The Monstrosity of Sex Outside Marriage
Lewis wrote,
"The monstrosity of sexual intercourse outside marriage is that those who indulge in it are trying to isolate one kind of union (the sexual) from all the other kinds of union which were intended to go along with it and make up the total union."
"The Christian attitude does not mean there is anything wrong about sexual pleasure, any more than about the pleasure of eating. It means that you must not isolate the pleasure and try to get it by itself, any more than you ought to get the pleasures of taste without swallowing and digesting by chewing things and spitting them out again."
"Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral" (Hebrews 13:4).
"Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity" (1 Timothy 4:12).
Heart Health and Purity
Our heart is responsible for keeping every one of our organs in shape. This means that complications with the heart can be felt all over the body. An unhealthy heart may manifest in our respiratory system, our extremities, and our digestive system. People of all ages and lifestyles can make small changes in our lives to reduce our risk of heart disease. The American Heart Association recommends the following changes to better our heart health: stop tobacco consumption, increase physical activity, eat a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, reduce alcohol consumption, and minimize stress.
Likewise, a healthy "heart" is key to our overall spiritual health. The health of our spiritual heart for God impacts literally every other aspect of our spiritual lives.
We must nourish it: "I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you" (Psalm 119:11, NIV).
We must keep it clean: "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me" (Psalm 51:10, NIV).
We must protect it: "Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life" (Proverbs 4:23, ESV).
Why?
Because, "The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith" (1 Timothy 1:15, ESV).
Fasten Your Seat Belts
The debates over human sexuality and marital constructs are increasingly and ubiquitously being played out (and have been for some time) over the airwaves and tv screens, on book and magazine covers, in newspaper articles, on billboards, social media platforms, protest placards, and even in classroom curricula.
The debate has even increasingly made its way into product and company advertising.
One such example was from a KLM Airlines ad campagn from 2017. The banner read, "It doesn't matter who you click with," and was accompanied by a series of rainbow seat belt pairings.
But the ad was met with some pretty tough push back as confused viewers noted that two of the three "pairings" would not prove to be realistic or operational.
Once commentor observes:
While more than a few observers pointed at the ad's obvious demonstration of biological realities (eg, which parts fit with which parts), there was a sadder, far more serious, far more important truth being unintentionally revealed by the ad.
The purpose of a seatbelt is to keep the individual safe, secure, and free from harm. Without complimentary latching parts, however, a seatbelt is at once useless and counterproductive to achieving that objective. Ironically, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines' own operational policies forbid pilots to even depart the gate until all passengers are properly restrained by functional belts.
Should a passenger attempt to tie two "female" ends or two "male" ends together as a substitute, they would be reprimanded and, depending on their stubbornness, denied the opportunity to fly.
He goes on to ask:
Are the executives, pilots, and flight attendants at KLM bigots for their intolerant belief that one type of seatbelt arrangement is superior in functionality and safety? Are they discriminators for requiring customers to abide by their narrow-minded view of the "appropriate way" to fasten a belt? Or are they merely expressing a self-evident truth that all of us know, even if we want, for whatever reason, to deny?
God's design was intentional, and His moral guidelines for sexuality were given to us not to deprive us, but to defend us.
"Then the Lord God said, 'It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.' ... Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh" (Genesis 2:18, 24, ESV).
"Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous" (Hebrews 13:4, ESV).