God’s Good Idea

It’s no secret that the historic, Bible-based, Christian teaching on sex has fallen into disfavor in our 21st century Western world.  Sharp criticism is leveled against the belief which has been held consistently by believers in Jesus the world over for 2,000 years—the belief that sexual intimacy is intended by God to be experienced only within the rela­tion­ship of a man and a woman in marriage.

And such criticism has come not only from outside the church.  Some who profess to believe in Christ advocate for a “progressive” and “affirming” and “open” stance—one that’s not so “rigid,” “self-righteous,” “hypocritical,” or “bigoted” (etc.—you fill in the blank).

The 2015 US Supreme Court decision that re-defined marriage to include same-sex unions was certainly a landmark event in our society.  But a movement away from God’s design for sexuality had been spreading for decades, so Obergefell came as no surprise.

Now I’m not here to moan about Christianity’s loss of cultural clout.  But I am eager to encourage believers in Jesus, and churches like Goshen that regard the Bible as the inspired, truthful, and ever-good Word of God, to fix their eyes on Jesus and not lose sight of God’s wise designs.  Friends, remem­ber that all God’s commands are right and good; there is no better vision of intimate love and sexual fulfillment than the beautiful, biblical plan.  Today’s sexual chaos cannot deliver the joy it claims to offer.

This is why I so much appreciate the article by Andrea Palpant Dilley in the Sept. issue of Christianity Today (pp. 27-28), “Celebrating Sexual Ethics.”  She makes the simple but profound and timely claim, “We really can take joy in the historic Christian view of human sexuality.”  All of God’s “don’ts” grow out of a positive vision of human flour­ish­ing.  So we have nothing to apologize for.  “On the contrary, the orthodox vision of human sexuality is abundantly good, true, and beautiful and points toward health and healing.”  It’s true, God’s good pathway “doesn’t preclude loneliness and suffering.  But it does promise our deepest wellbeing, maybe not as we see it but as God does.  And that’s ground worth standing on.”  Our good God can be trusted, and his sure and unchanging Word is exactly what we need.