[1 Cor. 6:18] “Sexual sin is not the worst of sins, but in some respects we may consider it the most complicated of sins. All dirt should be washed off our hands, but pine sap is harder to get off. Sexual sin entangles in a way that others do not . . . Paul mentions …
The God of Nature Defines Natural
[1 Cor. 6:13] “By way of contrast, fornication was not made for the body. The body was not made for fornication. Contrary to one of the most common lies in this regard, sexual activity with a woman outside a covenant is not ‘natural.’ . . . Many unbelievers think that sexual intercourse is just another …
And Sin is Defined By Scripture, Not by the Genome
“Whether or not homosexual temptation is genetic, heterosexual temptation most certainly is genetic” (Fidelity, p. 41).
What We Think of as Problem Passages Are Often Solution Passages
“More than one Israelite man went to worship the golden calf because there was a good prospect there for getting laid. It sort of gave the ‘golden calf theology’ that little extra appeal. God struck twenty-three thousand of them down because of it. We should be well acquainted with God’s treatment of them, along with …
Sexual Death
“Those who worship sexual pleasure receive, in the long run, the destruction of the thing they worship. Wisdom tells us in Proverbs that all who hate her love death (Prov. 8:36). Those who hate sexual wisdom love sexual death” (Fidelity, p. 32).
Not Wrath for Lust; Lust as Wrath
“Burning lust that overflows is not an example of men getting away from God (as they like to tell themselves); it is an example of the wrath of God catching up with men” (Fidelity, p. 31).
A Work in Process
“The desire which we as Christians must battle is not just a ‘plain vanilla,’ morally neutral, biological desire for sex. We are fallen creatures, and even as Christians our redemption is not yet completed. We must still deal with the fact that we will confront desires, coming from within ourselves, which are attractive to us …
Naming the Problem Rightly
“The problem is not outside ourselves in the x-rated videos, or in the skin magazines, or with the porn on the net, or with Suzy Q sunbathing next door. The problem is within — even within believers. This is simply another way of saying that the problem with pornography is not the pornography” (Fidelity, p. …
In Defense of Plain Speaking
“Ezekiel rails against the adulterous idolatry of the Israelites by using sexual imagery of the most graphic sort. He uses obscenity to reveal the real obscenity of doing such things in defiance of God’s law . . . Ezekiel was more concerned about the obscenity he was exposing than the obscenity he was using . …
Turning Over Flat Rocks
“We live at a time when the world does not hesitate to teach on sexual behavior. Broad evenagelical churches usually mimic the world’s teaching with a thin Christian gloss, and the more conservative churches hesitate to teach on this subject at all. The result is that such things are done among us, but in a …