If Christians would read their bibles it would clear up a lot of deception, says Bill Muehlenberg of Culture Watch. In this piece Muehlenberg addresses sexual sin and the lengths professing Christians will go to justified having sex outside of marriage. He points out that Satanic deception has become so rampant in our churches that, in their confusion, Christians often use arguments that usually come from atheists and sexual libertines, such as “love is all that matters; God looks at the heart; we don’t need lists of rules, etc, etc.”
Discover why these arguments are decidedly unbiblical — and what the Bible explicitly teaches on sex outside of marriage. He writes:
There most certainly is such a thing as sin, such a thing as Satan and such a thing as deception. These three run together, resulting in incredible damage – spiritually and in other ways. Of course in the world people are under the complete control of Satan, sin is a way of life, and deception is everywhere.
That is to be expected. What should not be expected – but sadly happens far too widely – is to see all three things having a field day with those who claim to be Christians. Every day we find folks who claim to be followers of Christ who are clearly deceived and allowing Satan free rein in their lives.
There are just so many examples of this. Simply take one particular area, that of sexual sin. I have heard every sexual sin and perversion being defended by those who claim to be believers, whether it is homosexuality, polygamy or what have you.
Plenty of “Christians” find no problems whatsoever with premarital sex for example, and the surveys on this are utterly staggering. Not only do they think it is just fine, but they are doing it as well. Imagine that: living in known sin while claiming to be a disciple of Christ.
I was reminded of just how pervasive this is in Christian circles with a recent lengthy debate elsewhere with a gal who also thought there was nothing wrong with premarital sex. She was a classic example of someone fully deceived on this matter. Instead of siding with the clear teachings of Scripture, she threw out every idiotic objection we expect immoral unbelievers to come up with.
But simply reading the Bible would clear up all this deception. There are hundreds of passages on sexual immorality which we are commanded to flee. The passages here are so numerous, that let me restrict myself to just a few verses from just one book:
-1 Corinthians 5:9-11 When I wrote to you before, I told you not to associate with people who indulge in sexual sin. But I wasn’t talking about unbelievers who indulge in sexual sin, or are greedy, or cheat people, or worship idols. You would have to leave this world to avoid people like that. I meant that you are not to associate with anyone who claims to be a believer yet indulges in sexual sin, or is greedy, or worships idols, or is abusive, or is a drunkard, or cheats people. Don’t even eat with such people.
-1 Corinthians 6:9-11 Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
-1 Corinthians 6:13-14 You say, “Food was made for the stomach, and the stomach for food.” (This is true, though someday God will do away with both of them.) But you can’t say that our bodies were made for sexual immorality. They were made for the Lord, and the Lord cares about our bodies. And God will raise us from the dead by his power, just as he raised our Lord from the dead.
-Corinthians 6:18-19 Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself,
-1 Corinthains 7:1-2 Now for the matters you wrote about: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband.
Of course using the Greek to get a grasp of all this is preferable. Consider just one rather broad-ranging word. The Greek word porneia has a number of meanings, all centering on illicit sexual activities such as prostitution, premarital sex, bestiality, homosexuality, lesbianism, incest, and so on.
As the standard Greek-English lexigraphical reference work by Bauer, Arndt, Gingrich and Danker (BAGD) states, the word means “prostitution, unchastity, fornication,” and is used “of every kind of unlawful sexual intercourse”. So here we have all forms of illicit sexual activity covered by just one word.
As always, the biblical norm for human sexuality is seen in a lifelong male-female marriage – nowhere else. All this is so utterly clear and obvious in Scripture that it is just bizarre that one has to go over these basic biblical truths. But deception is rampant in so many churches, so we have confused believers like this arguing just like any pagan would. Indeed, this gal threw every ludicrous argument that I normally get from atheists and sexual libertines: love is all that matters; God looks at the heart; we don’t need lists of rules, etc, etc.
It is just staggering to come across this utter nonsense from someone claiming to actually be a disciple of Christ. Let me just mention a few of our many exchanges. I was assured by her that love is all that matters, and if two people are committed to each other, that makes all such premarital sex just peachy.
I replied, by that unbiblical reasoning, homosexuals or threesomes or anyone who “loves” and seems “committed” would be just fine and we should approve of what they are doing. Indeed, homosexuals, and those into polyamory, incest or paedophilia will often claim it is all about a loving and committed relationship. Continue reading
Read our White Paper on the Homosexual Agenda and the Emergent Church
Great article, and so true. I see this mentality on the streets frequently.
Just yesterday while out sharing the gospel I met a guy who was excited to meet me and see that I’m preaching the pure gospel message. I told him that Jesus loves him and paid the price on the cross for his sins and the he had to turn from sin via repentance to the Jesus Christ of the Bible. He tells me that he is a huge believer and loves the message I was sharing…and then he mentions his 23 month old son who lives with him and his…girlfriend.
I told him that he was living in sin, and was setting sex and his girlfriend on the throne above God and his word, and he would be wise to tear those idols down now, or God will do it for him at judgement. He listened and knew that what I was saying was true and thanked me for talking with him about it…but what he will do, who knows. My problem was that it didn’t so much as cross his mind to stop having sex, repent and then get married. He assumed he was an awesome christian because he reads the Bible and once said a prayer….That is the mentality of young believers all over Orlando.
I always make it clear that we obey Jesus Christ, not as works, but because we know him and love him, and he paid such a heavy price for our sin on a cold hard cross …because he first loved us. Sorry for the long response, but I can’t begin to tell you how often people tell me that they are christians while living with their partners. When they leave a conversation with me…they understand exactly what the Bible says about sin, repentance and the cross of Jesus Christ.
http://followingjesuschrist3.com/2015/04/29/sin-repentance-and-the-cross-of-christ/
I attended and joined a Berean Church in Tulsa, Ok. I loved it, the word was true. I loved the family we had there. Then we merged with a different church and everything changed. Transgendered and homosexuals started attending there. Most of the orignal congregation has moved on now. In my opinion this is wrong. I know God loves every one, but for a family church to change so radically, I was disappointed. They changed the name (which is not important) of the church, but I felt it was not right for my self and my special needs daughter. I miss the Berean way, but went back to my Baptist roots. Very happy and loved again.