But I have a few things against you, namely that you have some there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to place an occasion for sin before the sons of Israel, to eat food offered to idols and to commit fornication. Similarly, you have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Rev. 2:14, 15.
The word for fornication in Greek is closely related to the word for prostitution. Christians are often horrified that people would value themselves so lowly as to offer their bodies sexually in exchange for a relatively small amount of money. Yet those same Christians sometimes think that a little sex between "consenting adults" should not be a major issue. But if it is wrong to sell our sexuality to another, is it any better to give it away for free? The Bible teaches us to save our sexuality for the one who will value us so highly that he or she will be willing to commit their entire life to us. Promiscuous sexuality tends to occur when people have a low sense of worth. What they do not value they freely throw away.
"But isn't sexual purity until marriage an old-fashioned idea?" a parishioner asked his pastor. "Sure, it's dumb to play around with all the disease that's out there, but we love each other and plan to get married some day. Give me one reason we should wait."
"I'll do better than that," the pastor replied. I'll give you three. First, if you are preparing for marriage, you need to build a relationship that will last a lifetime. To achieve that, you will need a strong relational 'infrastructure,' and that means spending a lot of time getting to know each other mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Once a couple gets physical they start neglecting the other aspects of their relationship, and these are the ones that really count if you're going to spend the rest of your lives together.
"Second, sex before marriage weakens your resistance to affair within marriage. The brain tends to take the path of least resistance. Once you have worn down a certain path for a while, it is much easier to go that way again in the future. A 'trial marriage' is one of the best ways to ensure that the marriage itself will not last.
"Third, even if you never have an affair later on, having sexual relations with your spouse before marriage leads to issues of trust. No matter how faithful you are, she will think. Well, he did it with me when we weren't married, so what's to stop him doing it with someone else he isn't married to? Marriage is tough enough without throwing that kind of distrust into the mix."
"Wow," the parishioner said. "I didn't know the Bible was that practical."
Lord, help me to stop listening to the Balaams of Hollywood and Madison Avenue. I choose to put my trust in the whats of Your Word, even when I don't understand the whys.
The word for fornication in Greek is closely related to the word for prostitution. Christians are often horrified that people would value themselves so lowly as to offer their bodies sexually in exchange for a relatively small amount of money. Yet those same Christians sometimes think that a little sex between "consenting adults" should not be a major issue. But if it is wrong to sell our sexuality to another, is it any better to give it away for free? The Bible teaches us to save our sexuality for the one who will value us so highly that he or she will be willing to commit their entire life to us. Promiscuous sexuality tends to occur when people have a low sense of worth. What they do not value they freely throw away.
"But isn't sexual purity until marriage an old-fashioned idea?" a parishioner asked his pastor. "Sure, it's dumb to play around with all the disease that's out there, but we love each other and plan to get married some day. Give me one reason we should wait."
"I'll do better than that," the pastor replied. I'll give you three. First, if you are preparing for marriage, you need to build a relationship that will last a lifetime. To achieve that, you will need a strong relational 'infrastructure,' and that means spending a lot of time getting to know each other mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Once a couple gets physical they start neglecting the other aspects of their relationship, and these are the ones that really count if you're going to spend the rest of your lives together.
"Second, sex before marriage weakens your resistance to affair within marriage. The brain tends to take the path of least resistance. Once you have worn down a certain path for a while, it is much easier to go that way again in the future. A 'trial marriage' is one of the best ways to ensure that the marriage itself will not last.
"Third, even if you never have an affair later on, having sexual relations with your spouse before marriage leads to issues of trust. No matter how faithful you are, she will think. Well, he did it with me when we weren't married, so what's to stop him doing it with someone else he isn't married to? Marriage is tough enough without throwing that kind of distrust into the mix."
"Wow," the parishioner said. "I didn't know the Bible was that practical."
Lord, help me to stop listening to the Balaams of Hollywood and Madison Avenue. I choose to put my trust in the whats of Your Word, even when I don't understand the whys.
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