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Have We Lost Our Collection Minds on Sexuality in America?? - Get Wisdom, Share Christ! - Lessons from Proverbs

5/14/2015

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In reading and studying the book of Proverbs this week, I was reminded how God created the world in his Wisdom to work a certain way, and that it is foolish to go against this created order.

One of the topics covered in Proverbs is sexuality. I could not help think that on this issue, our country has lost its collective mind.
  • LOSS OF GENDER DISTINCTIONS - Facebook now has FIFTY-ONE! gender options to choose from.
  • TRIAL MARRIAGES - Trial marriages of two years with no obligation to continue are now being advocated.
  • UNIVERSAL GAY MARRIAGE and DEATH OF FREE SPEECH - The Supreme Court is likely to rule that gay marriage is a constitutional right--something which no state in the history of humanity legally recognized before the Netherlands around the year 2000; Canada's chilling death of free speech and state control on this issue should be a warning to us of what may soon come
  • OPEN MARRIAGES - I have read article after article saying that the only way to "save" the antiquated institution of marriage today is to have open marriages.
  • MANIPULATION OF SOCIAL DATA - Clear data that indicates that children from gay marriages suffer in such arrangements and that these marriages are vastly more promiscuous and unstable and "controlled out" to only look at "stable" gay marriages--which are a very low percentage"--to fit pre-determined politically correct conclusions.
  • ATTACKS AND CRIES OF BIGOTRY for TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE ADVOCATES - And anyone who says that God and nature teaches us that marriage was intended for a man and a woman--virtually unquestioned in this country for hundreds of years--is now decried as a homophobic bigot--even children of gay marriages who argue for this position and gay rights advocates like Kirsten Powers.
The book of Proverbs repeatedly says "there is a way to a man that seems right, but it leads to death" (14:12). The Father in Proverbs repeatedly entreats his Son to reject the illicit call of lady Folly and instead to follow God's way of Wisdom.

Here is one of the many passages on sexuality from Proverbs:

Drink water from your own cistern,
running water 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 intoxicated with her love.
Why, my son, be intoxicated with another man’s wife?
Why embrace the bosom of a wayward woman?
For your ways are in full view of the LORD,
and he examines all your paths. (Proverbs 5:15-21 TNIV).

Such a teaching today on sexuality, if discussed in the public square, would be decried as bigoted (why only a man and a woman), antiquated (stay with the wife of your youth--who does that?), boring (what, no sex with strangers or another's man's wife?), and naive (what does love have to do with sexuality?). 

But Proverbs and the rest of the Bible teaches us that it takes a transformation of the heart to hear the call of Wisdom. And that is only possible through an encounter with Jesus Christ and the giving of a new heart and new spirit through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in our lives (Ezek. 36:26f). 

So, to our fellow Christ-followers, while we rightly mourn the ungodliness of the world and the ungodliness that can be found in our own hearts, we cannot preach moralism to the world.The world will only accept God's Wisdom by encountering "Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption" (1 Cor. 1:30). (For more on how Jesus Christ leads us to accept Wisdom from God, click here.)


If we want to change the sexual condition of our country, we must change hearts. We must share Christ. Let us do so for Christ's sake, for the world's sake, for our country's sake, for our children's sake, for our sake. 

What do you think of the current trend in sexuality in America? As Christians, what should be our response?

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    Author

    Dr. James Nored (Doctor of Ministry, Fuller Theological Seminary) is a preacher, evangelist, church consultant, writer, and missional leader located in Fairfax, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C.

    James has served as a lead preaching minister, out-
    reach minister, worship leader, and more in Churches of Christ (300-700 in size) in the Oklahoma City, Kansas City, Dallas, & Washington D.C. areas, and he has given seminars around the country--helping churches grow using Next Generation strategies.

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