Sex. There, we’ve gone and printed it. And we don’t mean “Gender”, as it so indelicately solicits in the immigration forms.
Yes, there are many subjects out there affecting each of us broadly; but this topic has seldom been featured in years of Impact’s existence! Why, we’ve not done anything on Humidity, or Allergies, or Spontaneous Combustion either, have we? Yet this topic persists and preys on us on a regular basis.
Helen Nielsen once said, “Humility is like underwear; essential but indecent if it shows.” And that’s about how it has been with sex in Christian circles! We’re not Victorian prudes — just proper, that’s all. Surely there’s a time and place for everything.
When was the last time you asked advice from your pastor about the “missionary position”? More likely, he has expert advice on postures for prayerfulness, possibly with a mission trip in mind.
When was the last time the preacher mentioned sex from the pulpit? More likely, it was at a wedding ceremony and this was at a hotel venue, not in the hallowed sanctuary built by sacrificial giving from long gone, long dead members.
When was the last time someone at cell group asked if there was such a thing as Christian Pornography? More likely, it was met with a stony silence with some discreet throat clearing, before a voice saved the evening with, “I think I hear the children coming back to join us for supper?”
Makes sense really. Sex for the average Christian is something we know God created, encouraged to enjoy fully within the bonds and bounds of marriage, tastefully addressed in poetry complete with imagery and imagination and, like all good gifts, to be used in moderation with thanksgiving. And always considerate in mutuality.
Hollywood notwithstanding, the saying tantalizes, that “those who do, do; those who don’t, talk about it!” And these days, those who don’t might also seek it out on the internet.
Two findings are furnished here. Daniel Radosh, in his article “Holy Sex” commented: “The canard that conservative Christians believe sex is only for procreation is explicitly refuted by several writers. Citing scripture, they identify numerous reasons God created sex. Procreation is one, but the Bible also encourages sex as a way to strengthen marital bonds, as a defense against indiscriminate lust, and as a means for dispensing comfort. And judging by the allocation of space, the main reason God invented sex is pleasure. Sexual pleasure gets an entire book of the Bible: the Song of Solomon.”
Jack Murnighan, still a self-confessed pagan despite having read the Bible right through, in “Thumping in the Bible: Sex in the Old Testament” observed lightheartedly that between the stories of Abraham and Sarah as well as Lot and his family, sex is no close-closet subject: “Now, mind you, all this has happened in the first twenty pages of the Bible (at least in my edition). This is some kind of book. By comparison, the first twenty pages of Best American Erotica 1999 contain nowhere near as much sex, and a fraction of scandal. True, conventional erotica tends to have more adjective-heavy descriptions of sex than one finds in the Holy Book (the Song of Solomon is the exception, as we will see), but for sheer quantity of nudge-nudge, the Bible is up there.”
An endorsement we don’t need. But it does show that the Bible is really about life in all its beauty and ugliness. It’s no sex manual and was never meant to be. But always, everything in its rightful place.
Enjoy.
Dr Andrew Goh is the editor of Impact.
This article 'Have We Really Missed The Bus?' is featured in Oct/Nov 2018 issue of IMPACT.
SEXUAL FANTASY ... Indulging the imagination
THE MYTH OF FREEDOM WITHOUT COST ... Is everything permissible?
SHE CANNOT WIN FOR WINNING ... The battle of the sexes
HE MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE ... Implications for life
NO STOPPING SEX ... Sounds like love but is it?
CREDO OF A MAN ... Seeing women the way God sees
CREDO OF A WOMEN ... Desiring to be transformed by God
QUESTIONS THAT BEGGED TO BE ASKED (Panel Interview)
NO LONGER HUSH HUSH
... Be bold enough to talk openly
IS GOING TO CHURCH OPTIONAL
... During exam time?
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