Tuesday February 11, 2003

~ Sexuality ~

This post is going to be hard for me. I pray that God will speak through me…

     A topic that I think I would prefer to altogether avoid, but when I think about it, perhaps that is more reason to take it on… It is a part of our daily lives and it is a part of what makes me… well, me. Same goes for you. It has gotten so much of a bad reputation such that we avoid sexuality altogether, except for perhaps a couple dirty jokes now and then… talking about Birds & Bees doesn’t cut it. Telling dirty jokes doesn’t really help either. So I will try to take a look into how God perceives sexuality, seeing that should give us a better grasp of how it should be dealt with, no? I sure hope so, I get the distinct feeling I am completely out of my element when I try to examine my own heart… God, show me what you think, it’s better that way.

No Israelite man or woman is to become a shrine prostitute. You must not bring the earnings of a female prostitute or of a male prostitute inot the house of the Lord your God to pay any vow, because the Lord your God detests them both.

— Deuteronomy 23:17-18 —

Drink water from your own cistern,
   running waters from your own well.
Should your springs overflow in the streets,
   your streams of water in the public squares?
Let them be yours alone,
   never to be shared with strangers.
May your fountain be blessed,
   and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.
A loving doe, a graceful deer –
   may her breasts satisfy you always,
   may you ever be captivated by her love.
Why be captivated, my son, by an adulteress?
   Why embrace the bosom of another man’s wife?

— Proverbs 5:15-20 —

she shall be brought to the door of her father’s house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death. She has done a disgraceful thing in Israel by being promiscuous while still in her father’s house. You must purge the evil from among you.

— Deuteronomy 22:21 —

Now Dinah, the daughter Leah had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the women of the land. When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, the ruler of that area, saw her, he took her and violated her.
…
Now Jacob’s sons had come in from the fields as soon as they heard what had happened. They were filled with grief and fury, because Shechem had done a disgraceful thing in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter – a thing that should not be done.

— Genesis 34:1-2 & 7 —

Now for the matter your wrote about: It is good for a man not to marry. But since there is so much immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband. The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. The wife’s body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband’s body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife. Do not deprive each other except by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. I say this as a concession, not as a command.

— 1 Corinthians 7:1-6 —

It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God;

— 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5 —

How delightful is your love, my sister, my bride!
 How much more pleasing is your love than win,
 and the fragrance of your perfume than any spice!
Your lips drop sweetness as the honeycomb, my bride;
 milk and honey are under your tongue.
 The fragrance of your garments is like that of Lebanon.
You are a garden locked up, my sister, my bride;
 you are a spring enclosed, a sealed fountain.

— Song of Songs 4:10-12 —

Perhaps sexuality is too broad a topic to address in a single post… I’m getting confused… does it show?

*sits down among all the biblical references and falls asleep sorting though it*

~ next day ~

*wakes up, chats with God, and gets back to it*

     Shrine prostitutes are objectionable to God. He doesn’t even want their earnings. So the question that always comes up, why? I think that selling sex for money is the problem. Two strangers meeting up for sex, basically, you are buying what you see. LUST. Now there is a subject that is found throughtout the bible. So it seems to me that mixing sex with lust makes for an ugly combination according to Deuteronomy 23 (prostitution) and Matthew 5 (lust).
     So if we keep along this line of thought… of eliminating lust, we hit upon sexual sins caused by lust. Being promiscuous (Deuteronomy 23) and rape (Genesis 34) are just a pair of examples, I’m sure I could dig up more… so what are we to do about sexuality? How do we keep from sinning sexually when it seems apparent that love at first sight is another word for lust? Can you trust your heart? Somehow, I think not… (I can dig up the verse, but there seems to be alot of verses as it is… ^.^;;)
     “each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable”… sounds reasonable to me… hard, but not impossible with God. So the sexual control should be by holy and honor… what does that mean? I think it means we should place control of our sexual issues with God. If you note the last part of that verse, it notes: “who do not know God” So the control seems to stem from our Lord God, not within our hearts… Can our hearts control bodies in a way that is holy and honorable? The resounding answer for me, is no. I have tried and failed already, so my trust and hope in sexual matters lies with God and no longer with me. How about you? 
     So what kind of sexuality is pleasing to God? If I am trying to please God in every way, I have to find out what are God’s thoughts on the right way to deal with sexual matters. Looking at Proverbs 5, we see references to all sorts of sources of water…followed by references to a wife. I think this water is really speaking about the wife. Speaking about not sharing these waters… keeping them from strangers.
     So your wife is yours. Does this make her your possession? Think again guys! We are all sons and daughters of God first and foremost. So your husband is also yours. “The wife’s body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband’s body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife. ” Equality in sexuality. hmm… perhaps this “becoming one flesh” stuff is making more sense, yes?
     So within the confines of marriage is where sex should reside. It seems rather apparent that sex outside of marriage is more dangerous than not… My personal experiences confirm this. Love is very hard to see when lust is clouding your vision. There is nothing wrong with beauty, but it is lust, the need to possess, that is a sin. So admire beauty, but avoid the pitfall that is lust.

— Prayer requests —

  Father God, I come before you to speak about a sister. You know who I’m talking about. She knows what is right, what is true… but she does not apply your commands in her life, Father. I place her into Your hands. Your Will is better than our plans. All the time! 
  Why do we acknowledge You with our lips alone? Why do we insist on doing things our way, when Your ways are so much better? Why am I so baka? The Holy Spirit compels me, and still I hold back. Your love lays over me like new fallen snow upon the ground, and still I keep pieces of myself from you.Is there any excuse for such actions? All I can do is look to Jesus and pray for forgiveness.
  For when I am judged by my own standards, I fail even those. My integrity is nothing. The truth hits like a chisel and Your Law hammers it in… Father, forgive me and help me to turn from my sins and turn to You. You know what I need, who I am, what is going on better than I know myself… I pray all this in the only name in whom we can find salvation, Amen.

God gave me this verse today…

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

— John 8:12 —

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