Posted on 01/26/2020 7:54:26 AM PST by Kaslin
Writing about sexual morality in the mid-twentieth century, C.S. Lewis concluded that the world’s “great relaxation and simplifying” of the rules of modesty, or standards of propriety, while not necessarily a bad thing, presents this “inconvenience.” He wrote: “People of different ages and different types do not all acknowledge the same standard, and [thus] we hardly know where we are.”
Lewis goes on to point out:
There is no getting away from it: the old Christian rule is, “Either marriage, with complete faithfulness to your partner, or else total abstinence.”
Now this is so difficult and so contrary to our instincts, that obviously either Christianity is wrong or our sexual instinct, as it now is [remember, “now” was the mid-twentieth century], has gone wrong. One or the other. Of course, being a Christian, I think it is the instinct which has gone wrong.
Of course, Lewis was—and is—right. Note that our sexual instinct has gone so wrong that Lewis’s clear declaration of Christian sexual morality—published in one of the greatest works of modern apologetics, Mere Christianity—is now, in the early twenty-first century, somewhat insufficient. This is because the God-haters, and those otherwise devoted to a “theology of self,” have now perverted the oldest institution in the history of humanity—marriage.
In other words, we are today so far removed from the “same standard” when it comes to matters in the sexual realm that many in the world today have little to no idea “where we are” on marriage. If he were writing or speaking today, Lewis would need to clarify that, by “marriage,” he means the biblical definition of marriage. Tragically, this would be the case even if his audience were church-going Americans.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
The older one gets, the more one understands the wisdom in this rule.
With little or no push-back from Christianity.
+1
O noes, o noes! He was such a hatey hating hater!
Do not be deceived. Homosexuals and transformers did not create the current environment. They are merely dangling from the coattails of the majority who wanted a judgment-free pass for bog-standard heterosexual sin.
We need to be very specific about the definition of marriage. Islam allows multiple wives and even ‘temporary’ marriage.
If you believe that our moral standards are handed down to us from God, it's not because God wishes to torment us, or test our loyalty, but simply because God understands His own creation, and how humans may fare best within it.
Spot on
Which biblical definition is that? The one where the dudes have multiple spouses or the one where David has Bathsheba’s husband knocked off?
You can conflate examples of bad behavior in the Bible (clearly given as what not to do), or you could just go with the 10 Commandments, which is what the rest of Christian theology uses as a guide.
Much more convenient (fun?) to avoid the obvious answer.
Well said
Nothing can be done if we won’t identify the real issue. The author largely misses the boat.
Most probably the New Testament one, if you know it. As well, David sinned, Duh! You a troll? :-)
“..With little or no push-back from Christianity. ..”
Even worse - modern Christianity had adopted the anti-Christianity position.
“With little or no push-back from Christianity.”
If you look at the number of major alleged Christian churches today, many have already capitulated to the demands of the small number of the LBGTQWHATEVERELSETHEYARE and accept their sexual lifestyle.
I recall a Q and A type article in a Christian publication maybe 50 years ago; one of the questions was "Why is sex wrong, if God made it?" Of course, the answer was about the "proper" use of sex, from which any deviation was wrong.
The Bible made it clear that God hated what King David did. The Bible from cover to cover gives examples of bad behavior from his elect and his not so elect and how God punished them for their iniquities.
I think it's interesting and instructive that Eve recognizes that her conception came from and belongs to the Lord albeit through the "knowledge" of Adam. And also that she apparently values God's gift as if she were acquiring a possession.
The Bible is chock-full of sex. Just like life.
With some of it good and some bad. Somewhere between Hedonism and being a Sanctimonious Prude lies the truth and good. I really struggle to know which of the extremes is actually the worse though. At least the Hedonist is honest.
The Sanctimonious Prude is also scared to death not only of judgement but themselves.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.