Posted on 01/26/2010 2:03:24 PM PST by SnakeDoctor
One the of leading three evangelical prophets of America who has recently visited Australia, Mark Driscoll, preaching pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, openly declares that the subject of delightful 'Christian sex' is a proper topic for discussion.
Lillian Kwon writing for the ‘Christian Post’, and reprinted in ‘Christian Today Australia’, explored Mark Driscoll's credentials and his topic saying that The Song of Songs is said to be the most erotic and exciting book in Scripture.
Driscoll says that it literally describes an intimate relationship between a husband and a wife. "At Mars Hill Church, we believe that 'all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable' (2 Tim. 3:16), therefore we do not hesitate to discuss anything that the Bible addresses," stated Mark Driscoll.
And that includes sex – of course, within the context of marriage. In his "The Peasant Princess" sermon series, which he launched in September, he deals frankly and openly with [Christian] sex; challenging married couples in their congregations to be intimate every day for a week or a month.
But Driscoll goes further with the Song of Songs chapter 6, describing the wife dancing for her husband and is "exceedingly visually generous to her husband," while the husband is verbally generous as he pays her compliments of her body and then "proceeds forward."
He claims that it's in the Bible and is "an example of marital freedom."
Lillian Kwon stated that the 10-week "Peasant Princess" sermon series comes at a time when traditional marriage is being challenged in courts, Americans are daily inundated with sexual images, and more money is being spent on pornography than foreign aid.
Driscoll believes non-Christian sex is the greatest threat to Christianity and wants to replace porn, adultery and divorce with "hot, hetero, covenantal monogamy."
Well-Being Australia chairman Mark Tronson, a Baptist minister of 31 years, said that as a result of that article he Googled 'Christian Sex' and up came numerous pages, five items (on the first page) of which were -
Sex for the Christian Man (Woman)
Christian Sex rules
The Joy of Christian Sex toys
What the Bible says about sex
One Preacher's message – have hotter sex
“Several Australian Christian evangelicals and Pentecostals in line with fundamentalism were beside themselves with horror; aghast and baying for blood some nine years ago, when the mildest of 'Christians and sex' websites (when compared to these sites above), explored this same subject on the Internet in an attempt to convey the joy of Christian marital sex to Christian young people,” M V Tronson remembered.
Mark Tronson wonders what changes took place in that nine year period to bring about such a revolution in evangelical and Pentecostal thinking and writing. He puts forward three ideas for discussion.
First, wiser heads within the evangelical and Pentecostal movement recognised that sex had to be raised and discussed within their Churches with an almost shocking openness, if a discussion with parishioners of all ages was to be maintained with credibility.
Second, all young people now have access to sex education in the classroom, and many reasonable evangelicals and Pentecostals saw their participation in the education process as an absolute necessity. Sadly, some will always have their heads in the sand.
Third, although books on sex for Christians have had this type of information for decades, websites for Christian material on 'sex' was basically non-existent a decade ago. This area has developed exponentially as more and more people of all ages and walks of life find the Internet a convenient (and sometimes indispensable) way to get information.
“Mark Driscoll is clearly on the right path, and many serious evangelicals and Pentecostals have already been thinking that these developments were long overdue,” M V Tronson said.
Reverend Dr Rowland Croucher has written and counselled extensively on this issue, an extract from his book 'The family at home in a heartless world' published by Harper Collins has a final chapter on this subject. This is an available resource for study and discussion.
I think the point of Paul's teaching is to never deny your spouse anything good which youj have to give. Going beyond that, never resist any impulse to be generous to anyone, to do someone a favor, to show love. But the idea that one must perform umpteen times a week is a warped legalistic perversion of that idea.
Sex is an idol to the world, something that secular culture puts above every consideration of morality, health, common sense, or concern for others. The church needs to be very cautious about going down that road.
I agree. What the church should be teaching is agape love, not eros. I don’t think the ministers in the original post are following the injunction to be “in the world but not of it.”
The emphasis needs to be on what must satisfy and fulfill us ABOVE and BEYOND sex, namely Christ Himself--and true intimacy with God--> so that even something as beautiful and amazing as sex takes a secondary (if not lower than secondary) role in the lives of married Christian couples...Think for example, of a couple of which one of the spouses is a veteran amputee or is paralyzed...so it wouldn't be physically possible for those couples to have sex. Obviously, God still intends for the couple to stay married, to enjoy each other, and to glorify Him...
So yes, there always runs the risk of elevating sex to a place it's not meant to be. The emphasis must always be on the beauty of Christ and the satisfaction that should come from Him alone, and then everything else will follow from that. Otherwise, sexual fulfillment in marriage can become an idol and the end in and of itself, rather than a means...
Very well said.
I do see your point, but I think you’re misconstruing some of the emphasis.
Though I do not attend Driscoll’s church, he seems to target an audience of young adult males (20-35) — a demographic largely ignored by the Protestant Church, and one that is very suceptible to secular images of sexuality. “Hotness” is appealing to this demographic, and the marketing machine for hedonism is winning.
I don’t think Driscoll is saying that “hot Christian sex” is the emphasis of a Christian marriage — I think he is saying that, in most cases, it is a component of a Christian marriage (and a component which is often overlooked even within the faith).
He is fighting against the stereotype that Christian marriages are stuffy and sexless (i.e. in the dark, missionary-only, and only for procreation). This stereotype of Christian sexuality has done a LOT of damage to marriage as an institution — and that Christian sexuality needs a PR makeover.
I agree (and I think Driscoll would also) that marriage is about loving and committing to your wife as Christ commits to His church. It is about forgiving and sacrificing for your spouse. But, there is no reason that a couple cannot enjoy themselves — and no reason that Christian circles cannot acknowledge that enjoyment.
SnakeDoc
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