Sex, Sin, & Shame

People engage in the act of sexual intercourse for many reasons. Some due to peer pressure, others out of lust of the flesh and some just because everyone else seems to be doing it. No matter what our reason, we must only have sex within the appropriate guidelines as established by the Almighty God. Sex, regardless of popular opinion, was not designed to be an activity between unmarried couples. It is meant to be enjoyed within the confines of marriage between man and woman. First we must establish how sex came into being.

GENESIS 2:20-25 (KJV) 20. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found a helpmeet for him. 21. And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh instead thereof; 22. And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. 23. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman because she was taken out of Man. 24. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh. 25. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

After creating Adam and allowing him the privilege of naming every beast of the field, every fowl of the air and every living creature, God desired to give Adam a helpmeet. God then took a rib from Adam and created what Adam called Woman. This woman was then called Adam’s wife. God’s plan for marriage was then established from the beginning of time thru Adam and Eve. He intended man to marry woman (Adam and Eve and not Adam and Steve and Eve and Louise). Adam and Eve’s marriage, thou appropriate and ordained by God, did lead to the fall of man and the curses established by God in Genesis. This occurred only due to man’s freedom of choice as given to him by God and not thru any fault of the Father.

GENISIS 3:16 (KJV) 16. Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children: and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.

God then established pain in the birth of the child. Sex between husband and wife for the purpose of procreation had been established according to God’s plan. (We also know that God intended for married couples to enjoy sex apart from when procreation was the goal). Man has since twisted this truth to satisfy his own selfish desires. Sexual undertones have been used to sell everything from car tires to Viagra. Man has made flirting with members of the opposite sex acceptable within our culture. The slightly arched eyebrow as a co-worker looks another up and down lustfully is now an accepted practice within the workplace. The scantily clad woman who encourages you to buy those new tires and rims for your car is on every television station worldwide. The midriff, form fitting shirts that women wear to show off their tattoos and body piercings can be seen on girls even in their early teens. The bare chested male fixing breakfast for his late sleeping girlfriend has found its way from late night cable to modern primetime family sitcoms. The well-chiseled male who dances around for 3 minutes in his underwear to entice women to buy Joe Boxers for their male counterparts is now acceptable. The videos that depict women as sexual property and men as the rightful owners now saturates our TVs. Music in which men call women whores and women call themselves b_____s is now played on every radio station geared toward the secular market. Sex has become America’s tool for expressing ones freedom from inhibition. However, sex outside the union of marriage between a man and woman does not free us from sin and its penalty.

ROMANS 6:22-23 (KJV) 22. But now being made free from sin and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. 23. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Sex outside the union of a Godly marriage is called fornication. Fornication is sexual intercourse between two people who are not married to each other. Scripture also teaches that this includes masturbation, and pornography. But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people. (Ephesians 5:3) Here are some other lists of fornication as sin as recorded in the Bible.

ROMANS 1:29-30 (KJV) 29. Being filled with all unrighteous, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, 30. Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,

ACTS 15:29 (KJV) 29. That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication; from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Far ye well.

These scriptures specifically identify fornication as a sin and the Apostle Paul takes things a step further in 1st Corinthians 6:18. Paul gives us an avenue to escape the great temptation of sexual sin. In essence, Paul tells us to start running as Enock recorded on his album Awethentic from Much Luvv Records.

1 CORINTHIANS 6:18 (KJV) 18. Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.

Paul identifies fornication as a sin that affects the sinner’s very own physical body. The number of sexually transmitted diseases that currently run rampant within our culture proves this. The numbers of cases of Gonorrhea, syphilis and other STDs has increased proportionately to the level of sexual promiscuity in our society. This has increased the shame and embarrassment an individual feels when they determine that they have contracted an STD. Families also feel the shame as parents begin to wonder where they went wrong when their 15-year-old son is diagnosed with a sexually transmitted disease or the shock at discovering years later that curiosity and casual sex led to an abortion that was kept secret.

The number of teenage pregnancies has also increased drastically. The embarrassment a 14 year old girl feels when the physical evidence of pregnancy becomes evident is tremendous. Young girls who have just started experiencing life are then placed in a position of caring for the life of their child. Teachers make the subject of the child’s pregnancy the hot topic in the teachers’ lounge. The church removes the young woman from the choir and other church activities but then fails to give much needed encouragement to an already devastated spirit. Her friend’s parents forbid them from spending time with the young girl and the devil’s trap of isolation becomes successful. The shame associated with the acts committed is oftentimes too great to bear and the individuals involved turn away from God rather than turning to Him. Often, this is where Satan suggests suicide as an option. HIV and AIDS are other forms of physical evidence that support Paul’s writings in 1 Corinthians 6:18. As the number of cases of heterosexual individuals being infected by AIDS has increased so has the resounding question of what is the answer? Paul answers this question in 1st Corinthians 6:19-20.

1st CORINTHIANS 6:19-20 (KJV) 19. What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own. 20. For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

We must look at our bodies thru the eyes of God and see ourselves as the Father sees us. We are the temples of God, which house the Holy Spirit given to us by Him. Our temples must be cared for as if we were God ourselves. We must run from fornication and not to it. We should care for our temples with the greatest amount of admiration for God’s creation. When we treat our bodies as temples of God we then carry out the principle taught in Romans 12:1.

ROMANS 12:1 (KJV) 1. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

Remember sex is acceptable to God between man and woman within the union of marriage. Outside of God’s approved plan of marriage, sex is sin which leads to shame and the final penalty is death, spiritual first and all too often physical. Sex is a beautiful thing when it is done God’s way. Remember my brothers and sisters; if you must have sex, Paul warns that it is better to marry than to burn.

1st CORINTHIANS 7:9 (KJV) 9. But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn.