Christianity and Human Sexuality (or orthodox thoughts on sexuality)

I'm not a politician. To be honest, I personally don't find the idea of being a politician pleasant in any way! I'm neither a Republican nor Democrat. I have no interest in building up a political party. I'm not saying it's wrong to be a politician or member of a political party, and I'm certainly not trying to give the impression that it's wrong to vote. I merely begin this way because I don't want you to think what I'm writing is politically motivated. What I am is a disciple of Jesus Christ. What I am interested in is theology. What I am for is the Kingdom of God. What I'm going to write goes against the theology of some politicians, but don't draw the wrong conclusions from the correlation. I'm writing not because politicians have spoken, but because theology has been spoken.

The word 'christian' is not a policed term. You don't have to sign documents, go through a special class or receive a certificate to call yourself a christian. And because of that, two people with completely differing beliefs can and do call themselves christian. Christianity, however, is not a new phenomena. It has existed for thousands of years, and christians throughout the centuries have recorded their beliefs. What's amazing is that a great amount of what has been historically recorded about christian belief is in agreement. The core doctrines (beliefs) that compose Christianity enjoy a large degree of historical agreement. Those beliefs make up what can be called 'orthodox Christianity' (or the teachings the historical church has considered non-heritical). It's incredibly important to consider what christians over the past 2,000 years have believed. Each of us tends to interpret Scripture in light of our cultural context, personal experiences, and education. When we look at a belief historically, however, we can see the conclusions drawn by those outside our culture, context, and education. I bring this up because I'm well aware that the view of human sexuality I'm about to espouse will be labeled un-christian by some who consider themselves christians. You can read this blog and search for an opposing christian view and find one with no trouble. What you can't find, however, is an opposing orthodox Christian view. With that in mind, here's a brief biblical, orthodox view of human sexuality in seven points.

1) God created the universe with purpose and design that extends to every molecule in existence. In Christianity nothing came into existence randomly or by chance. The universe has design and purpose.

2) God has the right to establish how his creation should work. Since God created everything he alone has the ability and right to tell us how things are supposed to work.

3) God's creative purposes include human sexuality. Sex is not an accidental byproduct of creation. God could have created a way for human procreation that did not include sex. He could have made a help-mate for Adam that did not include the possibility of sex. But he didn't! God made man and woman and included sexuality as a part of their design.

4) God designed that sex exist only in a lifelong marriage consisting of a man and a woman. God did not design sex as an extramarital activity. God did not design sex to take place within a larger-than-two group of people. God did not design sex as an action between two women or two men. God designed sex as an act to be enjoyed by a man and woman in a lifelong monogamous marriage. Jesus affirmed this framework of marriage, and so sex, in Matthew 19.

5) God's design of marriage is not about rights or desires. Marriage, and all it entails, was designed as a picture of Jesus Christ and the Church. Marriage and sex are bigger than the thoughts and desires of two people. Both, as pictures of a larger truth, communicate something about God (see Ephesians 5). As such, God has always placed a high priority on marriage and sex.

6) Human's rebelled and continue to rebel against God. As a result we have wrong (sinful) desires and wrong thinking about both sex and marriage. By nature we do not want to submit to God's design. Like Adam, our desire is to rule our own life, determining what is good and evil. As a result, apart form the saving work of Christ, we are unable to fully see and enjoy God's good design in any area, including sex.

7) God loves you and want's to redeem / save every human on the planet from our rebellion. None of us, christian's included, gets anything completely right (including sexuality). So God invites us to repent, confess our sins, put our faith in Jesus and be saved. He invites us to have our minds renewed through the power of his Spirit and Word. If we will believe in Jesus God can and does forgive us and redeem us.

These seven points scratch the surface of orthodox Christian teaching on human sexuality. What impact, then, does this have on politics and your vote? I don't care to argue that here (or in any upcoming blog). What I do care about is good Christian theology. I care about good theology not because I want to be right, but because I care about the glory of God and the salvation of souls. I'm not arguing here for laws or votes. I'm arguing for a clear portrayal of God's design as it is revealed in the person and work of Jesus and the inspired Word of God. To paint another picture of human sexuality and call it Christian is biblical and historically disingenuous. You may not agree with what I have written about sexuality. You can disagree. And I cannot and should not try to make you believe in the orthodox Christian view of sexuality. What I should do, as a christian, is clearly proclaim what Christianity says. And know that I don't write with anger, swinging around Christian theology like a baseball bat! I love what I believe, and so I write it with joy and hope that every man and woman will know and delight in Jesus Christ.

Do I have to keep the Old Testament law? The Ten Commandments? (part 2)

**This is part two of a three part blog. You can read the first part HERE.

My answer to the question, "Do I have to keep the Old Testament law? The ten commandments?," was no. Christians do not have to keep the Old Testament law, not even the ten commandments. In my last blog I tried to lay a foundation that will help the conversation along. In this blog I'm going to give you a biblical argument that supports my answer. I'm attempting to keep it short, so if you'd like more clarification please ask!1.) The Old Testament law, including the ten commandments, was given to a specific people for a specific time. This point is simple but huge. The Old Testament law (the Mosaic or Old Covenant) was not given to every human on the planet, but to the nation of Israel. God commanded the Israelites to keep a conditional covenant in the promise land that would lead to either blessings or curses (see Deut. 28). Think about this: you are not a part of the group of people the commands were aimed at. Let me ask you, have you ever read God's command to Noah to build and ark and thought, "I've got to get on it. God wants me to build a huge boat in my backyard." Of course not! You recognize that the command to build a boat is a part of a larger story AND that the command was directed at an individual for a specific time. It's the same with the Old Testament law. It is part of a larger story, directed to a specific nation for a specific time. We do the law a disservice when we separate it from its larger context and think, "God is commanding me to do these things."2.) Even if you were under the law, sharing in Christ's death sets you free from it. In Romans 7 Paul makes an amazing argument to individuals who believe they are obligated to keep the Old Testament law. In verses 1 - 6 Paul reminds us that laws are only binding on a person while he or she lives. He uses marriage as a perfect example (the law to stay married is not in effect if one spouse dies). We can get this idea from our own experience. You can't go to the cemetery and try to enforce laws on people who have long been dead. Here's Paul's kicker: if you believe in Jesus, you have died with Him. So even if you were under the Old Testament law at one point, because of sharing in Jesus' death, you no longer are. You are dead to the law and alive to Christ, and so under Christ and not the Old Testament law.3.) The early church already answered this question for us. In Acts 15 the early church, including the apostles, dealt with this question. Paul's missionary efforts had seen hundreds of Gentiles come to faith in Christ. A controversy quickly arose over Gentiles and the law; namely, do they have to keep it (Acts 15:1, 5). The Gentile church came up with the great idea of sending a delegation to Jerusalem and asking the elders and apostles what they should do. Their conclusion: "My judgement is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood." You can argue about why they prohibited these specific things (I believe it was to maintain fellowship between Jew & Gentile). What you can't do is say the apostles taught Gentiles to keep the Old Testament law. They didn't say, "Just keep the moral parts and you'll be good," or, "tell them to keep the ten commandments." That quite settles the issue for me: I'm a Gentile and the apostles said, "it seemed good to the Holy spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden [than the aforementioned requirements]."4.) The Old Testament law has an expiration date. If Acts 15 wasn't enough to convince you then consider Galatians 3:23 - 29, especially verse 24. "So then, the law (notice lowercase 'l') was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith." My favorite word in that verse is 'until.' This serves to reinforce the first point I made. God gave the Old Testament law to a certain group for a specific time. The law has an 'until,' an expiration date. It was never meant to be premaritally enforced. God gave it with a specific purpose and time period in mind. That's precisely why the work of Jesus is called the New Covenant. It replaces the Old Covenant. The author of Hebrews puts it this way, "In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away" (Heb. 8:13)In part three of this blog I'm going to try to wrap this up by doing three things: 1) explain why I believe there is so much confusion on this issue, 2) explain what law we do have to keep, and 3) explain what we are supped to do with the Old Testament law.I'm a big believer in giving credit where credit is due. My thinking on the Old Testament law has been great impacted through hours of conversation with Jay Todd (one of our former pastors and current Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Religion at College of the Ozarks). Jay is a godly man, biblical scholar, and an expert in the book of Deuteronomy. You can listen to a sermon he preach at our church, "The laws: what do we do with them" HERE.

Do I have to keep the Old Testament law? The Ten Commandments? (Part 1)

Do I have to keep the Old Testament law? What about the ten commandments, do I have to keep them? As a pastor I get those two questions a lot! There are dietary laws, laws for building, laws for removing mold, laws for cooking, laws for living, laws for dying, laws for everything! But what exactly does God expect us to do with the legal code found in the Old Testament, particularly that found in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Let me give you my answer and then provide an argument in favor of it. The answer is NO. Christians do not have to keep the Old Testament law, not even the ten commandments.Before I can give my argument for not keeping the law I need to lay a three part foundation:1) The definition of 'law.' There are two very different ways the Bible uses the word law. The first use of Law refers to the first five books of the Bible, known as the Book of Moses or the Pentateuch. The second use of law refers to the legal code (rules) contained in the first five books of the Bible, often called the Mosaic or Old Covenant. Did you notice I spelled one 'Law' and the other 'law?' The capital 'L' is used for the Book of Moses and the lowercase 'l' is used for the legal code that's in the Book of Moses. Most modern translations will make that distinction to help the reader--although there is only one greek word for law and so deciding which one the author meant can be difficult. It is HUGELY important to see this distinction! Why? Because we have to keep the Law, but not the law (you gotta love that!). The 'l'aw is a set of rules and regulations while the message of the 'L'aw is, "put your trust in the prophet like Moses who is coming" (Deut. 18:15, 29:4, 34:10). That's why Jesus said, "I haven't come to abolish the Law or the Prophets" (notice the capital 'L'). Jesus is the promised prophet like Moses, so he kept or fulfilled the 'L'aw.2)You cannot separate the legal code into parts. I've never met anyone who thinks we have to keep every law in the Old Covenant. We don't have to sacrifice, don't have to worry about boiling a young goat in its mother's milk, and we don't have to keep the legal/governmental parts of the Old Covenant. What many do, however, is to break up the Old Covenant into three parts--moral, civil, and ceremonial. In addition, some make two distinctions; the Ten Commandments and the rest of the Old Covenant rules. I simply don't think you can do that. No one, and I mean no one ever does that in the Bible--Old or New Testament (referring to the Jerusalem council in Acts 15 as an example is a stretch of the text). In addition, the process of separating the law into sections is completely subjective. Since no one in the Bible does it, how are we to figure out which laws belong to which section? The Old Covenant law, then, is one piece, and that one piece includes the Ten Commandments (see Deut. 5:1 - 5). So, when it comes to keeping the Old Covenant law is got to be all or nothing.3) The final thing I need to do is break down a framework of salvation that some believe. It goes something like this. 1) you have to be a perfect law keeper ('l'aw in the rules sense) to go to heaven. 2) I'm not a perfect law keeper. 3) I need someone, namely Jesus, to keep the law perfectly for me. 4) After I believe in Jesus God sees me as a law keeper, and now I must strive to keep the law. I can never remember anyone specifically telling me this when I was a young Christian but I certainly believed it. However, there's a glaring problem with that framework--it's not biblical. Over and over again the Bible teaches us that we have to be righteous to see God, to be with God (see verses listed here.) Now I know what some of you may be thinking. "Doesn't the Old Covenant law show me what righteousness is?" Well, no. Think about it, when the New Testament authors are talking about righteous living do any of them say, "look at the law and you'll understand?" When Paul teaches us the fruit of the Spirit does he say, "If the Spirit is working in you, you will keep the Ten Commandments?" The Old Covenant law was not given as a depiction of what true righteousness is. In the story of Israel we are told that the Old Covenant law was given to teach Israel--and through the story all men--that they were not righteous. And teaching someone they are not righteous is not the same as teaching someone what true righteousness is. Righteousness is a quality belonging to God. It cannot be captured in a list of rules--no matter how long the list is! If you want to understand righteousness, if you want to see righteousness, you have to see God. That's why we must be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect if we are to be with him in heaven. That's why we are being conformed into the image of Christ. And that's why when New Testament authors explain righteousness to us they say, "look at Jesus--who is God--and you'll understand what righteousness is."**In my next blog I'll give my biblical argument for not keeping the law. I'll mainly use Acts 15 and Romans 7. Take some time to read those two chapters and figure out what you believe they say about keeping the law.

Reading: a Christian discipline

“It is a good rule after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between.”― C.S. Lewis

I believe that God expects us to read. If you have the ability to read, (an incredible blessing!), it is godly to be disciplined in the quality and quantity of what you read. I know we live in a age where reading is on the decline. At first it was the amount we read. Short books replaced long books, articles replaced the short books, blogs replaced the articles, and 140 character tweets replaced blogs. And now, reading seems to be all together out. Short video clips--getting shorter by the day--are taking over. Now I don't have a problem with brevity or new technological means of communicating. I simply believe that reading is irreplaceable. So if you are a Christian and you can read, be a disciplined reader. By all means, be most disciplined in reading your Bible. But also be disciplined in reading good books.And that brings me to the C.S. Lewis quote above. Lewis was a big fan of reading old books, and over time I have come to share his opinion. New books, especially Christian books, are mainly old books rewritten. The same ideas communicated in a slightly different way. The drawback is that most new books aren't as good as old books. It's true that new books are an easier read; however, the quality of information and argument in a new book is normally lagging behind its old counterpart. It makes sense. When reading and writing was the only means of communication, as well as the main pastime, people spent more time on the art of writing.That doesn't mean you shouldn't read new books. You should! But, like Lewis said, "never allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between." With that in mind we are going to periodically point you to some old books that are great reads for modern Christians. One of the hardest parts about reading an old book is finding a good old book! After all, there isn't a New York Times best seller list for books written 500 plus years ago!Here are two books by Martin Luther, one of my favorite old authors, to get you started.The Freedom of a Christian: a great, easy to read little book that I often recommend. It is short, so it can be a good first step into old books, but it is packed with great writing on what it means to be a Christian.Kindle Version: Free! (titled Concerning Christian Liberty)Paperback: $13.47The Bondage of the Will: Longer and a bit harder to read, but still a great book. Luther writes on issues of God's sovereignty in salvation and man's ability in the process. Even if you don't agree with Luther's conclusions this book is something to read and recon with.Kindle Version: 99 centPaperback: $5.95**I have both of these books in my library and will gladly loan them out!