Sexuality is an area where modern American "Christianity" has largely not only ceded ground, but in many cases surrendered entirely to an alternative that degrades and hollows out souls like few other things can. Part of the problem, in my view, is that Christians have not given much thought to the reasons why the Lord gave us directives to govern sexuality, leaving skeptics to believe that there is no reason other than the one suggested by post-modernists: societal repression for the purpose of control. So in the name of greater personal freedom, the deceived wade out into enslavement to lust resulting in a wide range of horrific consequences, not only for themselves, but for all of us. God's law concerning sexuality is a safeguard for us, as are all of His laws, against those consequences. One of the first lines of attack against Biblically prescribed sexuality is the argument that it is immoral to make moral judgements. That's right. Our enemy, the devil, does not want the argument to be based on merit, because on that level field he loses every time. Instead, the argument must not even be allowed. To achieve that end, those who hold to the truth must be framed as evil. We have all heard the refrain: "Who are you to say what's right and wrong?" Here an alarming number of Christians stammer, shrug, and make tracks for the nearest exit. Instead, we should lovingly expose the inconsistency in their argument when they judge us on a moral basis for making moral judgements. Once we have established that neither of us is in any position to make moral judgements, then we must both appeal to a higher authority. We have One ; they do not, so their moral judgements are arbitrary. (And the righteousness of the Lord's moral judgements is self-evident, according to Romans 1:19-20.)
There are those who would have us believe that they champion "liberation" from the constraints of "traditional" sexuality, making God's Word out to be nothing more than the social mores of a polite but bygone society (Psalm 2:1-3). However, a closer look at the dissonance between their words and their actions reveals that the reality is much more sinister. Their intentions are not to liberate, but to destroy and enslave. Now, the vast majority of those who align themselves with these views are acting out of ignorance, not malice. However, the destruction of the family is the ultimate goal for many of the powers behind these movements. You might wonder why anyone would even care about the family. History holds the answer.
We can see the role of the family throughout the history of the world. Family is the basis of every prosperous culture. Parents care more about their own children than anyone else, making the family the ideal vehicle for guiding the youth into morality and the principles that make a society prosperous: virtue, honesty, industry, faithfulness, etc., and (yes) correct sexuality which continues the cycle. Families teach morals. Without the guidance of a family, children will form their own morals, usually shaped by other less benevolent influences (I trust we're all familiar with Pinocchio). Morals are meant to protect and guide their adherents through life's dangers. As America has demonstrated and continues to demonstrate, a moral people is capable of self-government, whereas an immoral or amoral people (Is there really any difference?) requires a ruler to protect them from their own behavior. Almost every one of America's founding fathers said as much, most of them in writing. Every great civilization throughout history that has abandoned morality and embraced secular humanism has embraced promiscuity. Once promiscuity has been accepted, homosexuality is not far behind. Every society that has normalized homosexuality and other sexual perversions has fallen shortly thereafter. Some notable examples include Greece, Rome, and the current declines of Western Europe and America. The evidence indicates that the destruction of the Biblical family weakens and demoralizes a civilization to the point that it will collapse.
Such knowledge of historical precedent has led some to exploit it in order to destroy civilizations that they otherwise would not have been able to. Marx, the Bolsheviks, Mao, Alinsky, and many others have understood this principle and used it very effectively. They have invariably encouraged and elevated sexual perversion, not out of a sense of justice, as they claimed, but instead to destroy an existing authority in the hopes of taking its place. If that is difficult for you to believe, just look at the inconsistencies in their positions. They vilify America as an oppressor of homosexuals and trans-sexuals, even though no one can name a single right that they are denied, while ignoring actual human rights violations elsewhere in the world.
If the Biblical, or natural, family is undermined, and the non-Biblical "family" is normalized, as is happening, then we can expect to see the deterioration of that society. Where promiscuity rises, as we saw in the 1960's and 1970's, we see a rise in pregnancies among unwed parents. Children raised without married parents are statistically linked to poverty, poor academic performance (which leads to unemployment or very limited upward mobility), and higher incarceration rates. (And contrary to popular belief, this trend holds true across any demographic lines.) And, lest we forget, faithfully married couples have no worry about contracting sexually transmitted diseases.
Homosexuality is another evil that the Lord warned us against, but we rebelled and normalized it, largely during the 1980's and 1990's. Now, let me address up front the fact that it has been categorized as "hate speech" to warn people about the dangers of homosexuality, but my hope is that after reading my argument, it will be apparent that we actually care more for homosexuals than do those who indulge them.
In 2011 the CDC reported that all new cases of HIV infection in America resulted from either sexual contact or injection drug use. Of those cases, drug use accounted for less than 2%, and heterosexual sexual contact accounted for about 4%. Male-to-male sexual contact accounted for over 90% of all new HIV infections in America. (There was a fourth group in the study that included males who had homosexual contact and used injection drugs, accounting for about 3%.) The moral of this story is that new American AIDS cases are almost entirely the result of homosexuality. Romans 1:26 teaches that homosexuality is a "degrading passion," and that it is "against nature." Verse 27 teaches that when men commit "the shameless deed," that they receive "in themselves the due penalty of their error." The maker of our bodies has cautioned us against their unnatural use, and even made us aware of the consequences. I strongly contend that it is those who ignore His Word and encourage homosexuals to destroy themselves who actually hate homosexuals, not those of us who hope to save them.
Transgenderism is a further perversion of Biblical sexuality that leaves people broken, horrifically scarred, and often dead by their own hands. Upward of 40% of transgender individuals commit suicide, dwarfing the general suicide rate of less than 2%. Many social activists insist that the suicide rate is the result of societal oppression and inability to undergo sex-change surgery. However, their argument does not stand up to the facts, since the suicide rate remains the same for transgender individuals before and after the surgery, and since the suicide rate remains the same in transgender "friendly" places. There is also the fact that the transgender suicide rate outpaces those of groups who have actually faced oppression and persecution. The conclusion that may logically be reached is that transgenderism is extremely unhealthy psychologically, and that if we care about those who struggle with it, we will try to help them instead of encouraging them to delve further into its depths, as many are doing now.
Many transgender individuals also undergo hormone treatments that are not well-tested, and many doctors believe may increase the risk for several health problems, such as some vascular diseases and cancers. In fact, Johns Hopkins Hospital, the first hospital to perform sex-change surgeries, made headlines when they stated that they would no longer be performing the operations on the grounds that transgenderism is a mental illness and that sex change is biologically impossible. However, after tremendous outcry and pressure from activists, the heads of business at Johns Hopkins wrote earlier this month that they would go against the advice of some of the world's top minds in the fields of medicine and psychology, and resume the surgeries.
The Lord wants nothing less than the best for us, and He gave us just that when He created us male and female and commanded us, for that reason, to "be joined" and "become one flesh" (Genesis 2:24). Contrary to what the serpent says, God didn't keep anything from us, except for suffering and hurt, that is. I still feel this way today, but the stark contrast between the first days of marriage and all of the days before impressed upon my mind how secure I felt with my wife. The Lord intends for us to know that same security, on a far greater scale, with Him. However far you may have gone down any of these paths that have deviated from His Word, Jesus still stands with scarred hands and feet, having offered His own blood, once for all, for you.