The whole idea bothers me that a pastor - or anyone calling themselves a Christian - could toss out what the Bible says about sex outside of marriage and deceive people into thinking it is OK...... but one thing the woman said really stuck out to me: "McCleneghan believes it's unfair to ask single Christians who haven't been called to a life of celibacy to refrain from sexual intimacy when both men and women need sex."
I have been thinking about that statement, and a blog post about it was floating around in my brain, and then today I got this anonymous comment on my blog post "Homosexuality.....the special sin". (A friend commented before him that something I said was excellent, which he refers to):
" No, this is not an excellent text. Not if this text is about you yourself. As Paul writes (1 Cor 7:7), the ability to remain alone is a gift from God, i.e. not everybody has this ability. I do not have this gift. As a gay Christian, if I believed that God really thinks what Mark has written above, the only rational consequence for me would be to kill myself and ask Jesus to forgive me. I could not bear life without a partner. I'd rather be dead (and be with Jesus immediately) than being alone in this world. A text that leads to such a consequence can't be excellent."
When did sex become a "need"? When did having a partner become so important that one would kill himself if he couldn't have one, while claiming to serve Jesus?
Kids date younger now than they ever have, and are having sex younger than they ever have. It used to be a question of whether to kiss or not on the first date, and now kids are having sex on their first date... doing what God intended for marriage and to be saved for the one they married.
Food, water, and air are needs. We cannot live without them...... but sex? Here is a newsflash Ms. McCleneghan: we can live without sex, and many people have done so. God created it for a man and woman who are married...... not for something people to do for recreation with another person because they are feeling "frisky". Is it fair? Well, Ms Mc (may I call you that to make it easier) - if you haven't run across something in life yet that isn't fair and there is no way to make it fair, then you have led a very sheltered and boring life. Life isn't fair. There are multitudes of people who will never have someone to love and be sexual with for a score of different reasons.......is that fair? No, but God doesn't guarantee fairness if we serve Him. He promises life eternal, love, mercy, forgiveness, and a lot of other things that are far greater than sex and far more long lasting than a romp in bed with someone you aren't married to for life.
We obviously need married people to keep the earth populated, but as I mentioned in a previous blog post, I believe we'd all be better off if we held off on dating so early, got to be comfortable in our own skin as a single person, got a relationship established more with God..... and then pursued love, dating, and marriage. This push for kids to date and have a relationship with the opposite sex...... or worse, the same sex...... is doing no one favors. Teens bounce from relationship to relationship, usually having sex with each person, then become adults and continue the constant dating and having sex with multiple people. And we wonder why marriages don't last and why everyone is so messed up.
Is it possible that we have made love/dating/sex/marriage/relationships into an idol? Look at what Mr Anonymous said again: "As a gay Christian, if I believed that God really thinks what Mark has written above, the only rational consequence for me would be to kill myself and ask Jesus to forgive me. I could not bear life without a partner. I'd rather be dead (and be with Jesus immediately) than being alone in this world." I feel his pain.......as I have become rather open about admitting on this blog, I am attracted to other guys instead of women...... but to say you'd rather kill yourself than be without a partner......that isn't loving Jesus enough. That is putting relationships and love above God.....whether you are heterosexual or deal with same-sex attractions.
"Gay Christians" get a bad rap from other Christians....... and in one way, they ask for it. To toss out what the Bible says about homosexuality, have a sexual relationship - or just sex - with the same sex and call yourself a Christian.....that is just wrong and you are putting your sexual desires/needs above God. You cannot do what Christ commanded - "deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me", if you insist on denying what the Bible says instead of denying yourself......
Yet, how many Christians condemning these "gay Christians" are doing the same thing with heterosexual relationships? I am no marriage or relationship expert, but how many people truly have sought and obeyed God's will on who they should marry......how many have sought God's will on who to date.....when to date...... whether to date at all? If heterosexual Christians put dating and marriage at such a priority that they don't seek God's will and rush ahead with relationships instead of focusing more on God, are they any better than the gay person claiming to be a Christian but refusing to put God above their desires for love and a relationship? (Yes, I am aware that God recognizes and blesses marriage between a man and woman and will not between two of the same gender).
There is a woman I know who years ago had a relationship with God. She met and fell for a man who was not of her faith. She prayed and prayed and felt God said "no", but she married the guy. It didn't last, and they are divorced to this day. There is another woman I know who was dating a handsome young guy. She made the statement "If I had to choose between 'John' and God, I'd choose John." "John" married someone else, and she now has neither God nor John.
I don't know of anyone else that made the statement the second woman did.... but how many have felt that, or at least indicated it by their actions? As I see countless marriages fall a part of people I went to Bible college and church with, I often wonder if they truly had God's will and blessing on who they married, or if they put relationship above God and married someone they shouldn't have, married before they should have..... or married when they shouldn't have at all..... No, I am not saying that is the result of the breakup of any marriage I have seen break a part, but it makes me wonder.
Serving God should take precedence over everything else in life. Anything can be an idol that we put above God,,,,,,even relationships and sex. We don't have to have a partner and/or sex to survive in this life. If we are that desperate to have either, it could just be we don't have the relationship with God that we claim to have.
Oh, and Ms. Mc and Mr. Anonymous...... Jesus didn't have sex or a partner..... and the Bible says He was tempted in every way that we are........
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