RESURRECTED SEX
"NO SEX BEFORE MARRIAGE. ANY QUESTIONS?"
~ The Church, in general, on the ethnics of sex.
What are we, as christians, to do with our bodies? How are we to live relationally moral lives in these fleshy shells that our spirits are housed in? Curtis led an extremely engaging discussion, albeit blushingly, on sex and marriage. And I am deeply affirmed.
The church cannot and should not smack down rules for relationships and 'dating'. Oh it goes way beyond that! A new and Christ-centered perspective is required to shape our ethics on dating and sex. It is not a question of what we do so much as it is a question of who we are. The Levitican law on sex (e.g. no sex with your aunt, your sister, your father, your mother, your pet and no sacrificing your kid to Molech) stood less as moral guidelines for the personal/private life as it stood to create a seperate and distinct culture for God's choosen people. It wasn't what they did that took center stage, it was who they were. And who they were is inextricably defined by who God is.
So what of sex and marriage? The church needs a completely different discourse and rethoric in engaging its people on this topic. The tendency to speak in positivist and scientific terms deviates our gaze from the cross unto the idol of morality. But the problem we generate is that the buck stops there - at the physical action. And this is not the point! The point of marriage and ultimately, sex, is directly related to the missional (not just missionary!) calling to the Church. Our sexual relationships are meant to preach the gospel to a world that cannot understand the cross or the resurrection. Sex, is never private. It is taken in the context of a larger community and our attitudes toward it are cultivated according that communities beliefs.
Oh how we need a church that does not slap you with unsound and unethical rules and that rather, walks with, engages and mentors as we struggle through relationships and our questions of being. Rules stand as markers of our failure to be a community. What, we cannot pass on the truth of the Living God through lives and must depend on hollow words to uphold our community and ethics? It's like the television as a baby sitter - Law as identity giver.
So what are we to do? There is a deep need to understand how sex and ultimately ethics must be seen in the light of the Cross. Here is how we live out our identity, instead of suffering mindlessly under the yoke of rules and regulations. Here is how we learn to engage each other, and delve into honesty with our community. To speak open of sex and dating, in a healthy and god-fearing fashion, will necessitate accountability and discipleship. Heck, to live the Christian faith necessitates accountability and discipleship.
And marriage? The cornerstone of the family. The public declaration of love and microcosm of God's love for man. It is the process of being shaped, of learning to pour yourself out for another. Selfishness in such close proximity only kills.
I'd never tell a kid not to have sex before marriage. I'd never tell him to have sex before marriage. I think we give the wrong answers to the wrong questions.
"NO SEX BEFORE MARRIAGE. ANY QUESTIONS?"
~ The Church, in general, on the ethnics of sex.
What are we, as christians, to do with our bodies? How are we to live relationally moral lives in these fleshy shells that our spirits are housed in? Curtis led an extremely engaging discussion, albeit blushingly, on sex and marriage. And I am deeply affirmed.
The church cannot and should not smack down rules for relationships and 'dating'. Oh it goes way beyond that! A new and Christ-centered perspective is required to shape our ethics on dating and sex. It is not a question of what we do so much as it is a question of who we are. The Levitican law on sex (e.g. no sex with your aunt, your sister, your father, your mother, your pet and no sacrificing your kid to Molech) stood less as moral guidelines for the personal/private life as it stood to create a seperate and distinct culture for God's choosen people. It wasn't what they did that took center stage, it was who they were. And who they were is inextricably defined by who God is.
So what of sex and marriage? The church needs a completely different discourse and rethoric in engaging its people on this topic. The tendency to speak in positivist and scientific terms deviates our gaze from the cross unto the idol of morality. But the problem we generate is that the buck stops there - at the physical action. And this is not the point! The point of marriage and ultimately, sex, is directly related to the missional (not just missionary!) calling to the Church. Our sexual relationships are meant to preach the gospel to a world that cannot understand the cross or the resurrection. Sex, is never private. It is taken in the context of a larger community and our attitudes toward it are cultivated according that communities beliefs.
Oh how we need a church that does not slap you with unsound and unethical rules and that rather, walks with, engages and mentors as we struggle through relationships and our questions of being. Rules stand as markers of our failure to be a community. What, we cannot pass on the truth of the Living God through lives and must depend on hollow words to uphold our community and ethics? It's like the television as a baby sitter - Law as identity giver.
So what are we to do? There is a deep need to understand how sex and ultimately ethics must be seen in the light of the Cross. Here is how we live out our identity, instead of suffering mindlessly under the yoke of rules and regulations. Here is how we learn to engage each other, and delve into honesty with our community. To speak open of sex and dating, in a healthy and god-fearing fashion, will necessitate accountability and discipleship. Heck, to live the Christian faith necessitates accountability and discipleship.
And marriage? The cornerstone of the family. The public declaration of love and microcosm of God's love for man. It is the process of being shaped, of learning to pour yourself out for another. Selfishness in such close proximity only kills.
I'd never tell a kid not to have sex before marriage. I'd never tell him to have sex before marriage. I think we give the wrong answers to the wrong questions.
2 comments:
but sex is so much fun. how can someone who hasnt had great sex preach on abstinence?
woah! i didn't nothing this till much later. Uh... I think... we're not called to preach on abstinence, but... on who God is, and how sex is great in that context.
Do i make sense?
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