The choice is only between two things: either you enter into marriage with no experience or with the wrong kind of experience. Walter Trobisch, I Married You
Tagged: Marriage, Sexuality, Walter Trobisch
The satanic powers understand that “the sexually immoral person sins against his own body” (1 Cor. 6:18). They understand that the pornographic act severs a one-flesh marriage union at the very point of intimate connectedness and instead joins Christ, spiritually, to an electronic prostitute (1 Cor. 6:16). They also know that those who unrepentantly practice such things “will not inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor. 6:9-10). Russell Moore, Tempted and Tried: Temptation and the Triumph of Christ
Tagged: Pornography, Prostitution, Russell Moore, Satan, Sexual immorality, Sexuality
Sexual infidelity (and by this I mean any sexual liaison outside of the one-flesh marriage union) isn’t dangerous primarily because of its temporal consequences. These consequences are quite real, of course, and they are devastating. It is dangerous because it repudiates the gospel, molests the icon of Christ and his church, and forms another, malevolent spiritual union that cannot be disentangled when the situation is left behind. Russell D. Moore, Tempted and Tried: Temptation and the Triumph of Christ
Tagged: Russell Moore, Sexuality
During Immanuel’s Sunday morning Scripture Study, we’ve been spending some time in recent weeks discussing various aspects of the HHS mandate requiring religious employers, against their conscience and religious beliefs, to provide sterilization, abortion-causing drugs, and contraception to their employees. We discussed the mandate itself, the government’s increasing hostility to expressions of Christianity, and more recently, the meaning and purpose of human sexuality. Below is a segment where I listed some of the key Scriptural texts and then wrote a summary of what I believe the Bible’s teaching to be on sexuality. What does the Bible teach about human sexuality? Gen. 1.28 Gen. 2.24f Gen. 4.1 Gen. 9.1, 6, 7 Gen. 18.9-14 Gen. 38.6-10 Ps. 127.3-5 Mal. 2.14f God made the man and…
Tagged: Abortifacients, Contraception, HHS, Procreation, Sexuality, Sterilization
So savage and corrupt is human nature. Marriage is necessary as a remedy for lust, and through marriage God permits sexual intercourse. Not only does He cover the sin from which we are unable to abstain, but He also blesses the union of the male and the female. And yet the whole world shuns this legitimate, divinely instituted union and prefers to indulge in promiscuous relations, which are harmful in more than one way. Property is squandered, bodies are damaged by serious diseases, God is provoked to inflict horrible punishments, and, worst of all, states and households are destroyed. Why do we not avoid these great evils? Why do we not prefer to seek the blessing of God through a legitimate union? Obviously because…
Tagged: Genesis, Human nature, Lust, Luther, Marriage, original sin, Promiscuity, Sexuality
What is happening with the latest edict from the HHS is a liberal’s dream in one package: A sex subsidy (free contraception!) War on children (free sterilization and abortifacients!) Further control and marginalization of religion Erosion of liberty A liberal’s dream. Except there’s nothing liberal about it. It’s the new fascism.
Profound commentary on Genesis 9:1-7 by Luther: This chapter confirms marriage; for through His Word and command God joins the male with the female, and that for the definite purpose of filling the earth with human beings. Because before the Flood God had been provoked to wrath by the sin of lust, it was necessary, on account of this awful expression of wrath, to show now that God does not hate or condemn the lawful union of a man and a woman but wants the human race to be propagated by it. This was a sure proof for Noah that God actually loves man, is well disposed toward him, and has now put away all wrath. He wants human beings to be propagated through…
Continuing the reading of Augustine’s Confessions; today, the end of Book III and the beginning of Book IV (Schedule here) Augustine covers several topics in this section: his mother’s prayers, thoughts on the nature of sin, his Manichean folly, and the beginning of his affair with the unnamed woman with whom he lived for many years. Some points that particularly stood out to me: People commit crimes for various reasons: revenge, greed, envy. “Or it may simply be pleasure in the misfortunes of others that tempts people to crime: this is the pleasure felt by those who watch gladiators, and anyone who laughs and mocks at other people.” As I have written elsewhere, I am glad to be rid of the football obsession that…
Today’s reading: Book I, xiv (23) through Book II, v (11) [[pp17-30]] (For full schedule, click here) Note: I bought a Kindle edition, translated by Maria Boulding, today. I love the Chadwick translation, but I forgot it at home today. Augustine’s reflections on his schooling contain, in a few words, a profound pedagogy: not just the material taught but the source is important. He learned his vocabulary from corrupt literature that corrupted his mind: Even as I was learning such vanities you were schooling me, and you have forgiven the sins of self-indulgence I committed in those frivolous studies. Through them I acquired a great many useful words, though admittedly the same words can be learned just as well from texts which are by no…
In a recent post I outlined problems in the way Christians view sex and procreation. Russell Moore observes that this is reflected in Christian wedding sermons. One area of needed reformation in our preaching is in wedding sermons. Too many of our weddings, even in the most conservative churches, pretend as though the event is about the formation of a “couple.” The language of older wedding ceremonies, which mention procreation and the children of the union, seem quaint and anti-quarian to our ears. We’re the ones who are odd, however, not our forebears. Marriage is about the formation of a new family. What would happen if our wedding ceremonies were less about a “celebration of the love of Joni and Todd” and more about…