Earlier this definition was used: Sex Education is “the process of acquiring information and forming attitudes and beliefs about sex, sexual identity, relationships and intimacy”.
The church is the place where you expect to form attitudes and beliefs about life. You should be able to find wholesome Biblical counsel there, so that your whole life can be shaped by Scripture. The question at hand is; does the church (as a conveyor of Bible teaching) shape our understanding of sexuality? Do we receive “sex education” in the church? Should we expect to?
First, let us remember the primary goal of the church is to spread the gospel and make disciples of the nations. It is in this context that we find, the gospel demands a change in our attitude to gender, sex and marriage. Every culture has some errors on issues of gender, from discrimination to a breakdown of roles, no culture has it perfect. Part of God transforming our lives is bringing us to relate to each other wisely, as we indeed relate to God in a new light.
Because the realm of sexuality is affected by sin, and we are in need of repentance in many ways, so there must be teaching to point out that need. “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path”. Even when the path demands choices on how to relate to people male and female, and the expression of our gender roles in society.
But the issue of sexuality must never be separated from the gospel, because the gospel is a story of rescue, God making life abundant and beautiful, full of the righteousness, peace and joy that suits life most. Sex education in church is about just that – peace and joy in the path of righteousness, even in things like romance, fashion, love and marriage.
What should such teaching include? The Bible presents us with a picture of created goodness of sexuality in Adam and Eve; desires restrained and abused in the lives of Joseph, David and Tamar; wise and foolish sexual decisions in Proverbs, the power to say no to ungodliness in Titus, the warning not to defraud (cheat/rob) each other to fulfill our desires in 1 Thessalonians 4, as well as the place of marriage in holiness in 2 Corinthians 7. These are only a few examples!
The next question is, how explicit should the church be in its sex talk? Well, it has a family audience, so it does not have to be crude. But we can hear from the pulpit talk about respect, natural desire, different roles, pregnancy, faithfulness, lust, love, responsibility, deceit, beauty, sweet talk, etc, without being crude or ‘pornographic’. There still remains a role for parents and schools for some finer biological and social details!
A point in case is the book by Richard Dobbins “Teaching your children the truth about sex”, the books by the late Walter Trobisch “I married you” and “I loved a girl”, Joshua Harris “Not even a hint”. Also there is Conrad Mbewe’s book “Maintaining Sexual Purity”. All these talk about sex without being crude or rude!
I know for the Zambian culture it seems strange to go to church and have the whole family learn about Biblical male and female roles, but perhaps the culture shift is long overdue.
Sometimes it seems it is only scandal we are ready to talk about openly!
ARE we ready to talk about scandal openly? For a really big surprise, google The First Scandal Adam and Eve. Then click until you get the surprise, which will be...too much work?
ReplyDeleteNo not too much work. There is an error in the writers reasoning though. The writer makes the assumption that the book of Gensis presents the results of a census...it does not the book of Gensis is all about tracing the birthline of the promised seed of the woman who would undo the curse of the fall.
ReplyDeleteThe reason the two were singles out is one of them was a possible candidate for messiah but as it turns out was not.