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“If
you are a passionate lover, you are both passionate sexually and in
life. Sexual and spiritual energy are the creative energy of the
universe which spawn passion, creativity, and insight.” -
Deepak Chopra
This
week, I was intrigued by a news article title on FOXnews.com,
"Pastor issues sex challenge" ... I was curious to see what
this was all about. It seems a pastor of a Christian Church in
Tampa, Florida, has a new challenge for his congregation ... a
"30-DAY SEX
CHALLENGE" ... "single men and women can't have sex for 30
days, and married couples are urged to have it every day."
Pastor Paul Wirth of "The Relevant Church" stated, "our
married people are far more fearful than our single people."
According to the article, Wirth had found biblical references that he
says suggest Jesus disapproved of pre-marital sex and promoted sex in
marriage. That's why he tells his single followers to abstain, and
his married followers to indulge.
Having studied the "teachings
of Jesus" diligently for many years, I was a little doubtful about
Pastor Wirth's statement regarding Jesus, but I wanted to give him the
benefit of the doubt so I sent him an email requesting that he let me
know what these biblical references were from Jesus regarding
pre-marital sex and promotion of sex in marriage? His reply was,
"as you can imagine the media takes things and turns them their
way." He went on to write that he was speaking to the
reporter about the woman at the well and how Jesus told her that her
life style was wrong and showed her a way to change. It was
interesting that the Pastor would use this story as the woman at the
well had had several husbands but the one she was living with was not
her husband. Jesus said nothing negative about her marital status,
according to the Book of John in the Bible, but about her religious
status. He told her that "salvation comes from the
Jews."
According to the Pastor he then took the
reporter to the old testament about be fruitful and multiply and the
Song of Songs and also the new testament Heb 13 where the Bible talks
(?) about the marriage bed being undefiled. He went on to tell me
that "we are praying that our single people would learn that a life
of celibacy until marriage is the greatest thing ever and that our
married people would enjoy each other like never before."
Wow ... now I was really curious to learn about
this minister so I went to the church website ... relevantchurch.com.
Posted on the front page was a graphic of a woman with a very short
skirt with her leg draped between a man's legs ... I can't post the
graphic here because it is stated on the site that it is copyrighted by
Relevant Church. I found out that Pastor Wirth is a former
Baptist. He founded his non-denominational ministry three years
ago. And he markets his church by tackling unusual or
controversial topics. At this point, I could see that this church
was attempting to make itself "controversial" ... because this
Pastor is lost if his translation of these biblical references are the
basis for his "30-day sex challenge" ... I have often said
that few Christian ministers truly understand the teachings of Jesus and
this article and the Pastor's response to my email message offers more
proof of this.
The article truly interested me because more
than anything else, I saw it as a glaring example of how sex and love
have been so confused in our culture. I cannot imagine that anyone
would consider that daily sex would increase the measure of love in
marriages or heal the issues of a troubled marriage. And as for
celibacy until marriage, I believe that rather than focus on the value
of physical actions, our focus should be more on the things of the
spirit; honesty, compassion, kindness, responsibility. The
Relevant Church's "30-DAY SEX
CHALLENGE" is totally "irrelevant" spiritually.
Love is not limited to physical acts, but in Truth, is Un-limited in Its
capacity to color our lives with warmth and happiness. To teach
that to abstain from sexual intercourse until marriage can somehow bring
us closer to God is abysmal. It is another way that religions
judge people wrongly and create a separation from God that is false.
The graphic used for this "sex challenge" is very provocative
... and I wondered what the purpose was in making it so. And of
course, Pastor Wirth is married ... so he won't be considering the
celibacy that he is asking others to practice.
It is the spirit of love within us that brings
us closer to God ... it is how we love our neighbor ... how we love
those who don't always act lovingly towards us ... how we love those who
are different than us ... that bring us closer to God. Pastor
Wirth and his Relevant Church are really just promoting the same old
tired "sin" principles of primitive Christianity. As
Jesus states in the Book of John, "true worshipers will worship the
Father in Spirit and truth; and indeed the Father seeks such people to
worship him. God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in
Spirit and truth." Much of Christianity has yet to evolve
their understanding back to this great spiritual revelation of Jesus.
And this lack of understanding has created a sense of being separated
from God by so many people. It is the basis for so much of the
discord that we see in our world.
From the Science of Mind we know
that God Is Spirit and we worship God in Spirit and in Truth. We
know that our choices have consequences. But, we also know that we
are never outside the Omnipresent Love of God ... no matter what we have
done or failed to do. To think otherwise is to hold onto the idea
of God as a "guy in the sky" ... created in the "image of
man' ... making silly rules to amuse himself. Let's know that God
is Greater than this.
AND
SO IT IS!
Keep
the faith!
Rev.
Dr. Henry Lee Bates
Visit Rev. Bates BLOG: Living
the Science of Mind
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