This article is a real mixed bag. On the one hand, he makes some good points against the culture of the day, but he then turns around and lauds the Catholic church for the very things they have been wrong about for centuries.
For example, the author writes: “ Many evangelicals consider sex for married people to be like food – it’s inappropriate, unhealthy, and even wrong to expect or encourage married couples to abstain from sex for any period of time.”
His characterization of the evangelical position is wrong—quite wrong. Here is what the scriptures say:
“The wife’s body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband’s body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife. Do not deprive each other except by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. I say this as a concession, not as a command. I wish that all men were as I am. But each man has his own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that.” 1 Corinthians 7:4-7.
You will note that married celibacy is all but forbidden to the married. That it is only allowed for a limited time, “for prayer” (i.e. not for “family planning”).
Celibacy for the kingdom is encouraged, but only to those have it as a special gift of God. It is NOT a requirement to dedicate one’s life to the church:
“This is my defense to those who sit in judgment on me. Don’t we have the right to food and drink? Don’t we have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers and Cephas? Or is it only I and Barnabas who must work for a living?” 1 Corinthians 9:3-6.
Of note here is the fact that Paul had, not only permission, but a right to take a wife with him in his work—a direct contradiction of the Roman Catholic’s position regarding clerical celibacy, when the passage above is also taken into account.
Indeed, I find such authors has this to be troubling to the sensitive consciences in the church because of his error. From the article again:
“So it is now more than ever that our world needs the celibate witness. Celibate priests, monks, and nuns, even lay people who are living the single life – we need you to stand as witnesses to the world and to our separated brethren, and as a constant reminder to married couples within the Church, that we do not need sex, that sex does not lead to happiness.”
Of interest is that, here, celibacy is praised in and of itself, running down the value of sex. Biblical sex is not merely permitted, but beautiful and natural, ordained by God and as natural an aspect of the human condition (fallen or unfallen, in this case) as food.
“”For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.” Ephesians 5:31
As with food and the other pleasurable gifts of God, it has been warped and perverted by a warped and perverted world—it is this that we ought to stand tall and firm against (Ephesians 5:3-7), not sex itself. Celibacy is valued in scripture only to the extent that for the given individual it further advances the kingdom of Christ.
“I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord’s affairs—how he can please the Lord. But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world—how he can please his wife— and his interests are divided. An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord’s affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world—how she can please her husband.” 1 Corinthians 7:32-34.
Thanks for the thorough response. Is there any way I could ask you to go over and post them to the author’s blog?
Thank you for “rightly dividing the Word of Truth” on this subject. If people would spend more time reading God’s word in it’s completeness, rather than taking a verse here and there to support a view, or worse, simply letting someone else tell them what it says, we would have far less societal problems.