Sex, Gender and the Bible
A Proposed Constitutional Amendment Codifying Marriage Entirely on Biblical Principles:Marriage in the United States shall consist of a union between one man and one or more women.(Genesis 29:17-28; 11 Samuel 3:2-5.) Marriage shall not impede a man's right to take concubines in addition to his wife or wives. (11 Samuel 5:13;1 Kings 11:3; 11 Chronicles 11:21) A marriage shall be considered valid only if the wife is a virgin. If the wife is not a virgin, she shall be executed. (Deuteronomy 22:13-21) Marriage of a believer and a non-believer shall be forbidden. (Genesis 24:3; Numbers 25:1-9; Ezra 9:12; Nehemiah 10:30) Since marriage is for life, neither this constitution nor the constitution of any state, nor any state or federal law, shall be construed to permit divorce. (Deuteronomy 22:19; Mark 10:9) If a married man dies without children, his brother shall marry the widow. If he refuses to marry his brother’s widow or deliberately does not give her children, he shall pay a fine of one shoe and be otherwise punished in a manner to be determined by law. (Genesis 38:6-10, Deuteronomy 25:5-10) Yes, we’re approaching a hot topic, one often rife with psychic clutter. We all have beliefs about sex, fantasies about sex, and then our behavior in the sexual realm, both public and private. Seldom do all these match. Most of us who were raised in a Judeo-Christian culture, or are living in a culture dominated by Judeo-Christian thought, have collected a great deal of psychic clutter around sex. As a youth, if you “played with yourself,” until ejaculation, you were guilty of “spilling your seed upon the ground.” Clutter right away. I had a young relative who at the age of three used her pacifier to “pleasure” herself. Or if in early adolescence you had a nocturnal emission, there was likely to be misunderstanding, confusion, and embarrassment, creating more clutter. My first experience of sexual arousal came at church, sitting in the balcony with friends, listening intently to a particularly forceful speaker. I just had a warm feeling between my legs and desire to listen to that speaker forever. Did I tell anyone? Absolutely not! Others may have had open peer relationships, possibly providing additional sources of clutter. I was on my own. Numerous debates rage on the subject of human sexuality. Everyone has an opinion. Impartiality would be rare in this climate of trying to convince others of our truth, while pointing out the errors in theirs. We have those who believe that anything that occurs in nature is ordained by God as “normal” and “healthy.” That belief applied to humans might put us in the same category as geese, which, according to J. Masson [When Elephants Weep: The Emotional Lives of Animals, 1995], are commonly believed to “mate for life.” But in truth the male of the species mates with as many females as he can find, leaves them to raise his young and then returns the following season. If that behavior were practiced in humans, it certainly wouldn’t appear normal or healthy to many of us. According to Jane Goodall, with our closest genetic cousins, the chimpanzees, “Sexual relationships between male and female chimpanzees are in large part similar to those that can be observed among many young people in England and America today. In other words, chimpanzees are very promiscuous, but this does not mean that every female will accept every male who courts her.”[In the Shadow of Man, 1972] We have the religious legalists that make rules for sexual behavior, and the Bible has rules that cover the gamut from prostitution, polygamy, even murder to free up the victim’s wife, and how to effect an easy divorce to the prohibition of divorce altogether. It even covers sexual fantasies (Matt 5:28). Beliefs about our sexual expression vary wildly with each proponent of a particular lifestyle holding his or her beliefs as right. What are your beliefs? Are they different from those of your peer group? Do you know what your peer group believes? When you examine your clutter, you are available to more life-affirming beliefs. Excerpted from Confession Is Good for More than the Soul Feel free to call or email with questions 801.531.0600 |
I received the following as an email without attribution:
