One of the most interesting arguments I have seen drifting around social media sites is the idea that sexuality is viewed as something evil, while the media celebrates images of murder, torture and genocide. These issues are not neccessarilly correlated, and as such, these types of comparative arguments appear to be structured to confuse people who are considering such ideas. On the surface it appears to be something similar to a movement–and orchestrated series of events for the purpose of loosening the values associated with sexuality, perhaps to quiet our inner voices. The proper argument would be apposed to both unhealthy sexual liberalism and violence, but this is rarely the case in the debates I witness online.

That being said, there seems to be an inherent value system residing within the hearts of people that goes ignored, though it continues to nag at the soul, even among secularists–almost as if someone were trying to tell us something. If you don’t know what I mean, you might consider thinking of it in these terms. With statistics showing that the majority of people engage in viewing pornography today, it is easy to imagine that a fair number of those people have daughters. If they were asked if they would mind it if their own daughters were participants in the pornography, it is easy to imagine the overwhelming majority would say they would be strongly against it. Is it a wholesome, harmless expression of sexuality if one would respond with visceral anger when our daughters are participants? Clearly the answer is no.

That being said, as an artist, I feel there should be some Christian reinforcement of the idea that there can be, and should be, a recognized distinction between artistic expressionism which includes nudity, and the types of expression that promote sexual activity outside of a healthy framework. We all appreciate the beautifully painted frescoes of bare breasted angels and divine scenes from the Bible. We regard them as wholesome; and the paintbrush was the image capturing mechanism for real and imagined art for thousands of years. The modern age of technology can be employed to replace the mechanism while simultaneously preserving the wholesome sentiment. Digital imagery and paintings are not different in kind, but perhaps different by degree if one’s argument includes the idea that realism can pollute artistic expression, calling into question what art really is. On my view, the human form is a beautiful creation and can be captured in art in wholesome ways using any mechanism. That’s my view. Maybe your view is different. To this end, I have no problem with nude art, and I feel it is important to encourage Christians to draw distinctions between images that promote the appreciation of God’s creation, and images that distort what Christians believe to be God’s intention for his creation. I only mention this because Christians seem confused as to whether or not all nudity is a sin. In my view, the answer is no. That’s my belief, but I respectfully accept that others will disagree.

One thing I think we can all agree on is that the world seems to be changing rapidly, and silence on these issues cannot be the Christian response. At the very least, a dialog should be open. I think that many churches are fearful of drawing attention to issues that are day to day conflicts between prevalent secular ideologies and the values of the church, which are often very different. The strained relationship between people with religious values and secularists seems to be more strained with time, and I believe many Churches worry they will alienate greater numbers if much emphasis is devoted to sexuality.

To that, it appear that in some ways the issues come down to whether churches are right to bend in order to focus attention on the values both Christian and secularists share, in an effort to leverage the approachability of a church. That is to say, any given church is more attractive to a prospective participant if the appearance of the church’s teaching are not perceived to be condemning the participants too harshly. Should a church maintain a solid unwavering adherence to age-old beliefs, or bend with the times? Good arguments can be made for both sides of that issue. However, it seems clear to me that unless some divine revelation appears, setting aside the rules of the past, as was the case for Christians at the inception of the New Testament, then Christians should hold fast to core beliefs, and openly engage in dialog regarding these beliefs both with the Christian flock and the word in general.

As always, thanks for commenting. The statistics at Crosswalk speak to the ongoing issue of sexuality within American churches. As to feminism, like everything else, there’s good, bad, and in between. I would not equate feminism per se with the sexual revolution even though some feminists have certainly promoted it. Nevertheless, we can learn a lot from Latino/as about the importance of family.

Thank you for your well thought out and provocative assessment. A few thoughts I have on this issue is that it touches on several larger issues of marriage, procreation, etc. Of course the bible has much to say on this. We are told to be fruitful and multiply, and not to deny a spouse sexual but for a short time and with mutual consent. I recently spoke with a man going through a divorce due to sexual problems (his wife decided 7 years ago to stop having sex with him) and I have met several pastors hooked on pornography usually based upon the same dilemma. This article states that 54% of pastors have viewed porn in the last year and 47% of promise keepers have within 1 week.
http://www.crosswalk.com/church/pastors-or-leadership/how-many-porn-addicts-are-in-your-church-1336107.html I don’t envy pastors for having to council couples in such circumstances. Obviously you cannot condone divorce, porn or adultery; but what do you say to someone who is I such a marriage?

Not to sound like a broken record, but I think that when God’s model for marriage is thrown out and replaced with worldly philosophies such as feminism it opens up a can of worms which can crawl in several directions. We now have negative population growth as children are no longer valued. Not only have marriage relationships suffered, but mother/ daughter relationships are often the most strained in the family. Sex in marriage is often used as a manipulative tactic to gain power instead of the gift from God that it is. And of course things are worse in the younger generation where young people have become so promiscuous that they simply “hook –up” for sex and consider dating to be old fashioned.

Contrast this with say my wife’s Hispanic (Dominican) culture where children are considered a blessing from God; and the mother/daughter relationship is usually the closest one in the family. It is common wisdom that you cannot have a happy marriage without a happy sex life. There is no struggle over power and thus no need for sexual manipulation. Feminism never has made the types of inroads in this culture that it has in America and it shows. Sure each culture has its own unique problems, but I think the fact that modern western culture is dying off due to a lack of babies speaks volumes about its sterility and pathology.

Your brother in Christ,

Chris

I do appreciate you Church of God people with your healthy view of grace! Fundamentalist-tainted denominations can learn a whole lot from you!!!!