{"id":21980,"date":"2019-03-05T16:59:37","date_gmt":"2019-03-06T00:59:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=21980"},"modified":"2019-03-02T19:23:20","modified_gmt":"2019-03-03T03:23:20","slug":"biblical-sexuality-rated-pg-13-you-have-been-warned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/biblical-sexuality-rated-pg-13-you-have-been-warned\/","title":{"rendered":"BIBLICAL SEXUALITY Rated PG-13 (You have been warned!)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I have been looking forward to reading this book; just reading the forward made me even more interested. Aside from the fact that \u201cphysical touch[1]<\/a>\u201d is dominantly my primary \u201cLove Language,\u201d I have been used to teach others about biblical sexuality since I was in college; which is strange, since I was a virgin until I get married to my wife of 26 years at the age of 21. Like the forward by James Smith, I too have only known one woman sexually in my life, and as a product, also have raised 4 children. However, it was not marriage or even desire that led me to pursue a more biblical understanding of sex; it was my teenagers at bible camp. Yes, I realize how inappropriate that may have sounded; so let me explain. In one summer at camp, we had a series of events over three different sessions of teens that forced intervention.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. A 14 year old young man decided that he would introduce the word \u201cqueeve[2]<\/a>\u201d to our 70 teen group 4 kids\u2026curiousity\u2026and various other sexually based words were then being discussed as to their meaning; counselor interference was required. Thankfully, though I had not yet known the touch of a woman, I had been educated on this word\u2019s meaning by a couple female friends in the Student Center at Harding that previous year.<\/li>\n
  2. One day, while I was teaching group bible, I found myself speechless as a one of the teen boys reached over and gave a \u201ctitty twister\u201d to one of the teen girls. Needless to say, the lesson was placed on pause as I attempted to regard acceptable behavior in bible class, as well as unacceptable behavior in society. Honesty, the case the young man for equality in the modern world was fascinating\u2026 \u201dIf she can do it to us, then shouldn\u2019t I be able to do it back?\u201d Have fun fighting that one in our emerging egalitarian world.<\/li>\n
  3. The last even started with a young lady from this same session coming up after class with two of her girlfriends with some \u2018questions\u2019. Her nervousness and blushing told me this would be a doozy. Without getting to elaborate, she asked me, \u201cWhy do guys masturbate and girls don\u2019t?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    When you combine these stories with the phone call from my second oldest sister (I have 5 older sisters for the record), in which she stated that their bible class had made an inference to all of the sex found in the bible, which really confused her. \u201cShawn, there is no sex in the bible, what are they talking about.\u201d We started talking about the substance of Song of Solomon; though she had never realized that it was that sexual of a book. I told her, \u201cGo back and read it again\u2026with a dirty mind.\u201d About an hour later she called me back with the following statement; \u201cOH MY WORD!!!!\u201d My response: \u201cNope\u2026God\u2019s Word\u2026fascinating, isn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n

    One other flashing signal came a number of years later when I was teaching a youth group of 40 teens in my home about Biblical sexuality. In this class, the most spiritual girl I had in my entire program; the one who was actually talking about going into young children youth ministry as a career choice; stopped my class and asked the question, \u201cWait a minute Shawn, are you actually telling me that God expects us not to have sex until we get married?\u201d She was shocked that this was actually what I was teaching. How had we gone so wrong that our youth had lost all sight of marital sexual union?<\/p>\n

    Grant points out in his text that \u201cOne of the most influential legacies of modern politics and philosophy is the conviction that personal identity is premised on the individual\u2019s freedom to choose his or her own source of meaning and form of life, largely free from outside influences[3]<\/a>.\u201d On a worldly basis, I suppose that is the greatest obstacle to teaching others about biblical responsibility. Romans 6:16 reminds of a alternate outlook on the life we lead as Christians though; \u201cDo you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one\u2019s slaves whom they obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness.\u201d It is the topic of FREEWILL slapping us in the face as we deal with sexuality today; on one hand we celebrate the freewill that God has given us to live our life; but on the other hand, it is the challenge to take that freewill and live it in accordance with God\u2019s Word, so that we are found righteous in His eyes. When it comes to modern-day sexuality, it seems everyone has an opinion and everyone has a list of teachers. The world is wild and free; but too often the church is restrictive and condemning. How do we take lessons like those found in Song of Solomon and teach that God made sex a beautiful thing, and yet, still expected us to practice some self-control when practicing it.<\/p>\n

    I have taught a number of courses, classes, and even a few gospel meetings on Biblical Sexuality in some form or fashion over the past 20 years; and have loved the opportunity. However, before one of the teenage series I was about to start teaching, I approached one of the mothers who had just advanced her son into the youth program. I informed her that my discussions were usually very blunt, forward, and encouraged teens to ask literally any questions they may have regarding sexuality. Her reply: \u201cI\u2019d rather you teach them that me have to.\u201d Well, here lies the crux of the problem; we have made \u201cSEX\u201d an obscene word for our children in the home, and as a result, they are searching for answers on the web instead of in the Bible. They are being taught garbage from porn sites and degenerates rather than learning what true sexuality was intended to be as delivered by God. When the statistics mentioned at the beginning of this book declared that \u201c84% percent of \u00a0American 18 to 23-year-olds have had premarital sex, while this figure rises to 95 percent for all Americans (of any age) who have had sex outside of marriage[4]<\/a>,\u201d then we should realize that this is a topic that churches must address and teach.<\/p>\n

    Just for the sake of pointing it out; these are a few of the lessons and series I have taught over the year as pertaining to Biblical Sexuality:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. 5 Love Languages<\/li>\n
    2. Polygamy in the Bible<\/li>\n
    3. Masturbation<\/li>\n
    4. Love outside of Marriage<\/li>\n
    5. How does God view Divorce and Remarriage in regard to Adultery<\/li>\n
    6. Pornography and other sexual temptations<\/li>\n
    7. Sexuality and God\u2019s Call for Intimacy<\/li>\n
    8. Be fruitful and multiply<\/li>\n
    9. Can I say \u201cNO\u201d to my spouse?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

       <\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      Bibliography<\/h1>\n

      Chapman, Gary. The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts.<\/em> Chicago: Northfield Publishing, 2015.<\/p>\n

      Grant, Jonathan. Divine Sex: A Compelling Vision for Christian Relationships in a Hypersexualized Age. Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2015.<\/p>\n

      Urban Dictionary.<\/em> December 3, 2005. https:\/\/www.urbandictionary.com\/define.php?term=queeve (accessed March 1, 2019).<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      [1]<\/a> Chapman, Gary. The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts. Chicago: Northfield Publishing, 2015.<\/p>\n

      [2]<\/a> Urban Dictionary.<\/em> December 3, 2005. https:\/\/www.urbandictionary.com\/define.php?term=queeve (accessed March 1, 2019).<\/p>\n

      [3]<\/a> Grant, Jonathan. Divine Sex: A Compelling Vision for Christian Relationships in a Hypersexualized Age. Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2015. P 21.<\/p>\n

      [4]<\/a> Ibid, p. 16.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      I have been looking forward to reading this book; just reading the forward made me even more interested. Aside from the fact that \u201cphysical touch[1]\u201d is dominantly my primary \u201cLove Language,\u201d I have been used to teach others about biblical sexuality since I was in college; which is strange, since I was a virgin until […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553,1],"tags":[1475,1474,1473],"class_list":["post-21980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-drama-romance","category-uncategorized","tag-christian-relationships","tag-divine-sex","tag-james-grant","cohort-lgp8"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21980"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21980\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21983,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21980\/revisions\/21983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}