Let's Talk About Sex

Another week, another public sex scandal for the Christian church. With the posthumous news of Ravi Zacharias being a predatory creep and rapist, we see another pastor with a platform fall. For a group that claims to have the truth, they don't know how to deal with sex. It's easy to blame celebrity culture on the powerful failing publicly, but I believe that's cheating to distract from the real problem. Blaming pastoral celebrities merely sweeps the public symptoms of a deeper cause under the rug. It's just an easy way to get the church back to business as usual and changes nothing. This isn't an issue of having bad apples, it's one of bad theology. From purity culture to repression, misogyny, and guilt, Christianity doesn't have the best historical track record for healthily talking about sex. I think that should change. For too long has sex been used as a tool and a weapon within Evangelicalism used to control and shame. Through this warped lens, women are seen as pure objects of desire and men are the aggressors fueled by lust. Sex is framed in utilitarian terms to serve the head of the household (ie men) and grow the family. Rarely is sex spoken of being as life-giving, deeply intimate, and profoundly spiritual. Through the banner of purity and theology, we have boxed sex into a corner and sought to control and tame it. Though it's not really for the sake of purity or theology, it's driven by fear. Out of fear, we limit how we approach sex and in turn, we limit how we view God. Christianity needs a more healthy and God-affirming way to speak about sex. When you wrap sex in fear and religion, you get systems that create and sustain predatory abuse. This was never what God intended. Here are my questions for you: If humans are created by God and in God's image, what does sex say about God? What do sex and its transcendence nature speak of an Almighty? The answers to these questions won't fit easily into a dogmatic system, but they will lead you on a journey into something much more interesting.  Come along for the ride as we skewer through life, culture, and spirituality in the face of a changing world. www.SnarkyFaith.com