Obsessed

People, unbelievers and believers alike, often view Christians as obsessed with sex. Oh, not like unbelievers are. No, unbelievers are obsessed with revelling in it. But believers seem to be obsessed with opposing it. I mean, we know there are "evils" everywhere. There is gun violence and murder, rape and hate. There is poverty and injustice and a whole list of evils. It feels, though, as if the main thrust of the Christian world is opposition to sexual sin to the exclusion of all others. Why is that?

There are a variety of answers to that question. On one hand, it is abundantly clear that most of us consider that list of evils that I just gave you above are ... evil. We are not divided on that. They say murder is evil; we say murder is evil. We agree! So why beat that drum? We might differ on the source of the problem or the solution to the problem, but we do not differ in identifying murder and rape (for instance) as evils. Not so with sexual sin. In our day our society has determined to label almost nothing as "sexual sin." Oh, there are still a few corners -- incest, polygamy, pedophilia, bestiality, and the like -- but our current standard of determining right and wrong -- "love is love" -- along with the modern link of "love" with "sex" means that it will be impossible to continue the notion that any sex that two (or more) people choose to engage in will be considered evil. So we act as the red light on the dash board that tells you your oil is low. "You don't know it, but you are currently embracing a very dangerous behavior and we need to warn you."

Which leads to the other primary point. Sin, by its very nature, is bad. No, I don't mean merely "naughty" bad. I mean harmful. The repeated warning in Scripture is that those who surround themselves with sin will not inherit the kingdom. And, interestingly, in the lists of sin that disqualify people for the kingdom, sexual sins always ranks near the very top. That is, Scripture seems to rank sex outside of marriage in whatever form that takes as a real problem that needs to be addressed ... often. Since our world has come to accept sex outside of marriage (God's version in particular) as normal and healthy, we're talking now about a blind population that is, in essence, taking poison and enjoying it.

Jesus told us to love each other as He loved us -- sacrificially. We are to seek the best for those around us. So it isn't a quest for power or some archaic morality that is our concern. It is the well-being of the people around us who are completely oblivious to the dangerous ground on which they are standing. To say nothing would not be an option if we are to be loving people. So, despite the fact that they don't want to hear it, we need to point to the truth of their perilous condition. It's what people who love other people do.