Father Dave's Sex Talk
Father Dave's Sex Talk
a sermon on the Song of Songs
OK guys. It is time that Dave's father sex talk! It comes once every three years, when the passage of the Song of Songs appears in the lectionary.
When I was in school, you used to get this conversation every year. If you are a Christian youth group, this talk is probably every week! Most of us here now
significantly higher, however, and once every three years seems correct.
Anyway, let me start with my favorite love poem:
I wonder by my Trotha what you and I did until they loved?
If not weaned until then?
But childish aspirations delights of the country,
Snorted or in the seven sleepers den?
Twas but this fantasy that all pleasures.
If you ever made me see the beauty that he desired and obtained
Twas but a dream of you!
Yes, it's John Donne (in The Good Morrow) eulogising about the joy of waking up with her lover. Now let me read my favorite love poem Biblical
The voice of my beloved!
Look, he comes, leaping upon the mountains, bounding over the hills.
My beloved is like a gazelle or a young bachelor.
Look, there stands behind our wall, looking in the windows, looking through the lattice
My beloved speaks and says to me:
"Arise, my love, my fair, and leave for now the winter is past,
the rain is over and past. The flowers appear on earth;
the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.
The fig tree presents its figs, and vines are in bloom, give forth fragrance.
Arise, my love, my fair, and leave. "
Book is the Bible, "The Song of Songs', also known as" The Song of Solomon, "and shares the same theme as the above poem. It may not have the same
and the lyrical quality of work Donne, of course, but remember that it is translated from the Hebrew, and probably loses much in translation. The subject, in any case much
the same: it's spring, love is in the air and it's time to sneak away for a stroll in the woods!
That is clear. What is not clear is what he is doing this in the Bible! That is a question that students of the Bible have been asking for thousands of years! The other major
my question is why the compilers of the lectionary chose to schedule the reading of the Fathers' Day! Well, maybe it was an accident, but the biggest question is not so
easy to solve:
Jewish rabbis discusses the place of the Song of Songs on the way back in the Scriptures Jamnia in AD 90!
In the year 553 of Theodore Mopsuestia questioned the place of the song in the scriptures and opposed by the second council of Constantinople.
1000 years later, Sebastian Castelli in 1553 was forced to leave Geneva after arguing with Calvin that the song must not remain in the Bible.
At least we must admit that this "song" does not fit the normal mold Bible.
The song never mentions God.
Read as positive in the bawdy!
Most disturbing of all, for good middle-class church-going people, who love this song do not seem to be married! If so, why is it necessary for a sneak
romp?
We the people of the book, over generations, have found that Song of Songs to be a source of shame. And frankly, even more shameful, in my
point of view, the book that have been those who have tried to defend it, always on the basis of allegorization.
The first Jewish rabbis took the song to be an allegory of love between God and Israel. Likewise, most Christians who defended the book as a song
the love between Christ and His church.
This allegorical approach was standard from the Middle Ages through the Reformation:
The man was taken to Christ. The woman is the church. Their kisses (1:2) are the Word of God, the girl with dark skin (1:5) is the sin, their hearts (7:7) are building the church
doctrine, and their two sweet lips (4:11) are the law and the gospel! (no doubt the upper lip was sweeter than the bottom!)
The most curious part of the historical allegory, I believe, was identifying the people, originally made by St. Ambrose, the woman with the Virgin Mary! Not only is
There is no independent reason to believe that women in the song is Mary, but the woman in question, which is not a virgin!
Most scholars regard the allegorical interpretation is untenable, so we returned to our original question: What do this book in the Bible?
The only possible answer, in my opinion, is that the Bible appreciate the love more than we do, or at least, the Bible has a more relaxed attitude towards love and human sexuality
the church has historically had. For let's be honest: the historic church of Christ has not been exhibited in general a very positive view of human sexuality through the centuries!
My belief is that this was largely due to our heritage Greek philosophical dualism, where the body is divided from spirit, and where all things are seen as natural
are unspiritual, especially human sexual desire, which is hankering after a new physics!
With this understanding Greek "chastity" is equivalent to the 'purity'. Therefore, celibacy is extolled as a spiritual virtue. Sex is seen as a necessary evil, for the purpose of procreation.
As an early Christian leader, "the good thing about sex is that it produces more monks and nuns.
At the risk of offending some of our Catholic brothers, I personally believe that this is the line of thought behind the doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary!
If you follow the logic, could only bear Jesus because Mary was pure, and its purity is seen as linked to her virginity. As the worship of Mary, grew over time, is
came to be seen as perpetually pure, and therefore should be followed to have remained a virgin, despite the fact that Jesus' brothers and sisters referred to in
the New Testament!
In fact, if you follow the Christian tradition, you will realize that the mother of Mary, a woman allegedly called, 'Anne' itself came to be regarded as a virgin at the time of
Mary's birth! This idea arose in the 4th century and was revived in the 15th century, and although the Vatican renounced the idea as ridiculous in the year 1677, preserved
the belief that Mary herself was born to Anne through an immaculate conception!
This is far from the attitude we see in the song, and I suggest that the attitude of the song for sex more truly reflects the biblical perspective that
that Christian history.
In general, I would suggest to you that the Bible has little to say about sex! Despite all the views to the contrary, and despite the fact that sex is a very important part
issue for us, I would suggest to you that is a very important issue for the Bible.
Yes, Jesus had a few things to say about the matter, and yes, there are scattered warnings about the Bible, tells us that we must be careful that our sexual
units could lead us. But this is actually pretty minor stuff, especially when you consider how sex is important in other religions, especially the majority of other religions that are
popular when the Bible was written!
Since the early Canaanite fertility cults of which we read in the Old Testament to the worship of Aphrodite in the New, sex was seen as a divine force. Much new era
Spirituality has also closed a "sacred sex" rituals in the Hindu tradition and elsewhere.
At the other end of the spectrum, as already mentioned, which took the influence of Greek dualism. This has been more influential in the history of the church, but
its influence is equally absent from the biblical texts themselves, where they are never written about human sexuality as an evil, demonic force.
While religions are historically close to sex as a powerful spiritual force, positive or negative, our Bible is not clear! Just leave the sex as a human reality.
Like anger, which is seen as a powerful human force, which when used correctly can lead toward justice, so that sex is seen as a powerful human force, which when
used may do much good. And as the anger, when it runs out of control, can do much harm. As Fred Buechner said, sex is like nitroglycerin "that can be used to cure
hearts or fly bridge. "
This is the first thing that needs to be said about a biblical perspective on sex - ie, that the Bible considers it only as a sex drive that humans - a unit, such as anger, may
easily lead us into sin, that burden can be a very creative life. The other thing to be said about the Bible on this subject is that if the links
commitment to privacy.
This is true in all relationships. To quote our friend Morden Vanunu, "know that they are responsible." This applies to social and political life, yes, but it is also the norm in
personal relationships. The closer you are to someone, the more you know, more capable of hurting you, and more that are responsible for them,
and has to be more committed to them. Knowledge brings responsibility. Privacy, if not to be harmful, you should always involve compromise. And
complete the total means privacy.
I will say more about this now, but you are encouraged to think this through more for you, because I think this is the key to understanding sex and relationships
from a biblical perspective. Sex, Biblically speaking, is not primarily about procreation, from my reading of Scripture, but to be close to someone. Good sex
is about sharing a closeness that encourages and strengthens the other person. Illicit sexual intimacy without commitment, knowledge without responsibility. From a spiritual point of view
perspective, this kind of sex is only one form of abuse.
Well, that's it for Dave's father sex talk for another three years. It's not really a sex talk is good. It's like the discussion of spirituality and relationships. It's more about
religion sex, and this is as it should be.
It may be instructive to consider the word "religion" itself. Comes from the Latin word "religio", ie, to bind back. " Religion is the process by which we bind
back to ourselves - back to our creator and back to what we are. From a Christian perspective, this process must always return a process of love. Romantic love is not
all love, but it is a dimension of love that holds the Bible.
I have read that at Bonn in Germany, a group of German psychologists, doctors and insurance companies cooperated in a research project designed to discover the secret of
long life and success, and they made a surprising discovery!
Kiss your partner every morning when leaving for work! German researchers found that those members who kiss each other every morning are less car
accidents on the way to work than those who skipped the morning kiss. The kissers miss less work due to illness and to win 20 to 30 percent more money than
no kissers.
Sex, love, romance, friendship, affection, warmt - these are good gifts from God to be enjoyed. It is not for us to enjoy them all, nor for any of us to enjoy any of them all
of the time. But when a good relationship is to us, we must be able to celebrate in song!
