Christian Family Services Ministry

3-9-2017 – A Word to the Wise: Notice that phrase; “then Amnon hated her with very great hatred; so that the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her.” When we look at addictive sex patterns, as well as rape, this element of hate is always present. It drives the violence of rape, and the apathy of obsessive sexual encounters. What does premarital and extra marital sex mean in terms of a relationship? In a word; it means insecurity, constant comparison. With the man, the comparison is predominately physical; with the women, the comparison is romantic. In each case, conflict results. Proverbs 6:34 states that immorality makes a person furious and that there will be no mercy when they take revenge. Although man may have sex “to enlarge his domain,” promiscuous sex is destructive. It is destructive physically, in that one may acquire all manner of disease. It is destructive emotionally, because intimacy is impossible. It is destructive spiritually, since God’s Word expressly says that adultery will get one the hot place. The foolish man fails to recognize that this behavior robs him of his wealth, health, and heritage. When one joins himself or herself with another person sexually, I suspect the bonding goes far beyond simple sex. I believe St. Paul suggests this when speaking with the church in Corinth. There is a mental bonding that occurs between the two people. There is a meshing of two different philosophies of life, a joining of two different thought processes. From this union, no matter how brief the contact, the two take certain beliefs and manners of life from the other individual. It is easy for us to accept that we take from the other person any disease they may have or disease they have received from other sexual contacts. In much the same manner, we have received mental, spiritual, and emotional influence as well. Given the likelihood of certain perverse thinking patterns, this is not a very pleasant thought. When Paul addresses the consequences, they include an acceptance into one’s being of every person with whom one has had sex. A physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual part of each partner is now a part of you. Test this by briefly bringing to mind every person you might have been involved with. Can you sense the mental experience involved? Then recall details, the things the other person thought or shared? All of these pieces impact our own experience and responses. Our involvement may be regretted, but repentance does not wipe from our minds the process. If that person hated, we now carry a small part of that hate. If that person was paranoid, we now carry a piece of that fear. In the relationship that God prescribed, sex brings closeness and mutual intimacy. The two individuals in the union have intense needs for each other. With pornography or fornication, the emphasis is on physical satisfaction for entertainment, not real intimacy. Pornography both precedes and intensifies with immorality. Now some may be beguiled into thinking that pornography is a relatively recent invention in the history of mankind. However, pornography has been found in practically every major civilization extending back to the dawn of man with equally destructive results. While fornication destroys from the outside in, pornography destroys from the inward out. Perhaps soaps and romantic novels can be just as destructive for women as porn is for men. Why? Because both cause a person to disassociate from reality. The emotional destructiveness of immorality is apparent to all, but the effect is denied by most. Yet whether we acknowledge the results or not, the consequences remain not only for us but also for generations to come. In conclusion, we can say with a great deal of assurance that these seven areas of our lives—health, wealth, honor, reason, heritage, inheritance, and relationships—are deeply affected by immoral behavior.