Sex is Currency

Timothy asked me some questions about sex today. SEX! The all-too-taboo issue...

...or is it?

He told me that some teacher said sex is a psychological need; and that another person said that next to food, sex is one of the things man cannot live without. And based on recent studies, having sex might lessen the incidence of prostate cancer.

I answered the young man's questions with a very long text message and told him that God created sex as expression of enjoyment between two people in a covenant relationship [marriage], telling them to be fruitful and multiply.

There have been a lot of misconceptions and lies about sex -- the former from the minds of men, the latter from the schemes of the devil. Sex is not bad. God created it and therefore it is a holy concept and act. The devil came in and screwed things up [pun intended] and perverted the whole concept of sex. And since man was born with a sinful nature in a world of sin, his natural inclination towards evil has spilled over to the arena of sex and sexual expression.

So, what was supposed to be a private, intimate and holy act shared by husband and wife has been ravaged, mass produced and placed in a glossy, eye-catching package to appeal to the lusts of humanity. Society has used and abused sex in so many ways for the sake of capitalism, commercialism and humanism.

We can see this in the obvious (in the industry of pornography, tv, film and media); in the blatant (it is ever-present in the world of adversting -- I never saw the relevance of a woman in a bikini crawling on her knees in an ad that sold shoes); in the subtle (in the dialogue and imagery of some tv shows, including cartoons -- I saw one episode of the PowerPuff Girls where the Mayor was being seduced by Ms. Bellum [who was actually Sedusa in disguise]. This was a kids' show for crying out loud!!!).

The world -- or most of it -- has lost its grasp on God's original intent for sex and what sex is supposed to be. Jonathan Foreman and the rest of Switchfoot hit the nail on the head when they wrote the song Easier Than Love to voice out their observation of how sex has been raped and perverted and objectified. The lyrics goes...


Sex is currency, she sells cars, she sells magazines
Addictive bittersweet, clap your hands with the hopeless nicotines
Everyone's a lost romantic, since our love became a kissing show
Everyone's a Casanova, come and pass me the mistletoe
Everyone's been scared to death of dying here alone

She is easier than love, is easier than life
It's easier to fake and smile and bribe
It's easier to leave, it's easier to lie
It's harder to face ourselves at night
Feeling alone, what have we done?
What is the monster we've become?
Where is my soul?

Sex is industry, the CEO, of corporate policy
Skin-deep ministry, suburban youth, hail your so-called liberty
Every advertising antic, our banner waves with a neon glow
War and love become pedantic, we wage love with a mistletoe
Everyone's been scared to death of dying here alone

She is easier than love, is easier than life
It's easier to fake and smile and bribe
It's easier to leave, it's easier to lie
It's harder to face ourselves at night
Feeling alone, what have we done?
What is the monster we've become?
Where is my soul?


...and the tune to this song is not bad either.

This is nothing new, by the way. God has a looooooong list of unlawful sexual relations given to Moses in Leviticus 18. These are guidelines for the safety and sanctity of God's people.

The misuse of sex leads to a path of confusion and guilt and separation from God; leaves a trail of broken hearts, wounded souls and diseased bodies; reduces men and women to mere objects; and demeans a sacred creation by using it to promote and sell cars and magazines. What is the monster we've become?

Sex is not a substitute for love. It is an add on to love. It is an expression of love. God wants us to enjoy it in the boundaries of a marriage relationship. Engage in sex outside of those boundaries, then you're on your own.

But because many have turned their own separate way and completely disregarded God's plans and intentions for His creation, the purity and sanctity of sex has been buried in a sea of humanistic ideas and misguided practices. The after effects of these always leave man asking, "Where is my soul?"



Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before you became defiled. Leviticus 18:24