Living in a Sex-Saturated Society

Sex sells, but what does it cost?

In the world of dystopian literature, there are two books that stand out as significant works representing warnings of society’s downfall from two distinctly different sources.  The first, 1984 by George Orwell, presents the “Big Brother” concept in which the totalitarian government oppresses its people with total control over every sector of life.  The second, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, presents the concept of a society which is so obsessed with pleasure that they sedate themselves with sex and drugs to the point that nothing else matters but the next dose of pleasure.  Which is scarier: a pit that we’re trapped in or a pit that we choose to trap ourselves in?

I’ll admit that I think in a sense we are headed in the directions of both novels.  There has certainly been an increase in government control and oppression in our modern society, but there has been an even steeper decline into the world that Huxley feared we would create for ourselves: a driving obsession with pleasure that will ultimately destroy us.

I say all of that to get to this: we as a society, not only in America but in the world at large, are obsessed with pleasure.  That applies in a lot of ways, but I’m just going to talk about the biggest one: sex. 

Pornography is a multi-billion dollar industry.  Alfred Kinsey is heralded as a hero of science and Sigmund Freud is honored as the father of modern psychology.  Homosexuality and more recently pedophilia are no longer viewed as perversions but “alternative lifestyles.”  While these things have been around for as far back as history goes, they are becoming rampant at a rate that is nearly unprecedented. 

Here’s the thing: society goes through degradation.  That is a simple fact.  How can we as Christians live in a sex-saturated society while not being of it?  We’ve all heard the ultimatums: don’t have sex before marriage, bounce your eyes, and don’t lust after something that isn’t yours.  That’s pretty simple (if you aren’t too sure about the statements I just made, read Matthew 5:27-28, 1 Corinthians 6:9, and Hebrews 13:4).  However, there are some things that are being left out in the chanted mantras among high school Bible classes and youth lectureships. 

I once heard someone say that Satan isn’t very original, he just perverts something God gave as a blessing and makes it into something evil and twisted.  I don’t think that’s ever been more true than with sex.  Hebrews 13:4 says “Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled, but fornicators and adulterers God will judge.” (MKJV).   This passage is often used to talk about fornicators and adulterers, but let’s think about those that are married for a minute.  Does this say that sex is dirty?  Does this say that sex is evil?  No, much the opposite.  Within the marriage context, sex is part of God’s plan.  The bed is undefiled.  The same was true in the original marriage in Genesis 2:25: “And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.” (MKJV). 

What is missing is a respect for sex in its proper abode.  We preach not to have premarital sex and to avert our eyes, which is good and right, but neglect to show where sex is meant to be.  Again, we should be preaching against premarital sex and against lust, but if that’s all we do, we are treating the symptoms and not the disease.  A respect for sex in its proper place will lead us to the point where won’t want the perversion.

Let’s say you marry your high school sweetheart, your first love.  The only person you have ever felt anything for.  You are happily married for years with a healthy, loving relationship.  Then one day you come home and find him or her with someone else.  How are you going to feel?  Betrayed.  Because one of the most sacred parts of your relationship has been violated: the exclusive sexual union.

This is especially important for single people to understand.  When we look with desire upon someone who is not our spouse, we are doing the same thing that the third individual in the previous paragraph was doing.  We have violated them and their spouse (regardless of consent), and robbed ourselves of the loving relationship in which the bed is undefiled.  That should disgust us.  It should repulse us. 

When we get that through our minds, we will no longer see how close we can get without crossing the line. 

We will push sexual perversion away like a piece of green meat. 

We will finally see it the way God sees it.

May that day come quickly

Outlawing Criticism

Sometimes history is relevant.

My last post highlighted the troubling violence in our society, which I attributed to a godless society.  I’m going to revisit one of the first signs that we were going away from God in the modern era, and hopefully challenge one of the biggest giants opposing godly reform in our modern society: Kitzmiller v. Dover.

I know some of you might be staring at the computer screen with a rage comics poker face, completely oblivious to the last statement.  I know you are, but frankly I wish you weren’t.  This is something that we ought to be educated on.

Tammy Kitzmiller, et al. v. Dover Area School District, et al. is a federal U.S. court case from 2004.  The short version of the story is that the Dover area school district had made a textbook supporting intelligent design a mandatory reading, which was challenged on the basis of the First Amendment (no establishment respecting a particular religion).  The court ruled that requiring the book to be read was unconstitutional.  The rest is history.  Now any theory outside of macroevolution is scorned and ridiculed as musings of a moron.

On the surface, this doesn’t seem like such a bad thing.  After all, as a Christian I wouldn’t want my kids to be required to read a text promoting Buddha.  Should we be upset about this?  Let’s take a look at the book itself.

Of Pandas and People, the textbook that started this whole debate, is not what it has been proposed as.  Having read my summary, you probably assume that it is basically a religious text, right?  This is not the case.  The book points out several problems with macroevolution, then goes on to propose intelligent design as a viable alternative without pointing to any particular designer.  Here’s my question: do you want your kids to be a taught a theory which has flaws in it, and the book which shows the flaws in it has been banned?  

This is not good science and it is not good education.

Secondly, let’s talk about the legal grounds of objection.  I said earlier that the objection was made on the grounds of the First Amendment, which is often referred to as “The separation of church and state.”  Here’s the kicker: those words are nowhere in the Constitution. 

Here’s what the First Amendment says:

                “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

In this circumstance, did Congress make any law respecting the establishment of religion?  No.  As a matter of fact, this text does not respect the establishment of religion.  As a matter of fact, I would argue that the case’s decision was ultimately an infringement of the First Amendment.

In the decision, the following was stated:

The school board was barred from “maintaining the ID Policy in any school within the Dover Area School District, from requiring teachers to denigrate or disparage the scientific theory of evolution, and 

from requiring teachers to refer to a religious, alternative theory known as ID.”

On the surface, this appears to say that the board cannot force teachers to teach something against their beliefs.  That is good.  However, what does this mean in practicality?  If you are an evolutionist, you’re protected.  You can preach evolution in the classroom until your feet fall off and you collapse of hunger.  Believe intelligent design?  Tough luck.  Done your homework and believe that evolution is flawed?  Too bad.  Your beliefs are not as valid as the evolutionists and therefore you have to teach evolution.  This is respecting establishment of beliefs.  We may not call it a religion, but the same concept is there. 

The unfortunate truth as that as upset as we may or may not be about this case, the damage has been done.  This is why it is more important now than ever to educate ourselves and others about evolution and intelligent design so we can counteract the bias within our current system.  At the end of the day, we cannot blame our society on the school system.  It is the responsibility of parents as well as individuals to educate their kids (and themselves).  We were asking for trouble when we made the education system the parents of our children.

Don’t eat what others feed you.

Before you comment a single word, search the facts.  The facts from both sides.

Intellectual honesty is the path to freedom.

                                                                                                                             

The Birth of a Tragedy

They have my undivided attention.

I remember 9/11 pretty well.  I was sitting in the living room of our old house in Orleans watching the television in horror as my 8-year old brain digested an all-too-obvious yet still terrifying fact: we have been attacked.  I didn’t think it was possible.  America was always an impenetrable fortress in my mind and war a thing of history that wouldn’t ever happen to us again, at least not in my lifetime.  Yet I watched those assumptions melt away before my very eyes.  The worst part was that, at the time, we didn’t know who was attacking us or why.  Even for an 8-year-old child who couldn’t fully understand the situation, it was terrifying. 

I thought that would be a unique event in my lifetime. 

It hasn’t been.

Columbine.  Virginia Tech.  Sandy Hook.  These tragedies struck our hearts at their core as we mourned for the innocent victims mercilessly slaughtered like animals.  Then, while we were busy contemplating gun control, two young men decided to blow up some runners at the Boston Marathon. 

I was horrified. Beyond horrified.  These terrorists didn’t even make a public proclamation like self-righteous jihad killers.  They just wanted to kill some people.  Bloody.  Violent.  Twisted.  Evil.  That’s how we see this, and I concur with every fiber of my being.  I pump my fist along with the crowds who call for their lives as penalty.  I feel disgusted.  I feel wronged.  I feel attacked. 

I am tired.  Tired of feeling afraid.  Tired of feeling in danger.  Tired of feeling wary that anyone on the street could be the next sadistic maniac to pull out a Glock and start shooting people or pull a hunting knife and start stabbing everyone.  None of us “sign up” for life, but none of us would have signed up for this. 

I want to do something.  I want to take all weapons from everyone, take all of the mentally unstable individuals and lock them up, anything to stop this from happening again.  But here’s the honest fact: I can’t stop it. 

If we know a man named Steve will be the next killer, we can’t stop it.  We take the guns, he’ll use a knife.  We take the knives, he’ll use a bow.  We take the bows, he’ll use a hammer.  We take the hammers, he’ll use a club.  It’s pretty hard to outlaw wood.

We’ve been treating the symptoms and not the problem.  The problem is in our spiritual condition.  We as humans are to blame.  We have been acting out in rebellion to God as long as history has come and gone and this is what we reap for our actions.  We have been begging for a society without God.  As He does when asked, He is bowing out, and this is what it looks like.  Is this really what we want?