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).
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).
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).