Important Takeaways:
- It would be safe to say that sexual immorality is pervasive in our society. From television shows to movies to print media and even the local park or beach, people are engaging in a level of immorality that is worsening by the year.
- When God instructed the Israelites to take possession of the land promised to them, He says this in Deuteronomy 7:1-2: “When the LORD your God brings you into the land which you go to possess, and has cast out many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you, and when the LORD your God delivers them over to you, you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them nor show mercy to them. Furthermore, in verse 5 He says: But thus you shall deal with them: you shall destroy their altars, and break down their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images, and burn their carved images with fire.”
- As we know from the Biblical record, the Israelites did not follow God’s commandment entirely. Because of their incomplete conquest of the land, worship of a false goddess named Asherah survived and subsequently plagued Israel…
- So that the Israelites would not be tempted to engage in religious syncretism, God also gave this command in Deuteronomy 16:21: “You shall not plant for yourself any tree, as a wooden image [Asherah], near the altar which you build for yourself to the LORD your God.”
- Clearly, not everybody obeyed the command. One of the most wicked acts undertaken concerning Asherah is recorded in 2 Kings 21:7 under the direction of King Manasseh who put an Asherah pole in the Temple: “He even set a carved image of Asherah that he had made, in the house of which the LORD had said to David and to Solomon his son, ‘In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put My name forever.’”
- The worship of Asherah was exceedingly wicked and known for its sensuality and ritual prostitution. Although the Israelites were commanded not to have anything to do with it, the worship of Asherah was a recurring problem. Sadly, under Rehoboam, it became even worse. 1 Kings 14:22-24 records: Now Judah did evil in the sight of the LORD, and they provoked Him to jealousy with their sins which they committed, more than all that their fathers had done. For they also built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and wooden images [Asherah] on every high hill and under every green tree. And there were also perverted persons [those practicing sodomy and ritual prostitution] in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations which the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel.
- The Israelites were not only warned against worshipping Asherah, but also a particularly heinous false god known as Molech. In Leviticus 18:21, God warned: “And you shall not let any of your descendants pass through the fire to Molech, nor shall you profane the name of your God: I am the LORD.” It was not only the people who failed to heed this command. Even King Solomon stumbled as well. In 1 Kings 11:7 we read: “Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the hill that is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the people of Ammon.” The sacrifice of children to Molech was particularly cruel. It is said that they were placed on the outstretched arms of the statue of the “god” and burned alive. Around them, worshippers played instruments in order to drown out the screams.
- The Conclusion
- Those who worship at the altar of sexual freedom soon find themselves at the altar of child sacrifice. Ideally, both altars should be brought down in unison. In other words, the church should not only be actively praying for and lobbying for the elimination of abortion services, but also teaching the full counsel of God when it comes to matters of sexual morality. May God equip us and strengthen us. Lives literally depend on it.
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Romans 1:28 “And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.”
Important Takeaways:
- Why Sexual Morality May be Far More Important than You Ever Thought
- …summarizing a lifetime of research by Oxford social anthropologist J.D. Unwin.
- Unwin examines the data from 86 societies and civilizations to see if there is a relationship between sexual freedom and the flourishing of cultures. What makes the book [Sex and Culture] especially interesting is that we in the West underwent a sexual revolution in the late 1960’s, 70’s, and 80’s and are now in a position to test the conclusions he arrived at more than 40 years earlier.
- A few of his most significant findings:
- Effect of sexual constraints: Increased sexual constraints, either pre or post-nuptial, always led to increased flourishing of a culture. Conversely, increased sexual freedom always led to the collapse of a culture three generations later.
- Single most influential factor: Surprisingly, the data revealed that the single most important correlation with the flourishing of a culture was whether pre-nuptial chastity was required or not. It had a very significant effect either way.
- Highest flourishing of culture: The most powerful combination was pre-nuptial chastity coupled with “absolute monogamy”. Rationalist cultures that retained this combination for at least three generations exceeded all other cultures in every area, including literature, art, science, furniture, architecture, engineering, and agriculture. Only three out of the eighty-six cultures studied ever attained this level.
- Effect of abandoning prenuptial chastity: When strict prenuptial chastity was no longer the norm, absolute monogamy, deism, and rational thinking also disappeared within three generations.
- Total sexual freedom: If total sexual freedom was embraced by a culture, that culture collapsed within three generations to the lowest state of flourishing — which Unwin describes as “inert” and at a “dead level of conception” and is characterized by people who have little interest in much else other than their own wants and needs. At this level, the culture is usually conquered or taken over by another culture with greater social energy.
- Time lag: If there is a change in sexual constraints, either increased or decreased restraints, the full effect of that change is not realized until the third generation. (Note: I’ve added a clarifying footnote at the end of this article. See footnote #13)
- How does this compare with our culture today?
- Prior to the sexual revolution which began in the late 1960’s, prenuptial chastity was still held in strong regard by Western culture. But, starting in the 1970’s, pre-marital sexual freedom became increasingly acceptable. By the early 2000’s, the majority of teens were sexually active, to the extent that remaining a virgin until marriage was regarded with disbelief if not ridicule.
- As predicted, absolute monogamy has already been replaced with modified monogamy. Common-law relationships are becoming the norm.
- Deism is already rapidly declining, exactly as predicted. Not only has belief in God greatly decreased since the 1960’s, but there has been a trend to remove the concept of God from government, the educational system, and the public forum. Those who still believe in God sense a strong societal pressure to keep deistic beliefs private.
- The swiftness with which rational thinking declined after the 1970’s is astounding. In its place arose post-modernism, characterized by “skepticism, subjectivism, or relativism” and “a general suspicion of reason”.[9] But it gets worse … post-modernism is giving way to “post truth”. Not only do people feel they have a right to believe what they want, but any challenge to that belief, even if supported by truth and logic, is unacceptable and offensive.
- Summary of where our culture is going, given Unwin’s findings
- Unwin’s three main predictions — the abandonment of rationalism, deism, and absolute monogamy — are all well underway, which makes the ultimate prediction appear to be credible … the collapse of Western civilization in the third generation
- Will our culture be the exception?
- I suppose we can hope, but there is always a tendency to want to believe “it cannot happen to us.” Unwin describes this attitude as a “pardonable egocentricity” and a “quaint and comfortable doctrine”, that flies in the face of data, which indicate that the pattern of decline happens with “monotonous” regularity. That’s another way of saying that “insanity is doing the same thing yet again but expecting different results.” The primary predictions are already unfolding with alarming “alacrity”.
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