{"id":6300,"date":"2012-02-18T12:06:38","date_gmt":"2012-02-18T17:06:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/?p=6300"},"modified":"2012-02-18T12:06:38","modified_gmt":"2012-02-18T17:06:38","slug":"dont-decoy-avoid-or-make-void-the-topic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/02\/18\/dont-decoy-avoid-or-make-void-the-topic\/","title":{"rendered":"Don’t decoy, avoid or make void the topic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Scott Paeth: \u201cSex for Christians<\/a>\u201c<\/strong><\/p>\n

From an evangelical perspective, of course, it would be argued in response that sexual fidelity is central to Christian morality, but I\u2019ve got to say that I don\u2019t see it. You can point to Biblical passages that accentuate it, but you can point to other passages where it really is not that big a deal. Certainly in his own teaching and preaching, Jesus had a lot more room for the sexually \u201cimpure\u201d than for those that were quick to condemn them. Concubines abound in the Old Testament! And the story of Judah and Tamar doesn\u2019t even blink at Judah\u2019s willingness to sleep with a prostitute.<\/p>\n

\u2026 While for some Christians, sexual ethics \u2014 or any ethics for that matter \u2014 don\u2019t have to be relevant, since they are simply rooted in obedience to a divine command \u2026 for most Christians, as for most people in general, if a moral norm seems irrelevant and, indeed, arbitrary, and if violating it doesn\u2019t seem to harm anyone, it\u2019s very hard to convince them to adhere to it. I\u2019d go farther and say that, if there is not a comprehensible, sensible reason to adhere to a set of mores, people won\u2019t<\/em>. Even Christians. Even seminarians. And again, as above, even if they might abstractly understand it to be sinful, in the absence of any rational understanding of what is harmful<\/em> about it, the idea that it\u2019s sinful simply because God (or more probably accurately, some pastor somewhere) said so won\u2019t amount to much, any more than with drinking or dancing.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

John Shore: \u201cIf no one\u2019s being hurt, God\u2019s OK with your sexuality<\/a>\u201c<\/strong><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t want anyone hurting or in any way violating or exploiting anyone else, of course. And certainly no one should ever sexualize children. But duh. Beyond that, why should I care what another person does with their affections and\/or body? If everyone involved in any kind of sexual attraction or activity is a sane, capable, consenting adult, I\u2019m out, concern-wise. That\u2019s their business. Not mine. Not yours. Not their pastor\u2019s. Not anyone\u2019s. Theirs.<\/p>\n

\u2026 Christ didn\u2019t sacrifice himself on the cross so that everyone could start worrying about what everyone else was doing with their sexuality. He let himself be killed by hate so that we might at least begin to grasp how true it is that the only thing that ever matters is love.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Scott Paeth: \u201cSex for Christians\u201c From an evangelical perspective, of course, it would be argued in response that sexual fidelity is central to Christian morality, but I\u2019ve got to say that I don\u2019t see it. You can point to Biblical passages that accentuate it, but you can point to other passages where it really is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":141,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[31],"class_list":["post-6300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-sex"],"yoast_head":"\nDon't decoy, avoid or make void the topic<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Scott Paeth: "Sex for Christians" From an evangelical perspective, of course, it would be argued in response that sexual fidelity is central to Christian\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/02\/18\/dont-decoy-avoid-or-make-void-the-topic\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Don't decoy, avoid or make void the topic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Scott Paeth: "Sex for Christians" From an evangelical perspective, of course, it would be argued in response that sexual fidelity is central to Christian\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/02\/18\/dont-decoy-avoid-or-make-void-the-topic\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"slacktivist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-02-18T17:06:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fred Clark\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Fred Clark\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/02\/18\/dont-decoy-avoid-or-make-void-the-topic\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/02\/18\/dont-decoy-avoid-or-make-void-the-topic\/\",\"name\":\"Don't decoy, avoid or make void the topic\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-02-18T17:06:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-02-18T17:06:38+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/32666545e535b697afb93d9848dcfc47\"},\"description\":\"Scott Paeth: \\\"Sex for Christians\\\" From an evangelical perspective, of course, it would be argued in response that sexual fidelity is central to Christian\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/02\/18\/dont-decoy-avoid-or-make-void-the-topic\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/02\/18\/dont-decoy-avoid-or-make-void-the-topic\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/02\/18\/dont-decoy-avoid-or-make-void-the-topic\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Don’t decoy, avoid or make void the topic\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/\",\"name\":\"slacktivist\",\"description\":\""Test everything; 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Jesus loves Fred far more than Fred loves Jesus, but he at least has the decency to recognize the unfairness of that lopsided relationship and he has long wished that he were better at maybe kind of sort of doing something more to correct that some day. A Baptist, an amateur, a Gen-Xer, a Gemini and a Mets fan, Fred lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania with his wife and two teenage daughters. 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Jesus loves Fred far more than Fred loves Jesus, but he at least has the decency to recognize the unfairness of that lopsided relationship and he has long wished that he were better at maybe kind of sort of doing something more to correct that some day. A Baptist, an amateur, a Gen-Xer, a Gemini and a Mets fan, Fred lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania with his wife and two teenage daughters. 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