PLANKS AND SPLINTERS

An attitude in the Church toward homosexuality generally bothers me, and should concern us all. While most Christians would agree that Scripture speaks against it, Scripture censures us all for other sexual acts many churchgoers practice with little objection from the pulpit.

As we follow the leading of the Spirit we find freedom and life, but our sinful nature continually tries to draw us back into bondage and death. Bondage to drugs, sex, pornography and other pursuits is only a symptom of our major addiction that encompasses them all: opposition to God, and it’s called sin.

We were sinners before conversion, but afterwards we still fight the war that rages between the sinful nature and the indwelling Spirit. Paul experienced it, Romans 7:21–23, 8:12–14, Galatians 5:16–18, and we must acknowledge it.

The created ideal of marriage is an extension of the truth about God Himself—the love and unity in the Trinity. All that breaks marriage or opposes it is a lie. We cannot live with a lie: it will increasingly torment us, and eventually collapse in on itself.

We are all aware of adultery in the Church. High profile cases make the news, and congregations acknowledge the occasional “moral failure” of one of its leaders. That is only the tip of the iceberg. For every known event, many go unreported and both perpetrator and victim suffer in silence.

Adultery—whether with the same or opposite sex—includes sexual liaisons before marriage. The sex act alters the brain chemistry attaching the partners together. The idea “they will become one flesh,” Genesis 2:24, is more than a picturesque idea; it’s a physical response. In this sense, adultery against a future marriage partner has already occurred.

Pornography, pernicious and addictive, is included in adultery, by Jesus’ use of the Greek word porneia (sexual uncleanness) from which “pornography” comes. He uses it for “marital unfaithfulness” in Matthew 5:32 and 19:9, and those watching pornography commit “adultery with her in his heart,” Matthew 5:28.

All of us struggle with some area of life opposed to the Spirit, different but always equal deviations from God’s ideal. The Spirit is the “paraclete,” One who comes alongside to bring conviction and change, John 16:8–11. As Spirit-filled believers it is also our mandate: to come alongside those who struggle with sin as we ourselves did, not with smug judgment, but with sympathetic love.

If we hide and refuse to stare down these enemies within—both personally and corporately—we engage in the Pharisaical hypocrisy Jesus regularly scorned, placing burdens on others we still carry ourselves. Let’s remove the plank in our own eye before we criticize the splinter in the eye of another.

Let him who is without sin cast the first stone!

SEX: THE GATEWAY FROM GOD

Ever wondered why sex is such a big thing in our current western culture? Someone once said sex is the soft underbelly of the law, meaning that of the Ten Commandments, the seventh, “do not commit adultery,” is the easiest to discredit.

Our culture has largely dispensed with the first four commandments, which define our relationship with God, considering Him irrelevant. That leaves only human judgment to decide whether the six remaining commandments—those governing human relationships—are valid. The current approach to interpersonal law advocates ruling on harm inflicted.

This naturally assumes any form of sex between consenting adults is a victim-less act outside the “harm” category, and the prohibition unreasonable. However, the remaining five commandments, honouring parents, murder, stealing, slander—and particularly coveting which produces the desire for the foregoing acts—always produce a victim.

However, when sexual sin is tolerated, it undermines the other commandments. If illicit sexual acts can be justified, the remainder of the commandments are open to challenge if convenient to the perpetrator. And the foremost vehicle for this process is the current atomization of truth. Postmodernism teaches truth is “relative”; everyone carries his or her own truth.

Once truth becomes a matter of personal opinion, the standard of good and evil is also subject to political or personal convenience. The enrichment of major banks gained from homeowner’s losses in the US to the wholesale destruction of children in the womb come to mind.

Remember, in the end, the Ten Commandments aim to produce a well-functioning society. An important concern for the seventh commandment, and similar prohibitions, is to minimize the number of children at risk in aberrant relationships. But the overriding concern is the widening of destructive effects to our civilized society by the abuse of sex.

All liaisons, other than opposite sex intercourse, are infertile. The Increase of atypical relationships only adds to the death wish of a society that kills its progeny in the womb, and euthanizes its living. Furthermore, proponents of free sexual expression reject the instructions against it, and with no underlying truth to support their claim, they necessarily need to silence opposition. This drift into moral anarchy is already evident.

Perhaps the reverse is true. Many may now consider one man and one woman for every marriage outdated, but as a basic truth, it’s practice might bring back respect for the other components of the law. It should start with all Christians who claim to follow God’s law, but all who maintain this ideal might stem the current destructive process.

CHILDREN: SEXUAL COMMODITIES

Sarah Williams, lecturer at Regent College in Vancouver, reminded us several years ago that sexual liberation has normalized every sexual activity except rape and pedophilia. I have since commented that pedophilia will, by stages and with some limitations, also become acceptable.

Sexual permissiveness has spawned a vast increase of pornography, especially on the web and in particular promoting pedophilia and incest. This is driving an explosion of child abuse in real life, as illustrated by the following case of child abuse reported last week in Hamilton Ontario.

A 34-year-old Hamilton man is facing 40 sexual abuse-related charges. A mother’s boyfriend abused the seven-year-old daughter and made her available for abuse on Craigslist. Images of the seven-year-old were also distributed.

Investigators realized they were dealing with a network of people connected in arranging sexual abuse and distributing child pornography. To date, the investigation has executed 14 search warrants and 15 production orders, and has seized more than 100 electronic devices. 

This one example is only the tip of the iceberg. Hamilton police laid no charges for child pornography or child exploitation in 2005. By 2015, those numbers had risen to 42 for child pornography and peaked at 50 in 2014 for child violations.

Unfortunately, Hamilton is typical of what is happening throughout Ontario. Provincial police reported 358 Child pornography incidents in 2005, which rose to 1,292 in 2015. Child violations followed the trend, from 19 in 2005 to 894 in 2015.

We indicated previously, sexual pleasure is now a greater good than the welfare of the children produced by it, leading to the degrading of children as a commodity. This is the basis of abortion on demand, children without a parental legacy, but also the proliferation of children as sexual objects.

The normalization of sexual activities that were previously stigmatized gives tacit permission to practice other, still forbidden, sexual desires—and a greater cry for their recognition. Wide-open sexual permissiveness precludes ending the downward spiral from traditional marriage at some arbitrary point.

Studies consistently show low conflict families of two parents of opposite sex produce the mostly stable and secure children. We should expect this, as the
traditional family is the created means of human reproduction. Those children will be the future bedrock of a stable society. 

However, maintaining the traditional family concept in the current environment is not easy. We need to persevere in the Truth, to work at ensuring our children have the best upbringing we can give them, and stand up to the pressures currently bent on destroying the natural family order.

PS: Ann and Bryan are Showing the Truth Project in their home on Friday evenings. You are invited, call 403-328-3745.

MARRIAGE IMPROVES YOUR HEALTH

 Established statistics have generally recorded better health for married people. Now Cardus, www.cardus.ca, reports a recent study of 50 published empirical medical studies by Susan Martinuk, a medical researcher and research-based writer. It not only confirms previous studies, but also shows marriage can improve sickness recovery, even cancer survival.

In one large study of 735,000 people, married cancer patients lived 20 per cent longer. In five common cancers, patients survived better when married than resorting to chemotherapy. This is in addition to the better welfare of children to the marriage and happiness for all members of the family.

Martinuk was astonished by the dramatic results of her study, and surprised at how overwhelmingly positive marriage is for personal health and well-being. She says, “I had expected there would be far more contrary reports but when I went through all the reports to provide both sides of the story, there’s really not very much for the other side.”

Here are some health advantages to married people from numerous studies: Higher likelihood of recovering from cancer

Lower risk of suffering a heart attack

Better odds of surviving a heart attack

Quicker recovery from illness

Healthier habits and lifestyles

Better responses to psychological stress

In addition, those in high satisfaction marriages reduce the increased risk of: Blood pressure

Risk of heart disease

Depression

Time needed for healing of physical wounds

Levels of stress hormones

Reduced immune function

So “till death do us part” could well delay death, a positive effect for those in good marriages. However, we should not consider this a disparagement of singleness. Paul reminds us that singleness can provide clearer focus, “An unmarried man (or woman) is concerned about the Lord's affairs,” whereas “a married man (or woman) is also concerned about the affairs of this world—how he can please his wife (or husband). 1 Corinthians 7:32.

Marriage is a private choice, but it has public consequences, just as marriage is on public record as the couple who will be responsible for children of the marriage. Marriage is important for the public sphere also, particularly for outcomes of the public health system.

For instance, practicing physicians may treat married people differently based on their marriage status and its satisfaction level. Such a dramatic difference between married and singles about health should inform any medical treatment he advises.

Policy makers can also factor in this discussion. If marriage is empirically good for for health, it is also beneficial to the health system, to both quality of care and better use of resources. Of particular importance is the education of children and youths. Promotion of marriage should be part of the school curriculum to promote better health .

As you are probably aware, some Canadian jurisdictions are promoting the opposite agenda, especially in Alberta and Ontario. Already, the Ontario government is currently passing a bill to outlaw “mother” and “father” from official language.

So, if you want to live longer and healthier, get married!