Signs of the Times
Since the summer of 2021, the debauched online “dating” site, OkCupid, has been plastering NYC subway cars and buses with advertising posters and signs which, just a few short years ago, would have been labeled pornographic, and thus illegal to publicly display.
Targeting those who practice “unconventional” lifestyles, the ads are intended to appeal to non-monogamists, swingers, sadomasochists, non-binaries, transsexuals, pansexuals, fetishists, and the like. They have literally nothing to do with “dating” and everything to do with promiscuity and lurid, bizarre, fantastical, sexual encounters.
Overtly depicting threesomes, orgies, even sexual encounters with inanimate objects or animals, the ads are intended to simultaneously titillate potential “customers” and shock, anger, and agitate detractors. Pictures of the ads are much too inappropriate to post in this illustration. But you can follow the link to the source above “if” you feel you can stomach viewing them.
They are prominently displayed, not on the walls of sleazy, backroom brothels, but on the walls of public transportation which carry businessmen and barmaids, stockbrokers and students, nannies, and grannies, tourists, and toddlers.
In fact, the bright colors and “fun” looking flare of these have some wondering if they aren’t actually intended to purposely grab the attention of young children. “Insane to me that OkCupid, a dating app company, has put up a bunch of ads in the NYC subway that seem like they’re marketed at 5-year-olds,” said one commuter.
Another, who has no choice but to ride public transit to and from work commented, “Ok Cupid’s ads make me into a nonconsensual participant in the sex lives of strangers twice a day, every day. It just skeeves me out.”
One such commuter was recently attempted to tear down the posters. A video of her “vandalism” went viral, prompting a spokesperson for NYC MTA to say, “Customers are free to express their disdain with subway advertisements, but they are not permitted to destroy them. Riders who violate that basic principle are subject to prosecution.”
The ads seemed to have disappeared for a short while but have begun showing up again, this time behind protective glass to prevent further vandalism.
Such posters are indeed signs of our times. Our culture is not content to simply engage in debauched behavior. Rather, it seems determined to “advertise” it, promote it, normalize it, and shame anyone who does not applaud it. These are signs that God has turned our world over to the self-destructive lusts and passions of the last days.
"Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. For this reason, God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error" (Romans 1:24-27, ESV).
The Bomb That Was Too Big
The BBC reports,
On the morning of 30 October 1961, a Soviet Tu-95 bomber took off from ... the far north of Russia.
... World War Two had placed the US and USSR in the same camp, but the post-war period had seen relations chill and then freeze. And the Soviets, presented with a rivalry against the world’s only nuclear superpower, had only one option – to catch up. Fast.
... The Tsar Bomba was no ordinary nuclear bomb. It was the result of a feverish attempt by the USSR’s scientists to create the most powerful nuclear weapon yet, spurred on by Premier Nikita Khruschchev’s desire to make the world tremble at the might of Soviet technology. It was more than a metal monstrosity too big to fit inside even the largest aircraft – it was a city destroyer, a weapon of last resort.
... [The] Tsar Bomba unleashed almost unbelievable energy – now widely agreed to be in the order of 57 megatons, or 57 million tons of TNT. That is more than 1,500 times that of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs combined, and 10 times more powerful than all the munitions expended during World War Two. Sensors registered the bomb’s blast wave orbiting the Earth not once, not twice, but three times .... Some scientists began to believe it was too big ... If the bomb was as powerful as intended, the aircraft would have been on a one-way mission.
The power of the bomb persuaded nuclear physicist Andrei Sakharov to renounce nuclear weapons
A bomb too big to fit into a plane and too powerful for a flight crew to get out of its range of destruction is just too big, too powerful!
Likewise, there are some sins that are so destructive that we dare not commit them for fear that we will not be able to escape what we’ve unleashed.
On the top of that list is the sin of adultery! The power of this destructive force is so great that it should lead us all to denounce it!
Not even a king is protected from the destructive forces of sexual promiscuity. Remember, it was the great sin with Bathsheba that undermined the house of David.
"Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body" (1 Corinthians 6:18).
"Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge" (Psalm 51:4).
Is The Bible Guilty of Hate Speech?
Any parent, no matter how wonderful, can be made to sound like a monster should their words be edited with that purpose. That’s what many do with the Bible. Despite the clear message of God’s unconditional love for every single person, some choose to exclusively focus on the most negative, the most condemning passages they can find. The problem is these passages can’t be properly appreciated pulled out of their context.
While it’s true that the Bible expresses God’s strong displeasure on a host of lifestyle choices that many deem completely acceptable today, i.e. homosexuality, sexual promiscuity, etc., the overriding message is clear—“God is love” (1 John 4:16). That means God doesn’t need us to perform in a certain way before He can love us, it is His nature to love. To love us, all God needs comes from within Himself.
So the question is never whether God is willing to love us—the question will always be are we willing to receive His love.
This is where those harsh passages in the Bible come into play. Like a loving Father, God expresses condemnation for certain lifestyle choices, not because they diminish His love for us, but because they bring distance between Him and us. While this is true of all violations of God's moral will, it is especially true of sexual transgressions.
That’s why God pronounces a death sentence on such violations. But if you leave the Bible on that note, you'll miss one of its most powerful lessons. For, while these strong words of condemnation were intended to communicate the seriousness of the situation, they also set the stage for something wonderful ... for God to don flesh and die on a cross to take our death sentence away!
It’s true that the Bible expresses hatred for the things that draw our hearts away, but it is just as true that God loves each and every one of us, no matter what our lifestyle choices are or have been. God proved this by taking the very sentence He pronounced against us upon Himself. Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends” (John 15:13). And that's exactly what Jesus did! The Apostle Paul wrote, "God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners" (Romans 5:8).
How ironic that some have turned away from God because of His judgment of certain choices when Jesus has stepped in and taken that judgment upon Himself! Instead of a cause to question God's love, these harsh judgments have been transformed into the greatest proof of God's love!
One final very important thought: If you’re gay or sexually active outside of God’s prescribed bonds of marriage, and you reject the idea that there is anything wrong with your lifestyle, please understand that whether you're right or not, it doesn’t absolve you of your need for a Savior. That’s because we ALL violate God’s will in a multitude of ways, most of which have nothing to do with our sexual orientation.
We are ALL broken and in need of reconciliation with God. If it’s not our sexual behavior, it’s greed or pride or hate, or a host of other possible violations in our attitudes and actions. We ALL need a Savior. So, if you don’t like one reason for coming to Jesus, pick the one you prefer. Just make sure you come!
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
“This is real love--not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins” (1 John 4:10, NLT).