Where do we get our view of Sexuality?
We have a serious problem in our churches as it becomes more and more like the society in which we live in. The problem is in relation to our sex ethic as believers. Before the 1900’s, most Christians were not willing to entertain the idea that Song of Songs was a love poem describing human sexuality between a husband and a wife, and so they allegorized it with all these silly meanings. What this subtly communicated over the ages to the average Christian is that sex is bad, God would never talk about it, and so neither should we. And I think that created a vacuum, a void of understanding in believers.
As our world is becoming progressively more and more sexified, if I may coin a term, in that we are being barraged with images and concepts because of our technological age, far more than we used to be. What a 10 year old sees on TV, looks at on the internet, observes in magazines is sex, sex, sex…everywhere there is sexuality on display. Sex sells. And our kids are the target and the recipients of this form of advertising. The entertainment industry makes mainstream and cool what 30 year olds are going through for a 10 year old, and so you have kids in grade 4 talking about how Katy Perry’s “I kissed a Girl” song and idealizing it.
So, in the midst of our sexually addicted society, the church has not had a voice for centuries, and we’ve often been communicated as Christian kids that sex is bad and we don’t talk about it. So, if God doesn’t have a view of sex and if the Bible doesn’t speak into it, and if the church doesn’t have anything to contribute, then where are kids to find their view of sexuality? Our society! The sex-charged world around them!
We need the Bible and God to speak into human sexuality. It was not a mistake that God created humanity with brains that were acutely aware and given toward processing love and sexual signals. It was not a mistake that he created them with sexual organs with more nerve endings than any other part of the body. No, he created all of this, and said it was “Very Good!” God cares about us having a healthy view of sexuality, and a healthy view is not “no view”. So, where do we go to find a healthy view of human sexuality within its appropriate context, both for the single person, and for the married? Song of Songs!
