worship. So buckle up, the Holy Spirit has some interesting things to show us about the (often) horizontal mambo.
In fact, of the few New Testament commands, we’re told,
Love is the command. Obedience is love. And the command to obey is love. I know a very pleasurable kind of love…wait…. What? I’m not supposed to use that one? You see, after the Gospel started spreading, the apostles got together to get on the same page; and much of the Law was thrown out. Instead, the church decided to only keep a few commands. History records their results,
To find the answer to all of our horny questions we need to first turn to Christ for an explanation of the Law. Our savior was once asked about which commands were most important,
Notice that the Lord specifically says that all of the Law is found within those two commands. If that’s the case, then why can’t we make love with each other freely? We can’t (well, aren’t supposed to) because of banging’s position in marriage and the greater meanings behind it.
The Bible commands married couples,
Yeah, that’s right; Scripture is totally pro-sex (in marriage). But(t) it’s not without reason. Our marriages are a physical representation of our spiritual relationship to the Lord. We read,
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless (Ephesians 5:21-27).
With the knowledge that God uses sex as a stand-in for how we worship, let’s take a look at something more specific. The main lovemaking law is that of adultery. It is written, “You shall not commit adultery” (Exodus 20:14). Or, as it is put in the New Testament: “Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral” (Hebrews 13:4). Almost all sexual complaints come from the Bible’s unwavering stance on porking outside of marriage. Why is it such a big deal?
The Lord sees his followers as his bride. We find it when he speaks of Israel in Isaiah 54:5,
But the story of Israel’s marriage to the Lord has some…sexy…turns:
Yes, this is in the Bible- being hung like horses and all. What is it all about? God was describing Israel’s penchant for following other gods (in this example it was the gods of the Babylonians and Egyptians) through the imagery of sexual immorality. The Ten Commandments start with,
“You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:1-3).
And yet we find over and over again that humanity is really good at worshiping things that aren’t God. Almost right away after taking the Promised Land the Bible tells us,
And in Romans 1:21-23, Paul noted how most people respond to the concept of God,
A lack of faithfulness to the Lord is the problem; who we’re having sex with is just a symptom- an early warning sign, so to speak. This is why Paul continued,
Therefore we can say that physical adultery (sex outside of marriage) is representative of spiritual adultery (worship outside of God). So the Lord’s issue with knocking boots isn’t that he doesn’t like sex- remember that God created our extremely sensitive bits! The Lord loves sex- and worship: but those should be done in a specific way. Sex with your spouse and worship with our God.
One of the biggest myths that is spread among non-believers (and believers too now that I’m thinking about it) is that God and the Bible are anti-sex. This is absolutely not true. After all, right away in the second chapter Scripture states, “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24). Yeah, that’s not just symbolism about emotions or something, that’s body meeting body. And the Bible gets even more explicit later when Solomon advised in Proverbs 5:18-20,
May your fountain be blessed,
And may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.
A loving doe, a graceful deer-
May her breasts satisfy you always,
May you ever be captivated by her love.
Why be captivated, my son, by an adulteress?
Why embrace the bosom of another man’s wife?
And may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.
A loving doe, a graceful deer-
May her breasts satisfy you always,
May you ever be captivated by her love.
Why be captivated, my son, by an adulteress?
Why embrace the bosom of another man’s wife?
Solomon loved boobs and even brings them up again in a different book of the Bible. The point is that the Lord is totally pro-lovemaking. But…just in a very specific circumstance. This is where people start getting upset and say things like that the church uses the Bible’s views on sex to control us or other outlandish sort of statements. In reality, the Lord uses boning to teach us about worship. So buckle up, the Holy Spirit has some interesting things to show us about the (often) horizontal mambo.
There are a lot of laws in the Old Testament. Most of them, however, are either directly repealed or are glossed over in the New Testament because our worship isn’t just following rules. Jesus was very clear on the “not by rules” form of worship because he called out the Pharisees on it. The Gospel records,
He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:
‘These people honor me with their lips,
But their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain;
Their teachings are but rules taught by men’” (Mark 7:6-7).
But their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain;
Their teachings are but rules taught by men’” (Mark 7:6-7).
And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love (2 John 1:5-6).
Love is the command. Obedience is love. And the command to obey is love. I know a very pleasurable kind of love…wait…. What? I’m not supposed to use that one? You see, after the Gospel started spreading, the apostles got together to get on the same page; and much of the Law was thrown out. Instead, the church decided to only keep a few commands. History records their results,
Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas (called Barsabbas) and Silas, two men who were leaders among the brothers. With them they sent the following letter:
The apostles and elders, your brothers,
To the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia:
Greetings.
We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul – men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing. It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.
Farewell (Acts 15:22-29).
To the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia:
Greetings.
We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul – men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing. It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.
Farewell (Acts 15:22-29).
Sexual immorality still made the list. Crap! But why, Lord? Why can’t our libidos run free!?
To find the answer to all of our horny questions we need to first turn to Christ for an explanation of the Law. Our savior was once asked about which commands were most important,
Jesus replied: “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second one is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:37-40).
Notice that the Lord specifically says that all of the Law is found within those two commands. If that’s the case, then why can’t we make love with each other freely? We can’t (well, aren’t supposed to) because of banging’s position in marriage and the greater meanings behind it.
The Bible commands married couples,
The wife’s body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband’s body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife. Do not deprive each other except by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control (1 Corinthians 7:4-5).
Yeah, that’s right; Scripture is totally pro-sex (in marriage). But(t) it’s not without reason. Our marriages are a physical representation of our spiritual relationship to the Lord. We read,
Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
And by the end of this, Paul went on to explain, “This is a profound mystery – but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband” (Ephesians 5:32-33). How we relate to our spouses is so wrapped up in our spiritual lives that even Paul got turned around (bent over?) while trying to explain it. The way you behave in bed is a reflection of your spiritual life.
With the knowledge that God uses sex as a stand-in for how we worship, let’s take a look at something more specific. The main lovemaking law is that of adultery. It is written, “You shall not commit adultery” (Exodus 20:14). Or, as it is put in the New Testament: “Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral” (Hebrews 13:4). Almost all sexual complaints come from the Bible’s unwavering stance on porking outside of marriage. Why is it such a big deal?
The Lord sees his followers as his bride. We find it when he speaks of Israel in Isaiah 54:5,
For your Maker is your husband-
The Lord Almighty is his name-
The Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer;
He is called the God of all the earth.
The Lord Almighty is his name-
The Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer;
He is called the God of all the earth.
But she carried her prostitution still further. She saw men portrayed on a wall, figures of Chaldeans portrayed in red, with belts around their waists and flowing turbans on their heads; all of them looked like Babylonian chariot officers, natives of Chaldea. As soon as she saw them, she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea. Then the Babylonians came to her, to the bed of love, and in their lust they defiled her. After she had been defiled by them, she turned away from them in disgust. When she carried on her prostitution openly and exposed her nakedness, I turned away from her in disgust, just as I had turned away from her sister. Yet she became more and more promiscuous as she recalled the days of her youth, when she was a prostitute in Egypt. There she lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses. So you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when in Egypt your bosom was caressed and your young breasts fondled (Ezekiel 23:14-21).
Yes, this is in the Bible- being hung like horses and all. What is it all about? God was describing Israel’s penchant for following other gods (in this example it was the gods of the Babylonians and Egyptians) through the imagery of sexual immorality. The Ten Commandments start with,
And God spoke these words:
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
And yet we find over and over again that humanity is really good at worshiping things that aren’t God. Almost right away after taking the Promised Land the Bible tells us,
Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals. They forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They provoked the Lord to anger because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths (Judges 2:12-13).
And in Romans 1:21-23, Paul noted how most people respond to the concept of God,
For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
A lack of faithfulness to the Lord is the problem; who we’re having sex with is just a symptom- an early warning sign, so to speak. This is why Paul continued,
Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator – who is forever praised. Amen (Romans 1:24-25).
Take note again just how mixed up with idolatry sex is. When Paul talks about one, the other is always right there alongside it.
Therefore we can say that physical adultery (sex outside of marriage) is representative of spiritual adultery (worship outside of God). So the Lord’s issue with knocking boots isn’t that he doesn’t like sex- remember that God created our extremely sensitive bits! The Lord loves sex- and worship: but those should be done in a specific way. Sex with your spouse and worship with our God.