Episode Details

Implications of Image, Part II

Introduction

I went through a phase in high school where I listened to Josh Turner’s song What it Ain’t all the time. The hook in that song goes like this: “It ain’t bold faced lies or alibis that cannot be explained - I might not know what love it, but I know what it ain’t.” The poor hapless protagonist of the song had gone through a whole lot of relationships that sure weren’t love. He isn’t sure what love is, but he’s got a firm handle on what it ain’t.

Many people today would - if they were honest - have to confess that their ideas of love, marriage, and sexuality are just as confused as those of the man in that song. What is marriage? Our society isn’t sure. Is there a purpose and a meaning behind marriage? What is this thing?

But we know what it ain’t. And by “know”, I actually mean we all have our own ideas about what it ain’t. How many people can be involved in a marriage? Does it have to be two? Or can it be three, five, ten, or more? Does marriage really need to be restricted to humans? If marriage is mainly about love and companionship, some people feel more connected to animals - or maybe, soon, artificial intelligences - than they do with humans. Maybe we should be able to marry pets or robots. And why are there restrictions about age in marriage? What about the rules around marrying relatives, those don’t make sense in the modern world, do they?

Some of those hypotheticals just made you say, “yuck.” And “yuck” is a useful feeling. It prevents you from doing those things which are repulsive to you. So, as long as your “yuck” feelings match up with right and wrong, that’s okay. But what about those generations whose “yuck” factor has been completely skewed? What about those areas of your life where what you consider to be repulsive is actually in contradiction with what God’s word says is repulsive? Do we simply accept the fact that sensitivities change, and since the times they are a-changin’, our attitudes ought to as well? Does the fact that biblical principles around marriage and sexuality strike modern ears as offensive mean that we ought to pitch those values out the window?

No. We do need to acknowledge where our cultures values and confusions lie. We need to have eyes in our head. But we needn’t simply accept what everyone else swallows as normal. Because we have the book. We have what God says. His word has the answers. So if we will be diligent enough to listen and study, and humble enough to obey, we can rise above what the world accepts as normal and normative.

This series, remember, is called “Implications of Image.” Last week we talked about the two most basic implications of God making us in his image: one, your life is immeasurably valuable. And two, your life does not ultimately belong to you. So as we come to the topics of marriage sexuality we need to start with this realization: God, the maker and designer of humanity, by making us in his image, has designed marriage and sexuality for specific purposes which, if we submit to and embrace those purposes and patterns, will lead to human flourishing.

I want to emphasize that last sentence. Pursuing God’s pattern isn’t the white-knuckled conformity to a pattern we hate and don’t understand. We need to understand and embrace the pattern, with the faithful belief that God will do good in and through our obedience to his design and instructions. He is a good God, not a cruel dictator. So as I say things that may be hard to hear, or contrary to what everyone else in your orbit says, do this: weigh it against the word, and then joyfully submit to God in faith that he loves you more than the world loves you.

Marriage is the Pattern

When it comes to the ordering of human life together, the basis of society, the most basic unit i