Valuing Sex

The Bible offers guidance on how to have a flourishing sex life, which differs from the messages that purity culture and promiscuity culture have communicated. These messages from purity culture (overvaluing sex) and promiscuity culture (devaluing sex) also existed when Paul was writing to the church in Corinth almost 2,000 years ago. In his letters, he argues that God's vision for sex represents the beauty of the gospel of Jesus— and therefore, in its proper context, sex can demonstrate the sacrificial love that God has for us.

Sources:

• “The simple answer is that sexual desire has emerged in the last one hundred years as a primary category for understanding our identity. In biblical times or in ancient Greece, sex was regarded as something that human beings did; today it is considered to be something vital to who human beings are.” Carl R. Trueman, Strange New World
• Opinion: Straight People Need Better Rules for Sex, nyimes.com
• Opinion: Consent is not enough. We need a new sexual ethic. By Christine Emba, washingtonpost.com
• Consent Was Never Enough,The Atlantic
• The Sexual Revolution has Failed Generation X Women,The Critic Magazine
• Women have Been Betrayed by a Culture of Porn Gone Wild,The Times
• “We like to define freedom as the ability to do whatever we want, whenever we want it, with whomever we want. But to Jesus, that’s not freedom—that’s slavery! Freedom, at least in Jesus’ mind, is the ability to do whatever you should. To enjoy the world as God intended. To live fully awake and alive.” John Mark Comer, Loveology
• “Sex was created not only to be physically intimate but to be an emotional and spiritual 'knowing' as well. When all three types of intimacy are present—spiritual, emotional and physical—each works in tandem with the others so that they feed one another. The more you laugh and feel close, the more you desire each other and make love. The more you make love, the more connected you feel, which makes your commitment stronger.” Sheila Gregoire, The Great Sex Rescue
• 1 Corinthians 6:9-20
• 1 Corinthians 7:1-3