I’m assuming I don’t need to convince you that sex is everywhere in our culture. I’m sure at some point you've heard the oft quoted phrase: “sex sells.” Indeed it does and almost anything you can imagine from fast food to diets and from male body spray to female lingerie. Sex seems to have attained a blinding state of omnipresence (i.e. it's everywhere). It takes an ever-increasing level of shock to knock the scales off our eyes allowing us to see what lies before us. At present, we experience not only a sexually charged assault from marketing agencies, but also an increasing barrage of messages concerning “alternative” lifestyles (lesbian, bisexual, gay, transgender) from TV shows, such as, Modern Family, Glee, and dare I say Downton. Don’t get me wrong, Modern Family is downright hysterical and Downton is a masterpiece of writing, acting, and filming, but the fact is that slowly over time what we see and hear day after day, week after week, and year after year begins to shape and form our desires and beliefs concerning sex.
The cultural practices of sexual formation and shaping we experience will evoke one of at least three responses. (1) We could easily find ourselves adopting the dominant view point or at least making significant concessions to it. (2) We could go the route of mindlessly reacting against it which results in an equally distorted view of sex inevitably leading to cultural seclusion, bitterness and at times even anger and hate. Or, (3) we could seek to reclaim sex by a counter-cultural formation of our desires, beliefs, and actions through thoughtful study of God’s design for sex which should lead us to engage our culture with an attractive theanthropic view of human sexuality (i.e. the embodiment of divine sexuality).
In this post and in the ones to follow, I don’t pretend to be an expert on sexuality or a chaste phoenix arisen from the ashes of a sexually charred culture. No, I’m a follower of Christ with my feet on the ground who has been called to die to this world’s system and I cannot afford to shy away from the task and neither can you. So, come and grab a cup of coffee or tea, take a seat and let’s have an open and candid conversation about sex.
Just a heads up... here's the tentative schedule in my mind for "Sex Education."
BD
The cultural practices of sexual formation and shaping we experience will evoke one of at least three responses. (1) We could easily find ourselves adopting the dominant view point or at least making significant concessions to it. (2) We could go the route of mindlessly reacting against it which results in an equally distorted view of sex inevitably leading to cultural seclusion, bitterness and at times even anger and hate. Or, (3) we could seek to reclaim sex by a counter-cultural formation of our desires, beliefs, and actions through thoughtful study of God’s design for sex which should lead us to engage our culture with an attractive theanthropic view of human sexuality (i.e. the embodiment of divine sexuality).
In this post and in the ones to follow, I don’t pretend to be an expert on sexuality or a chaste phoenix arisen from the ashes of a sexually charred culture. No, I’m a follower of Christ with my feet on the ground who has been called to die to this world’s system and I cannot afford to shy away from the task and neither can you. So, come and grab a cup of coffee or tea, take a seat and let’s have an open and candid conversation about sex.
Just a heads up... here's the tentative schedule in my mind for "Sex Education."
- Part 2: We'll take a look at God's creational intention for human sexuality.
- Part 3: We'll examine responses (1) and (2) to see how they distort God's vision of human sexuality.
- Part 4-7: We'll take a serious and sensitive look at homosexuality.
- Part 8-10: We'll discuss ways we can lovingly engage the LBGT community in particular and the broader culture in general with the biblical view of sexuality.
BD