Obsessed with sex?
by Peter J Leithart, First Things:
Christians are often accused of being obsessed with sexual sin. Why can’t two people, of whatever sex, do whatever they please in the enclosure of their own room? Who is hurt if a guy wants to get off looking at tantalizing pictures and videos on his computer? What’s the big deal if college students hook up, unhook, and then hook up again with someone? Our jitteriness about sex exposes our prudery and hostility to life. It shows that Christians are all Puritans under the skin.
Faced with these charges, we get defensive and protest that we are equally concerned with other things – with economic evils, with militaristic violence, with the degradation of the environment. We shouldn’t be defensive. We should say that we’re concerned about sexual behavior and norms precisely because of the effect they have on the poor, the way sexual immorality is linked with violence. We should say that we guard God’s commandments regarding sex because violation of those commandments will produce social chaos. Sexual behavior and sexual norms are a key barometer of social health. If things are disordered in our bedrooms, they will be disordered in boardrooms and cabinet offices.
We could make this argument from Romans 1, and many have. I want to make the same point by examining some features of the Levitical system, which shows that sexual fidelity and defense of biblical sexual norms is a critical feature of the church’s calling. We begin at the beginning. Creation is a series of separations, as Yahweh divides light from dark, waters from waters, water from land, day from night (Genesis 1:4, 6, 7, 14, 18; the verb is badal).
Related Posts
Tags
Share This
