The Christian church has been the major advocate of marriage and family values since the onset of the first century. We should be thankful for Christians role in preserving the cornerstone of culture. However the Christian church has also sent a conflicting message to it’s constituents that basically says, “celibacy is the mark of the greatest dedication to Christ.” In essence we have made second class heavenly citizens of those who marry. We have made church work the activity of the truly holy. The marriage bed and romance is an enterprise for those poor weak souls who just can’t help themselves. No wonder, were okay with it when romance leaves a marriage; in a warped way it could be seen as spiritual growth, as though they have transcended the bonds of earth.
St. Augustine was a major proponent of the view that celibacy was superior to sexual expression. St Augustine is widely known in Church History as a great theologian and scholar whose insight and knowledge of the Scriptures remain to this day. He is the single greatest influence on the dogmas and doctrines of the Roman Catholic as well as Protestant churches. He was one of the 3 most powerful writers of the Church in the 4th and 5th centuries. He popularized words like “Trinity,” to explain God, and his teaching laid the groundwork for church sacraments. Augustine said, ‘Men and women who want to be righteous in God’s sight should live in celibacy.” “According to St. Augustine, human beings should ask God’s forgiveness for even thinking about sex and should abstain whenever possible. “In his book on Western sexual morality, C. W. Lloyd says: ‘Augustine’s writings have probably exerted more influence in the West on love and sexual practice than those of any other man. The clearest expression of the innate evil in sexual passion, even within marriage, is set forth.”
Another church early church father in the fourth century was a Latin Christian leader named Jerome. Jerome is also one of the top three or four respected theologians in church history. He said, “The truth is that, in view of the purity of the body of Christ, all sexual intercourse is unclean.”
I believe, the result of this sexual heresy is that Christians have given romance and sexuality to the secularist, psychologist, playwrights, screenwriters, novelist, perverts and worst of all pornographers. I propose to you that the church of Jesus Christ reclaims romance. I propose we take sexuality back and put the healthy boundaries around it, given by Holy Scripture.
1 Corinthians 7:1-6 (MSG) Now, getting down to the questions you asked in your letter to me. First, Is it a good thing to have sexual relations? 2 Certainly… It’s good for a man to have a wife, and for a woman to have a husband. Sexual drives are strong, but marriage is strong enough to contain them and provide for a balanced and fulfilling sexual life in a world of sexual disorder. 3 The marriage bed must be a place of mutuality—the husband seeking to satisfy his wife, the wife seeking to satisfy her husband. 4 Marriage is not a place to “stand up for your rights.” Marriage is a decision to serve the other, whether in bed or out. 5 Abstaining from sex is permissible for a period of time if you both agree to it, and if it’s for the purposes of prayer and fasting—but only for such times. Then come back together again. Satan has an ingenious way of tempting us when we least expect it. 6 I’m not, understand, commanding these periods of abstinence—only providing my best counsel if you should choose them.
Stay tuned, I want to share with you my thoughts on a healthy response to a sexually obssessed culture.
