| Back to Home Page | Back to Book Index |
Sex
Fornication
Fornication
is like a cat’s paw. When lightly stroked
it is quite soft and pleasurable
but
increased pressure brings out the claws of sin that will shred you very life. ──
Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical Preaching》
Adultery
Returning from Sunday school
where the Ten
Commandments had been the topic of the day
a young boy asked his father
“Daddy
what does it mean when it says
‘Thou shalt not commit agriculture?’”
There was hardly a beat between the question and the father’s reply: “Son
that
just means that you’re not supposed to plow the other man’s field
” an answer
satisfactory to both of them.
── Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical
Preaching》
Homosexuality
New
York - The Empire State Building will go lavender for three days. The skyscraper will be doused in
lavender light June 22-24 for the annual Gay and Lesbian Pride March. Lavender symbolizes the gay
movement. Colored lights have been
used to illuminate the 59-year-old building for Valentine's Day
St. Patrick's
Day
and the Fourth of July. But
for years the management of the 102-story building has rejected lighting
requests by groups representing homosexuals. Now there's a change of heart in
response to Mayor David Dinkins' plea to end discrimination. About 700
000 homosexuals live in the
city. About 200
000 people will
take part in the march. Karin
Schwartz of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation calls the lighting
"a moving symbol of our
pride."
-- By Bruce Frankel
USA TODAY
Homosexuality
Seattle
(Reuter) - An organization of rabbis representing the largest and most liberal
wing of American Judaism has adopted a policy admitting openly homosexual men
and women to its clergy. A
policy-making report on homosexuality and the rabbinate was approved
overwhelmingly yesterday by voice vote at the annual meeting here of the
Central Conference of American Rabbis.
The vote marks the first time a large Judeo-Christian religious body has
admitted homosexuals to its clergy.
The report
by a 17-member ad hoc committee
endorsed the religious
equality of Jews regardless of sexual orientation. However
it emphasized that the ideal
human relationship was "heterosexual
monogamous
procreative
marriage" and it stopped short of rendering homosexual relationships as
"religiously valid" as heterosexual ones. The reform movement
the largest branch
of Judaism in the
Masturbation
For me the real evil of masturbation
would be that is takes an appetite which
in lawful use
leads an individual
out of himself to complete (and correct) his own personality in that of another
(and finally in children and even grandchildren) and turns it back; sends the
man back into the prison of himself
there to keep a harem of imaginary brides.
And his harem
once admitted
works against his ever getting out and really
uniting with a real woman.—C.S. Lewis
Sex
Sex is like fire. In a fireplace
it’s warm
and delightful. Outside the hearth
it’s destructive and
uncontrollable. ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical
Preaching》
Sex
You can usually get a large audience
together to watch a striptease. There is no question about it
a lot of people
would come to watch a woman undress on the stage
thus indulging and misusing
their sexual appetites.
Now suppose you visited a country
where an auditorium is packed to the walls with people watching
not a girl
undressing
but a guy walking out with big tray covered with a veil. Then music
begins to play
lights begin to flash
and all of a sudden
after some rather
enticing maneuvers
the veil is lifted and there on the tray is an orange.
Next
in a teasing way
the fellow begins to peel the orange while that crowd
goes wild! Wouldn’t you think that in this country something had gone wrong
with the people’s appetite for food?
The Bible clearly speaks regarding the
proper use of the body. In 1 Corinthians 6:13
Paul says
“The
body is not meant for sexual immorality
but for the Lord”
(NIV). And yet
what happens in our society? The body is distorted to the place
of perversion! ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical
Preaching》
Sex
A wealthy couple desired to employ a
chauffeur. The lady of the house advertised
the applicants were screened
and
four suitable candidates were brought before her for the final selection. She
called the prospective chauffeurs to her balcony and pointed out a brick wall
alongside the driveway. Then she asked the men
“How close do you think you
could come to that wall without scratching my car?”
The first man felt that he could drive
within a foot of the wall without damaging the car. The second felt sure that
he could come within six inches. The third believed that he could get within
three inches. The fourth candidate said
“I do not know how close I
could come to the wall without damaging your car. Instead
I would try to stay
as far away from that wall as I could.” This candidate had a
different focus. He understood that true skill in driving is not based so much
on the ability to steer the car to a narrow miss as on the ability to keep a
wide margin of safety.
Like the fourth candidate
there are
many aspects of human nature
such as sexual temptation
that are best dealt
with by keeping a wide margin of safety. When we decide what to do in a
doubtful area
such as going to a particular movie
we should be as wise as
that man. ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical
Preaching》
Sex
Sexual intercourse outside of marriage
is always wrong. Why? Because those who indulge in it are trying to isolate one
aspect of union-the physical-from all the other aspects that were intended to
make a total union of two people. There is nothing wrong with sexual pleasure
any more than there is with the pleasure of eating. However
just as attempting
to enjoy the pleasures of eating and tasting without swallowing and digesting
is abhorrent and wrong
so attempting to enjoy sex as an isolated physical
sensation is wrong.
Sex
Christians should view sex with
reverence. Therefore
they should not joke about it. Just as all Christians
view communion with reverence and thus never joke about it
in like manner is
sex considered sacred-and to joke about it is a form of profanity.
Virgins
In
a world searching for the latest and best ways to have sex
virginity has
become an embarrassment. This is to
be expected in a society that preaches pleasure
but not in the church where
virtue is assumed but not taught.
After all
people reason
what is there to write about abstaining? Sex is seen as a fulfillment; virginity
as a vacuum. But it had better be
more than that
especially for us single women who outnumber marriageable men
by 7.3 million in the
Long ago Demosthenes had
written: "We keep prostitutes for pleasure; we keep mistresses for the day
to day needs of the body; we keep wives for the begetting of children and for
the faithful guardianship of our homes. So long as a man supported his wife and
family there was no shame whatsoever in extra- marital affairs." ── C. Swindoll
Sanctity of Life
Word
1990
p. 62.
I am steadfastly for
monogamy. Adultery is almost certainly going to make a dent in trust and
intimacy
and in many cases I've known
it has destroyed them altogether. A
woman who is conducting a secret affair has to become deliberately
deceitful...like a CIA agent or spy. She can't just come home and spill forth
the events of her day. She's got to think
What can I safely talk about
and
what have I got to keep to myself? So even when the infidelity isn't discovered
it changes who you are. A person goes from being a candid
open human being to
a secretive
hidden one. ── Bernie
Zilbergeld
Homemade
November
1989.
Hite of Folly.
Sensationalistic sex surveys suffered further damage with the release of new
research on the fidelity of American spouses. According to a new study by Tom
W. Smith of the National Opinion Research Center
roughly 15 percent of married
or previously married Americans have committed adultery. The results largely
agree with the 1987 ABC News/Washington Post poll that found 89 percent of
spouses faithful. Pop culture gurus Kinsey (37 percent of men)
Joyce Brothers
(50 percent of women)
and Shire Hite (75 percent of women married 5 years)
have stoked reports of rampant infidelity. ── Family
Research Council
Washington Watch
October 29
1993
p. 2.
The sexual revolution
notwithstanding
nearly all married couples are monogamous
two new sex surveys
say. A university of Washington
Seattle
study in October's American
Journal of Public Health found 94 percent of married couples had one
partner in the previous year. Likewise
a survey by the National Opinion
Research Center in Chicago determined that only about 4 percent of married
people had sexual partners other than their spouse during a one-year span.
Overall
infidelity has been practiced by only 21 percent of men and 13 percent
of women
according to the survey. The studies dispute data by such
investigators as the Kinsey Institute of Sex Research and author Shere Hite
who have suggested anywhere from one-third to three-fourths of married couples
cheat on their mates. "There probably are more scientifically worthless
'facts' on extramarital relations than any other facet of human behavior
"
says Tom W. Smith of the National Opinion Research Center. Smith says adultery
is more prevalent among younger people
urban dwellers
and unchurched
and the
previously divorced.── Christianity Today
November 22
1993
p. 42.
A large majority of
men--married and single--say they wouldn't have an affair
even if they were
certain their loved one would never find out
says a Gallup poll commissioned
by Self magazine
in the June (1992) issue. Of 500 men surveyed
67% of
married men and 60% of unmarried men say an affair is absolutely out of the
question. Only 5% of married men and 11% of unmarried men would do it (the rest
said maybe). Also
95% of married men say they wouldn't drop their partner for
a trophy wife if they became extremely successful or wealthy. ── U.S.A. Today
May
26
1992
p. D1.
The major factor
contributing to extramarital relationships is physical and emotional attraction
(78 percent)
far outdistancing marital dissatisfaction (41 percent).── How Common is Pastoral Indiscretion?
Leadership
Winter
1988
p. 12-13.
It was reported today
(7-24-90) in the news that former PTL leader and TV evangelist Jim Bakker
now
jailed for various fund- raising improprieties
makes eleven cents an hour
cleaning toilets in the penitentiary. And a federal judge ruled that the little
money he has accumulated could be seized to pay penalties he owes of over
$500
000. His empire crumbled when he had an adulterous relationship with
Jessica Hahn. ── David Hocking
The
Moral Catastrophe
Harvest House
1990
p. 64ff.
There is a direct
correlation between age at loss of virginity and having an affair later in
life. In women who have their first sexual relationship at age 21
or later
cheating occurs with only 16%. But for those who have their first sexual
relationship at a younger age
up to 50% cheat on a future mate. ── Homemade
Vol.
10
No. 7
quoted from Female Sexuality.
Dr. Donald Granvold
a
professor at the Univ. of Texas at Arlington
surveyed 262 marriage counselors.
22% thought marriages are jeopardized when the wife has an affair
while only
2% thought marriages are in trouble when the husband has an affair. 40% of the
counselors he surveyed admitted that they themselves had had extramarital
experiences. (1985)── Dr. Donald Granvold.
※ 持守貞潔的要義不在壓抑情慾，而在於徹底把一己的生命指向一個目標。―― 潘霍華
Fornication
Vice is a monster of such terrible mien
That
to be hated needs but to be seen.
Yet
seen too often
familiar her face
We
first endure
then sanction
then embrace.
── Michael P. Green《Illustrations
for Biblical Preaching》
Masturbation
For me the real evil of masturbation
would be that is takes an appetite which
in lawful use
leads an individual
out of himself to complete (and correct) his own personality in that of another
(and finally in children and even grandchildren) and turns it back; sends the
man back into the prison of himself
there to keep a harem of imaginary brides.
And his harem
once admitted
works against his ever getting out and really
uniting with a real woman.— C.S. Lewis
Sex
Sexual intercourse outside of marriage
is always wrong. Why? Because those who indulge in it are trying to isolate one
aspect of union-the physical-from all the other aspects that were intended to
make a total union of two people. There is nothing wrong with sexual pleasure
any more than there is with the pleasure of eating. However
just as attempting
to enjoy the pleasures of eating and tasting without swallowing and digesting
is abhorrent and wrong
so attempting to enjoy sex as an isolated physical
sensation is wrong. ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical
Preaching》
Sex
Christians should view sex with
reverence. Therefore
they should not joke about it. Just as all Christians
view communion with reverence and thus never joke about it
in like manner is
sex considered sacred-and to joke about it is a form of profanity. ──
Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical Preaching》
The average age of a
homosexual man dying with AIDS is 39. The average age of gays dying of all
other causes is 41. (The average heterosexual married man lives 75 years.) Only
one percent of men who practice homosexual sex lives to be 65 or older. Gay men
are three times more likely to have alcohol or drug abuse problems. Homosexuals
are 14 times more likely to have had syphilis
and 23 times more likely to
contract venereal diseases.
From a 1993 report by the
Family Research Institute.
It's out
and it's hot: a
discussion guide on sexuality for Lutherans. Released last month
it is sure to
spark debate both in and out of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
(ELCA) between now and the next ELCA assembly in 1993. "Human Sexuality
and the Christian Faith
" a 55 page document produced by the
denomination's Division for Church and Society
was designed to prompt dialogue
and set the stage for a future ELCA social statement on sex issues. The
material urges readers to examine with an open mind different views about
marriage
promiscuity
and homosexuality.
At it's core the document
questions biblical passages concerning homosexuality and suggests that
scriptural references to same-sex relationships need to be re-interpreted in
light of modern theories about sexual orientation. "We must distinguish
between moral judgments regarding same-sex activity in biblical times and in our
own time
" the report states. It differentiates "exploitative"
homosexual activity from same-sex relationships" in which there is mutual
love and commitment." The document challenges ELCA members to evaluate
prejudices against homosexuals
insisting that "what we personally find
offensive is not necessarily sinful."
Members of a 24 person
United Methodist Church (UMC) panel could not agree on whether homosexuality is
a sin
so the committee's 14
000-word report on the subject was referred to the
denomination's national policy-making body
which will convene in Louisville
Ky.
in May. The report contains a majority statement
signed by 17 committee
members
recommending the removal of an assertion in the church's book of rules
that homosexual practice and Christianity are incompatible. A minority report
signed by four members
argues for retaining the current language. The panel
agreed that biblical references to sexual practices should not be viewed as
binding "just because they are in the Bible." Fierce debate is
expected at this year's General Conference because at least 35 of the UMC's 72
regional bodies have approved resolutions calling for preserving the
traditional stance.
Copyright 1992 by Media
Management
P.O. Box 21433
Roanoke
VA.
The oft-reported claims
that Americans are promiscuous and that 10 percent are exclusively homosexual
are false
according to a new University of Chicago study. Sociologist Tom W.
Smith of the University of Chicago National Opinion Research Corporation (NORC)
says his study clearly shows the vast majority of Americans are heterosexual
and unlikely to engage in behavior that would put them at risk for AIDS. The
study shows 93 percent of the population has been exclusively heterosexual
since the age of 18. Five to 6 percent consider themselves bisexual. And only 1
percent are exclusively homosexual. Smith also found that only 6.8 percent of
the population engaged in sexual activity of any kind that would put them at
risk of AIDS.
Citizen
Vol. 4
No.
4
April 1990
p. 5.
A three-year-old boy went
with his dad to see a new litter of kittens. On returning home
he breathlessly
informed his mother
"There were two boy kittens and two girl
kittens."
"How did you know that?" his mother asked.
"Daddy picked them up and looked underneath
" he replied. "I
think it's printed on the bottom."
Pearl Scully in The
Saturday Evening Post.
We can supplement our
accountability to others by reading slowly through literature designed to
challenge our Christian maturity. Consider
as an example
these questions
related to sexual purity that I had to read carefully as I read Kent Hughes' Liberating
Ministry from the Success Syndrome:
1. Are we being
desensitized by the present evil world? Do things that once shocked us now pass
us by with little notice? Have our sexual ethics slackened?
2. Where do our minds wander when we have no duties to perform?
3. What are we reading? Are there books or magazines or files in our libraries
that we want no one else to see?
4. What are we renting at the local video stores? How many hours do we spend
watching TV? How many adulteries did we watch last week? How many murders? How
many did we watch with our children?
5. How many chapters of the Bible did we read last week?
Leading the Way by Paul
Borthwick
Navpress
1989
pp. 120-121.
A little boy asked his
mother where he came from
and also where she had come from as a baby. His
mother gave him a tall tale about a beautiful white-feathered bird. The boy
asked his grandmother the same question and received a variation on the bird
story. Outside to his playmate he said
"You know
there hasn't been a normal
birth in our family for three generations."
Howard Hendricks
quoted
in Homemade
September
1989.
Teen facts. Since the
popular push for contraceptives for teens began
teenage sexual activity and
pregnancy have increased 400%. 70% of unwed teen mothers will go on welfare. Of
teens who marry because of pregnancy
60% will be divorced in five years.
Josh McDowell
Family
Happiness is Homemade
Vol. 14
No. 6
June 1990.
A study at a Midwestern
school showed that 80% of the women who had intercourse hoped to marry their
partner. Only 12% of the men had the same expectation
Robert J. Collins in the Chicago
Tribune
quoted in HIS
February
1976.
Sex is not the most
important part of a love relationship. A Syracuse University survey asked
married couples to rank the 10 most important things in a marriage
relationship. Caring
a sense of humor and communication came in first
second
and third. Sex came in ninth
just ahead of sharing household duties.
Dr. Thomas Lickona.
A beautiful blond senior
shares: "When we date
we start giving gifts
like flowers or candy. When
a couple becomes engaged
they give special things--a diamond and very personal
things. The most personal gift that I can ever give is myself. I have nothing
more precious to give. When I marry
I want to give my husband the best that I
have--my whole self as completely as I can."
Dr. Richard B. Wilke
in Homemade
October
1989.
According to a Roper
Organization poll
only 49% of American women believe sex before marriage is
immoral
down from 65% who believed that in 1970. About half also indicated
that there is no reason a single woman should not be able to have children and
raise them on their own--though only 15% said such behavior would be acceptable
for their own daughters.
Roper Organization Poll.
Sometimes when I'm talking
to teens
I draw an analogy between the bonding capacity of the body and
adhesive tape. Adhesive tape is not made for repetitive use. The strongest bond
adhesive tape is capable of making is formed with the first surface to which it
is applied. You can remove the tape and reapply it to other surfaces several
times
and it will still adhere. However
with every application
some of the
adhesiveness has been compromised. Finally
if you continue the practice long
enough
there will not be enough adhesiveness left to make the tape stick to
any surface. God intended that the bond between mates be the closest and
strongest one they are capable of forming. That is why Paul makes it very clear
that the body is not for fornication.
Dr. Richard Dobbins
Homemade
November. 1987.
The Journal of Marriage
and Family reported that couples who live together before marriage are less
satisfied with their marriages and more likely to split up during rocky times.
Focus on the Family
Nov. 1986
p. 11.
Since the popular push for
contraceptives for teens began
teenage sexual activity and pregnancy have
increased almost 400%. 70% of unwed teen mothers will go on welfare. Of teens
who marry because of pregnancy
60% will be divorced in five years.
Josh McDowell
in Homemade
June
1990.