GOD MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE

“Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall be one flesh.’? ‘So they are no longer two but one flesh.’ What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” Matthew 19: 4-6

The late 1960’s and early 1970’s were tumultuous times: the Vietnam War, anti-war demonstrations, and racial strife. I am part of that generation. No, I never grew my hair long and took on the hippie look. I did not burn my draft card. However, I was a Jesus Freak. A group of us met regularly in the student union of Muskingum College in New Concord, Ohio, to pray and study the Bible. We were labeled Jesus Freaks because we were always talking about Jesus. We chose not to rebel against the establishment and not to be part of the sexual revolution.

The sexual revolution has progressed, in the ensuing years, beyond the “Free Love” advocated by the hippy crowd to the point where sexual relationships of all kinds and descriptions are not only accepted, but are being promoted as “normal and desirable”. Gender has been redefined, becoming more of a personal preference then a biological reality established at birth. At the risk of being again labeled a “Jesus Freak”, I have to take a stand.

My stand on sexuality is radical and narrowly defined. Sexual relations are to be confined to a man and a woman who are married. Period. The only other option is celibate singleness. Sex before marriage, adultery, homosexuality, and all other sexual relations outside the marriage of a man and a woman are wrong. They are destructive. They are a sin against ourselves, our partner(s), and God. No, I am not homophobic. I do not hate transgender people and I am not a prude. Sex has been a wonderful and fulfilling part of my marriage for over four decades.

I firmly believe God’s ways are the simplest and the best. We were created male and female by God, created for the lifetime union of a man and a woman. Any other sexual relationship is less than God’s best for us.