Readings for today: Leviticus 15-18
I remember seeing my first Playboy magazine when I was ten or eleven years old. I was with my cousins. They had a stack hidden in the play-set behind their house. As a young man just entering puberty, it created all kinds of feelings inside me that I had never felt before. Powerful emotions swept over me. Sexual urges I had no idea existed welled up inside. It became an addiction that plagued me through my college years. It also created all kinds of confusion. Subconsciously, I began to objectify women. Value them primarily as objects of sexual desire. Relationships became transactional and heavily tilted towards self-gratification. If my sexual needs were not met, I moved on. Sadly, my experience was not unique. It was very common in the circles I ran in at the time. For example, I remember serving as a camp counselor at a summer residential sports camp in Maine. The hookup culture was rampant as we spent weeks getting drunk at the local bar and sleeping with each other. It was the darkest summer of my life. Thankfully, things often are darkest before the dawn and the Lord intervened in my life in a miraculous way the following year at CU. From the moment I met Christ, I knew things had to change. I had to surrender my sexuality to Him just like every other part of my life.
Today’s reading includes a very important section on sexual purity. These regulations may sound somewhat foreign and somewhat familiar depending on your experience. Incest, bestiality, adultery, and homosexuality are all considered “abominations” before the Lord. Engaging in such activity comes with a heavy price. One would be cut off from his or her people. “Vomited” out of the Promised Land.
We struggle to understand this section of Scripture. Some dismiss it as “ceremonial law” much like the restrictions on what we can eat or wear. The problem with that approach is that we affirm such things as bestiality and incest as abhorrent, illegal practices in our own time. Some argue these passages are culturally bound. Their argument is that these regulations were designed exclusively for ancient Israel and therefore have no bearing on how we regulate our sexual activity today. Proponents of this argument believe in the primacy of love. As long as two people love one another, denying them sexual fulfillment is perceived as cruel and harsh. Therefore, same-sex relationships are justified as is adultery in some instances. The problem with this approach is that it misunderstands the nature of love. It trades on the erotic almost exclusively and dismisses any notion that sexuality and holiness are inextricably linked. A final argument is made - particularly from our LGBTQ Christian friends - that the authors of Leviticus didn’t understand the nature of same-sex attraction and had no experience with loving, committed, monogamous same-sex relationships. Same-sex relationships in the ancient world were always exploitative, oppressive, violent, etc. and therefore the prohibitions in Leviticus 18 do not apply to a 21st century context. The problem with this approach is it is simply not historically accurate. Pioneers in Queer Studies like Louis Crompton and New Testament scholars like William Loader (neither of whom are Evangelical Christians and both of whom affirm same-sex relationships) are among many who have demonstrated that loving, non-exploitative, same-sex relationships have existed since antiquity. No matter how you slice it, the Bible is clear. God seems univocal in His condemnation of any sexual expression outside of marriage between a man and a woman and to claim otherwise is not being honest.
So what’s the big deal about sex? Is God a prude? Is He simply trying to squash our natural desires and affections? We can’t help how we feel, right? The key is to remember the context. You and I are born in sin. Sin warps and corrupts every part of us, including our sexual desires. Therefore, we are “naturally” going to want to rebel against God’s will. We are “naturally” going to want to pursue unholiness. Our hearts are drawn so easily away from God and towards what is impure and unclean and this is what prevents us from entering God’s presence. And yet God wants to dwell with us! God wants to be with us! So God commands us to “be holy as He is holy” and this call covers every area of our lives, including our sexuality. Sexuality is not an end in itself. It is a powerful drive created by God for the main purpose of the propagation of our species as well as to give physical expression to the kind of “oneness” God desires men and women to have in this life. The joining together of man and woman in sexual intimacy within the context of the covenant of marriage is literally designed to give us a foretaste of the joy and freedom and transparency we will enjoy with one another in the Kingdom of Heaven. This is why sex can be so amazing! And it is also why God has placed such strong boundaries around it’s expression. To keep us safe. To keep our sexual lives pure and free from corruption so we can experience all God has for us.
All one has to do is look around our culture today to see the consequences of unfettered sexual desire. Sexually transmitted disease. Sexual abuse and assault. The objectification of the female and male bodies. Rampant divorce and infidelity. The breakdown of families. Depression and anxiety and fear surrounding every potential sexual encounter and/or its aftermath. It’s heartbreaking. God’s desire is for us to repent and commit ourselves to holiness. Holy sexuality is expressed in celibacy in singleness and intimacy in marriage between a man and a woman. I realize taking a traditional, Biblical position on sexuality in our world today will draw scorn and even accusations of bigotry. However, I believe when one takes a step back and looks objectively at the empirical data surrounding the consequences of pursuing a sexual ethic divorced from the Bible, one can easily conclude God probably knows better. After twenty-six years of faithful marriage to one woman, I certainly know this to be true in my own life.
Readings for tomorrow: Leviticus 19-22