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Sex as God, gross and gift
Q:Do your religious beliefs exalt or stigmatize sex (or both)? Is religion a useful tool for helping young people navigate the treacherous world of sex, love and relationships? Does religion present an alternative view of sex and sexual relationships to the culture at large? Should it?
Worship is giving our money, body, and life to a person or thing as our highest commitment or functional god. Practically, this means that sex is a worship act and beds are really altars.
Religious belief systems have always held widely divergent views regarding sexuality. The three most prominent views are sex as god, gross, or gift.
The view that sex is god has a long history. From the days of the Old Testament, various nations had fertility cults and various religions had temples that included male and female prostitutes, such as the Temple of Aphrodite. Canaanite gods were depicted naked and were honored with erotic poetry. Asherah poles were male phallic symbols used as gathering places for orgies. Some religions even had manuals for sexuality, such as the Kama Sutra.
Those who see sex as a functional god use it for identity, pleasure, reward, and comfort. Furthermore, those who hold sex as a god tend to evangelize others, encouraging them to join in and worship their god by participating in whatever their sexual preferences and practices are. This explains why in America today there is nothing short of a religious zeal for sex of all kinds. We now spend more money every year on pornography than all professional football, baseball, and basketball franchises combined; more than the combined revenues of ABC, CBS, and NBC; and roughly the same amount as we give to foreign aid. The number one consumer of porn is twelve- to seventeen-year-old boys, who now expect their girlfriends to send them naked photos that they can keep on their phones and forward to their buddies.
In an overreaction to those who treat sex as god are those more prudishly religious people who instead see sex as gross. In the days of the early Greeks (who saw the body as an undesirable shell for the soul to be shed at death), many Stoic philosophers taught that sex was only for procreation and that celibacy was a desirable lifestyle. Sadly, many of the early church fathers in Christianity were influenced heavily by this erroneous thinking. Tertullian and Ambrose preferred the extinction of humanity to sex. Origen not only allegorized the biblical love story of the Song of Songs, but also castrated himself. Chrysostom taught that Adam and Eve did not have sex before the fall. Jerome was known to throw himself into sticker bushes when sexually tempted. Gregory of Nyssa said Adam and Eve were without sexual desire until sin entered the world, and that she became pregnant by eating a special plant from the Garden of Eden.
Some years later, the Catholic Church forbade priests to marry, regulated sexual frequency, positions, and sensations for married couples, and went so far as to ban marital intercourse for a total of roughly half of the year. Today, this kind of thinking is promulgated perhaps most emphatically in exceedingly conservative, fundamentalist churches and their youth ministries, where they teach students that sex is dirty, nasty, vile, wrong, and to be saved for the one you love, which is an inherently confusing message.
According to the Bible, sex was God's idea. The Bible starts by revealing that God made us male and female with bodies built for sexual pleasure. God also created the covenant of marriage as the hearth in which the passionate flame of sexual desire is to be contained and enjoyed.
The Bible says that sex serves many purposes, such as:
1. Pleasure (Song of Songs is an entire book on this fact)
2. Children (Genesis 1:28)
3. Oneness (Genesis 2:24)
4. Knowledge (Genesis 4:1)
5. Comfort (2 Samuel 12:24)
6. Protection from sexual sin (1 Corinthians 7:2-5)
Furthermore, the biblical book Song of Songs gives great liberty for sexual freedom in marriage, including:
1. Kissing (1:2)
2. Oral sex (fellatio), by her initiative (2:3)
3. Manual stimulation, by her invitation (2:6)
4. Petting, by his initiative (4:5)
5. Oral sex (cunnilingus), by his initiative (4:12-5:1)
6. Striptease (6:13-7:9)
7. New places, including the outdoors, and positions, by her initiative (7:11-13)
Therefore, biblical Christianity promotes free and frequent sex solely in the context of marriage. In an age of sexual abuse, sexual addiction, sexual prostitution and slavery, sexually transmitted diseases, and unwanted pregnancies, the timeless wisdom of Scripture provides timely counsel for a culture that worships sex with all the passion of a fundamentalist religion.
By
Mark Driscoll
|
April 26, 2010; 11:46 AM ET
| Category:
sexuality
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Posted by: reformissionary | May 3, 2010 10:20 PM
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Thank the Lord for Pastor John MacArthur and his always Biblically sound comments. MacArthur does not judge the man (Driscoll). He knows only God will do that one day. MacArthur is condemning what is unscriptural. Sure, Song of Solomon is lovely BUT what Driscoll does is bring it to a stage and makes crass jokes along with crude language to a pulpit. 'very contrary too Phil.4:8 Church is not sex therapy nonsense. Heb.13:4
Driscoll is no pastor and he needs to step down. Of course there will be many who enjoy this kind of show. I pray for repentance. What is most important is the message of the cross- repentant faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior. Mark 1:15 and 2 Cor. 5:21
Posted by: DMG2 | April 28, 2010 10:22 PM
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Good information. In case anuone wondering what Islam says on this topic. Islam allows freedom within marriage but in Islam there is emphasis on covering up so outdoors are not allowed. Quran also says that spouse should comfort each other and should seek content from each other. There are no guidelines or restrictions on positions or what not, what the married couple prefers to do details are left up to them. Individual are restricted to have sex only with a partner they are married to. Getting married is highly encouraged. Wife and husband both are required to fulfill their duties toward each other, they are not allowed to abandon the other. In case things are not working out and husband or wife do not want to have sex with the other they are recommended to get divorce than staying in the marriage and depriving the other for long period of time. But in all other cases divorce is not encouraged and both wife and husband are required to put in efforts to make it work.
Posted by: sfoziak | April 28, 2010 2:23 PM
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Thanks Mark for the article. What good are we if we cannot bring the relevancy of God to the marketplace like you have done.
Somebody please send kill-joy John McArthur a muzzle.
Posted by: change4now | April 28, 2010 8:05 AM
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OH that was sandrajune, not Pastor John MacArthur. Argh. Sorry about that mix-up. Long day. Ignore my previous comment please!
Posted by: melissa11 | April 27, 2010 10:18 PM
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I am deeply saddened by Pastor John MacArthur's judgement of Pastor Mark Driscoll's motives. I deeply respect both men, and learn a lot from both of their teaching. I think there is a generational thing at work...veterans generation's point of view clashing with generation X. Praying about this.
Posted by: melissa11 | April 27, 2010 10:16 PM
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Song of Solomon is a beautiful book about love that has it's proper place, and Driscoll is only sensationalizing it for his own gain by taking off it's poetic cover and enumerating his translation of the permitted sexuality contained therein.
Quote from John MacArthur:
Let's be candid: to a very large degree the whole notion of contextualization has been commandeered as an excuse for carnal minds poisoned by overexposure to smut. Some people just love the sound of filthy words, and they and feed their egos with the shockwaves that kind of language generates. The more the church wants to be like the world, the more that attitude will dominate.
http://www.gty.org/Resources/Articles/A362_Sound-Doctrine-Sound-Words?q=driscoll
For those that seek a less racy and less worldly view on Song of Solomon, I suggest James McDonald's "Romantic Love: How to Light the Fire and Keep It Burning: Four messages from Song of Solomon"
http://store.walkintheword.com/p-1093-romantic-love-how-to-light-the-fire-and-keep-it-burning-four-messages-from-song-of-solomon.aspx
To Mark I can paraphrase one scripture:
"Woe to Mark Driscoll, a man of unclean lips." You'd be really good to the kingdom of God if you'd stop trying to grab worldly attention and instead focus on preaching God's word to the lost.
Posted by: sandrajune | April 27, 2010 7:05 PM
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Thanks for this clear, concise article on a biblical view of sex. Keep up the good work, Mark!
Posted by: andrewmeredith | April 27, 2010 12:21 PM
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Great insights, Mark! The Bible teaches freedom (inside marriage) when it comes to sex, not fear...
Posted by: barberjo | April 27, 2010 12:16 PM
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Johnny Mac's anti-Driscoll rants remind me of the pathetic end-of-life anti-Semitic ranting of Luther. Not enough to discredit his life's work, but not a very good example of ending the race strong either. Sad, sad, sad.