Part 3: what The Bible Actually Means

As I told a young friend the other day:

there is no scripture that says sex outside of marriage is wrong. That’s not what the bible says. It is, however, what the bible means. Which is why it’s more important that we know what the bible actually means than that we be quotologists. The bible never says sex outside of marriage is wrong, mainly because, in those times, it really didn't need to be said. It was a morally reprehensible offense to even touch a girl or a woman intimately unless you were married to her. Joseph offered to send Mary away so she wouldn't be shamed by her premarital pregnancy. But, per that example, the shame fell mostly on the women, as men could either pay a fine, marry the girl, or enlist the woman as a concubine. Joseph could have broken off his engagement and had Mary stoned to death. So even the morality of that day was problematic. One way of moving away from a moral argument is to substitute the subjective word "fornication" with the more objective word "purity." There's so much less to argue about with the word "purity," because, while not problem-free, this is a word that need not pass a moral test. We should remain pure. Purity is surely a desired component of holiness, which IS something God demands of us [1 Peter 1:15-16]. Again, this is not a specific law against sex, but it is a component of a sound doctrine of sexual purity.

It’s not the sex act in and of itself that disturbs our covenant with God, but rather the impurity of that act, of joining ourselves with another person [I Cor 6:15] outside of a covenant God can bless and ordain. Celibacy outside of marriage should be a product of our choice to follow Christ, not an edict from City Hall. Not a law to transgress, but a sacrifice of our bodies [Romans 12] and our hearts to God. This is what the bible means, which is equally as important as knowing what the bible says. God wants us to keep ourselves pure and untainted by the world’s values and customs [Philippians 2:15] so we can be effective for His purpose and so we can know Him better (the word "purity" often referring to sexual chastity but also meaning pure motives and pure of "heart").

Biologically, abstinence is tough. It’s no joke. Most of us simply can’t do it. Many of us stopped trying. Our moral failure in this area becomes our stumbling block. We never reach our full potential. Pastors are brought low by sexual immorality. And the whole deal—Christianity—becomes a tough sell because the world sees us as hypocrites, holding up a "biblical moral standard" that is so high not even the "moral" Christians themselves can sustain it.

I like Holman (right). I use the Holman Bible dict-

ionary most every day. But here, again, he uses the word "fornication" as boilerplate and suggests the bible instructs us to have monogamous married relationships, which the bible does not. He also quotes several scriptures regarding fornication out of context, places where Paul wasn't talking universally about sex outside of marriage but incest and sex with prostitutes. Paul didn't speak a lot about sex outside of marriage because, culturally, it was generally understood to be shameful. When he spoke of fornication, he was usually speaking of specific immoral acts rather than what we now interpret as speaking in universal and general terms about sex outside of marriage. It is important the seeker understand Paul almost never spoke universally: he was usually speaking to somebody about something. His teaching is God-inspired, God-breathed and useful for God's church, but we simply must take the time to understand who Paul was talking to and what was going on in that place at that time so we can put an end to our tradition of misusing the Pauline epistles by insisting on a Ten Commandments-style universality those letters never claimed to have. By trying to make Paul's letters be more than what they were, we actually diminish what they are. As Bishop Shelby Spong said, “To treat the words of Paul as if they were the inerrant Word of God... presents us with far more problems than it solves. Such a claim suggests that to be a Christian requires the abdication of the mind to cultural patterns long since abandoned.” He continues: “Because I believe those words to be in touch with something eternal, transcendent, and holy, I want to rescue them from the hands of those who by claiming too much will finally accomplish too little. If the words of Paul cannot be broken loose from the cultural accretions and presuppositions of a first-century mindset, they will never speak to this generation.” This Paul-as-God business is the bedrock of some of the church's more oppressive dogma, including the continuing oppression of women and the black church's romance with the year 1965. Elevating the words of Paul to the Word of God is incredibly bad doctrine. Holman's summary, right, is generally useful if, in my opinion, flawed by using the word "fornication" as boilerplate without parsing it properly: CONTINUES BELOW

Nobody actually lives this way.

I know of precious few single or divorced Christians who practice celibacy. Well, some practice, but they're not very good at it. What I see is an endless pattern of failure, conviction and repentance, only to start over again, which is, by definition, bondage. My mother was a single parent. Her daughter is a single parent. Her daughter’s daughter is a single parent. Babies everywhere. Daddies nowhere to be found. And these people are all “Christians.” This is what your child sees: moral failure. They see moral failure mainly because (1) you are equating spirituality with morality and (2) your standard of morality is an implausible if not impossible one to sustain.

Instead of holding abstinence up as an ethical or moral device, as a measure of character, abstinence should be seen in a more spiritual light which substitutes trust, faith, hope and love for the crime-and-punishment extremes of a moral test. We should keep ourselves pure not because we fear punishment but because we love God. Abstinence in schools isn't effective because schools push God out of the equation. Abstinence only works when it is in service of a purpose or goal. Without a personal relationship with Christ, chastity for chastity's sake has not much appeal to young persons. But a value-based decision, to give oneself bodily to God, is an effective motivator.

The Holy Spirit absolutely can keep us, can preserve

us, but first we must want to be preserved. Our will must be that we want to remain pure, that we're tired of the seesaw. Sexually active people have trained their bodies to expect and to need sexual stimulation. Like an addiction, it's tough to just go cold turkey, which is why most singles fail. But what they teach you in abstinence class is absolutely true: you can take control of your own body if you really want to. If you're willing to tough out the withdrawal pains and humble yourself enough to trust a sponsor, a prayer partner to keep you honest. If you'll pick up the phone and call that prayer partner when you feel yourself getting weak. If you'll get a bicycle and go ride it off. Run it off. Dance it off. If you'll keep yourself busy with projects and motivated with prayer.

Masturbation can be like sexual Methadone, easing the withdrawal symptoms. I mean, you're a lot less likely to be tempted by Leroy if you ruin your appetite for him before he comes around. But be aware masturbation has its own pitfalls, not the least of which is your substituting one addiction for another. Addiction to pornography and masturbation itself are real risks, not to mention the sin of lusting in your heart [Matt 5:27-30]. It can also work against you in that it may actually fuel your desire for sexual intimacy as masturbation, ultimately, becomes unsatisfying; one French fry short of a Happy Meal. Eventually you'll want the whole Big Mac combo. Lastly, masturbation is ultimately selfish: there's no giving in it. Over time, you develop a lot of bad habits, habits men, especially, tend to bring into their intimate relationships and marriages. Couples engaging in mutual masturbation may find a procedure loophole in that no vaginal intercourse has taken place, but this business is a joke: sexual intimacy is sexual intimacy. A line is being crossed, whether there is technical penetration or not, and you guys are playing with fire. This is High School stuff: fooling around to the point where the difference between what you are doing and "actual sex" is largely rhetorical. This is how teens get pregnant: telling themselves they'll only go but so far, but boiling the water to the point where the difference between what they're doing and penetration is, maybe, a sneeze.

God wants you to be pure. God wants you to give yourself to Him.
And He deserves better than you lying to yourself.

Abstinence can't be this thing you do because you're afraid of Hell.
That's a result-oriented position that will always fail you. Rather, abstinence has to become a lifestyle one adopts. Diets don't work: if you want to lose weight, you have to change how you live. Cut out the sugar, cut out the salt, eat smaller portions, work out hard several days a week. And do it for life. Forever. Because, the minute you stop, you'll blow up like the Goodyear blimp again. And that's what abstinence is: it is a way of life. It's not a punishment. It's not a phase you grow out of. Eventually, your body will adapt. We are living organisms. Organisms always adapt themselves to new conditions. Just like dieting, your body will, sooner or later, respond to what you are doing. It'll be incredibly tough at first, but hang in there. Get help to hang in there. Sex is no different from cigarettes or coffee: it takes strength and lots of patience to wean yourself away from it. You'll slip. You'll cheat. Don't get discouraged, don't give in. Start over. Twenty, thirty times, start over. But stop letting guilt eat you alive: God is your Father. He loves You. He gave His life for you. The least we all can do is give our lives—including our sex lives—back to Him.

It may take months, but I promise you, sooner or later, the organism adapts. You're riding twenty miles a day on your bike. You're working out at the gym, you're involved in community service, you're taking extra classes. You've filled that void with other things, and your body will eventually adapt to it. Which isn't to say the craving goes away—call the paramedics if that happens—but that it becomes manageable. You become the master of you. You are no longer a slave to your desires. You have learned how to wait on God, how to be patient with Him. On the other side of the storm is a wonderful, unparalleled sense of peace. Peace, first and foremost, with yourself, knowing you're not hiding something, not feeling guilty about something. You don't have to remember who you told what to. You're off the seesaw. The emotional highs and lows even out.

And, even better, you are once again useful to God.

When I was seeing a woman who had three daughters, I would always leave the house around bedtime. My friend would invite me to stay, so we could relax after the kids went upstairs, but this was the mother of three daughters. It was important, I said, that the girls see me go home. That they understood that I'd left, that they didn’t wonder what we were doing down there. That’s the kind of sacrifice God wants us to make, the kind of example He wants us to set, putting our needs on hold and avoiding opportunities for the enemy to influence our children or to tempt us. Abstaining from sex shouldn’t be about some moral law. It should be about sacrifice, about giving a gift back to God. About keeping ourselves pure, About wanting to be pure, rather than remaining abstinent out of fear of hell.

Reconciling sinners back to God—that’s the only standard the bible holds up. The rest of it, the “moral” majority and all of that—is us, is our choices and our expression of that belief. Keeping your drawers on should be more about wanting to please God than it is about breaking His law. We all break His law, every day. None of us can be saved by keeping the Law, so, as an enforcer of human behavior, the Law fails and fails miserably as Hell is what we all deserve anyway. Preserving sexual intimacy for a time and an environment, a covenant, that welcomes God should be our choice. Not because we fear God but because we love Him. Because we trust Him with our future. It is not enough to simply believe, your belief must find disciplined expression. Sacrifice your own needs, your own desires. Give everything you have—your body, your needs and desires—give it all to God. Let Him sort it out. Which isn’t to suggest you’ll never be tempted or that you won’t succumb to that temptation. But the emptiness you’ll feel on the other side of that temptation should fairly scream at you about how poor a choice that was.

When we are estranged from God, we should feel homesick. We should want to go home, to be back in our Savior’s arms. I hate feeling homesick. I hate feeling estranged from God. For me, not wanting to be estranged from God is more a governor of moral conduct than any preacher’s threat could be. ‘Cause I know, eight or even nine times out of ten, that preacher can’t close the deal on moral teaching because he himself feels convicted about who he’s spending the night with. Therefore my compass, my rationale for policing my own behavior, is not judgment but love. To love God more than myself means I want to please God more than I want to do what I want to do.

Which may not be exactly what the bible says, but it is surely what the bible means.

Christopher J. Priest
14 September 2008
editor@praisenet.org

Part 4: How Not To Settle For Second Best