The conversation that is currently taking place within our culture about sexual ethics is a fascinating one to observe for several reasons.  If you’ve been following the discussion through various forms of media, three things should be abundantly clear by now:

(1) Sex is not (and has never been) purely a physical act.  It involves a person’s whole being.  In fact, it is a moment when a person is most vulnerable in all ways, including emotionally and spiritually.  To reduce sex to a “casual” event that has no lasting impact on a person is to blindly ignore what sex actually is.

(2) Our cavalier approach to sex has inflicted an immense amount of psychological trauma on our society (this proves that my first statement about sex is true).  Just look at the headlines.  Read the stories of women who have been sexually harassed, abused, manipulated, and exploited.  Listen to the sincere hurt that is being expressed on a daily basis by women who have been mistreated and disrespected by men who only see women as sexual objects.  I genuinely hurt for the victims of our “sexual revolution,” but I am praying that this moment in time will open the eyes of our culture to the real, not imagined, damage we are doing to one another with our coarse approach to sex.

(3) Without an objective and transcendent standard of truth and morality, our culture is completely confused about how to address moral and ethical matters.  An astute observer of our society’s conversation about sex will be able to see how inept our secular culture is in determining what behavior is appropriate or inappropriate and why.  But this shouldn’t surprise us.  People who reject the idea of absolute truth and insist that morality is only a social contract that can be repeatedly changed to fit one’s desires are going to look foolish when trying to explain why something is wrong.  This is why the very people who have advocated for and pushed forward sexual “freedom” are having such a hard time “preaching” to the culture about the evils of sexual misbehavior.

So, here’s a few questions…

Why does our society reject the Bible’s teachings on sexual behavior and ethics?

Why does our society still dismiss and make fun of Jesus’ sexual ethic?

Why does our society, in light of all that’s happening now, still not see the Christian view of sex as a viable alternative to the damage that has been done by a “worldly” view of sex?

For example, Ephesians 5:3 says, “But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people.”  While this is written to Christians (and Christians must do a much better job of obeying this command), just imagine if that verse was descriptive of our society.  If we truly took sex seriously and went out of our way to avoid sexual immorality and even the appearance of it, how much better would our culture be?  How much damage would be avoided?  How much better would women have it in our society?

I know that it’s popular to scoff at Jesus’ teachings on sex, but is there really any reason to?  Would following Jesus’ way regarding sexual ethics really be worse than the pain we’ve inflicted on each other by disregarding His way?

There is so much more to say about this, but this post is just a quick thought I wanted to share with you.

But it’s a thought I encourage you to ponder.

Look around you and you will see in the faces of people you know the pain of sexual regret.

Listen up to the conversations people are having in the media about the real damage that has been done because of our arrogant attitude toward sex.

And think…

If only we would take Jesus seriously, our lives would be so much better.

If only we would take Jesus seriously, our culture would be so much more advanced.

If only we would take Jesus seriously, our churches would have more influence.

If only…