What Is A Christian Couple Allowed To Do In Sex
God designed your body for sexual pleasure, and He wants married couples to enjoy a thriving sex life. A couple engaged in sexual intimacy honor each other and God.
The Bible does not address sexual positions, but theres no reason not to explore what brings you the most pleasure. In fact, some positions can be helpful for women who may experience discomfort during sex such as side by side or with the wife above. As a couple, find what works best!
What about oral sex? First, the Bible does not forbid it. Secondly, some passages in the Song of Solomon seem to be euphemisms for oral sex between a husband and his bride.
You are my private garden, my treasure, my bride, a secluded spring, a hidden fountain. Your thighs shelter a paradise of pomegranates with rare spices.
: Awake, north wind! Rise up, south wind! Blow on my garden and spread its fragrance all around. Come into your garden, my love taste its finest fruits.
I would give you spiced wine to drink, my sweet pomegranate wine.
Like the finest apple tree in the orchard is my lover among other young men. I sit in his delightful shade and taste his delicious fruit.
The important thing is to respect and honor your spouses feelings about oral sex. They may not feel comfortable with this sort of foreplay so dont pressure them. But if its something the two of you want to explore and enjoy doing thats okay!
Will Homosexuals Go To Heaven
- As mentioned in the “Interpretation and Questions” section above, these verses have been translated from the original Greek into English in various ways, and there are uncertainties about which specific homosexual practices are intended.
- As stated in verse 11 of , all these sins are sins that God will forgive if a person repents.
Related articles: What Does the Bible Say About Salvation?, What Does the Bible Say About Forgiveness of Sins?
Loving Your Spouse Through The Seasons Of Marriage
Debra Fileta has identified the four seasons of marriage that correspond with our natural seasons spring , summer , fall , and winter . In this interview, she will help couples better understand the four seasons of healthy relationships, what to expect during each one, and how to carefully navigate them for a stronger marriage.
Read Also: What Does The Bible Say About Eating
What About Leviticus 1: 22
The next text typically cited on our subject is Leviticus 18:22, and it is far less ambiguous: Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman that is detestable. The Hebrew is as clear as the English translation.
The obvious sense of the command seems to be: homosexual sexual relations are forbidden by Scripture. This is the way the text has typically been understood by Jewish and Christian interpreters across the centuries. It is the way most read the text still today.
But those who advocate homosexuality as an acceptable biblical lifestyle have found ways to dissent. Dr. Walter Wink admits that this text unequivocally condemn same-sex sexual behavior. But he theorizes that the ancient Hebrews saw any sexual activity which could not lead to the creation of life as a form of abortion or murder. He adds that the Jews would have seen homosexuality as alien behavior, representing yet one more incursion of pagan civilization into Jewish life.
And thats not all. Other critics see the Levitical laws as expressive of worship codes, not universal moral standards. And they argue that all such laws were intended only for their day and time, such as kosher dietary laws and harvest regulations.
How Does A Church Minister To A Converted Sex Offender
I received many difficult questions at the workshop on Monday evening. But this one stuck out to me as especially difficult. Here was the nature of the question from a pastor:
How do I and our church minister to a man who appears radically converted, desires to come to our church, but has been a convicted child molester and long-time sex offender?
Here are a few thoughts:
We should try to minister to a man such as this, especially if he is converted. No one should be turned away from our doors, as Jesus was seen with the vilest of sinners. This is what the gospel is all about! However, you cannot ignore the elephant in the room. Here are a few suggestions, having faced this in comparable ways before:
1) Appoint a host for him while he is at church. Handpick a very reliable man whose sole job that day is to meet him outside in the parking lot, walk in with him, and be attached to this mans hip. Pick a host who is spiritually mature, gracious, who understands the importance of his role, but will not make him feel like a prisoner in church.
Explain to the offender attending that this is what this mans role is and that he must be seen with him at all times. Pick a host who will take him to talk with others, and it will be a good way for this new guy to meet and converse with folks he might not otherwise feel comfortable with and vice versa.
Brian Croft is Senior Pastor of Auburndale Baptist Church. To find out more, please visit Practical Shepherding.
Don’t Miss: What Does Bible Say About Circumcision
Does The Bible Prohibit Sex Before Marriage
28. Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. Dont you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So, you must honor God with your body.
29. Gods will is for you to be holy, so stay away from all sexual sin. Then each of you will control his own body and live in holiness and honor not in lustful passion like the pagans who do not know God and his ways
30. Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.
31. Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.
32. Song of Solomon 2:7 I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or the does of the field, that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases.
33. Matthew 15:19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.
What Does The Bible Say About Sex
While the Bible doesnt say the exact words, Dont have sex before marriage, that message is clear. The Bible says God created people, marriage, and even lays out instructions for sex.
Genesis 2:24 says to first leave your family and be united with your wife. THEN, become one flesh. We see this instruction of sex within marriage carried throughout the Bible. We also see many examples in the Bible of what happens when Gods will is not followed.
Recommended Reading: What Does Lord Mean In The Bible
The Bible And The Punishment Of Homosexuals
One objection to the Leviticus statement remains. Dr. Walter Wink and others point out its punishment for homosexuality: If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death their blood will be on their own heads .
If we no longer execute those who practice homosexuality, are we justified in ignoring the prohibition against such activity entirely?
Those who argue that homosexuality is a biblical lifestyle point to this outdated penalty as reason to consider the prohibition to be equally irrelevant to society today.
No one I know would argue that homosexual practice should result in the death penalty today. But lets consider two facts.
First, the Levitical code was given to Israel at a crucial time in her early formation.
The nation had no functional law process or court system. Her moral character was not yet formed. And so the Lord gave the nation clear and enforceable standards that would help solidify and preserve her spiritual future. The spirit of the Levitical prohibition is clear: homosexuality is not to be practiced or accepted by the nation.
Second, a reinterpretation of the penalty prescribed by a law does not justify the decision to ignore the law itself.
Can A Registered Sex Offender Be Baptized
Baptism is not a question of whether or not you have sinned in the past. Baptism is a way of publicly declaring your faith in Christ and showing that you are born again .
As Paul writes, We were buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life . The meaning here is clear: Jesus has forgiven our sins and given us new life we demonstrate this by being baptized. Baptism doesnt depend on your past it depends on your future.
Don’t Miss: Where Is The Our Father In The Bible
Limits On Sexual Pleasure
God reserves sexual relations for marriage mates only, as Hebrews 13:4 shows: Let marriage be honorable among all, and the marriage bed be without defilement, for God will judge fornicators and adulterers. Married couples must be faithful and maintain their commitment to each other . They find the greatest delight, not by pursuing selfish gratification, but by applying the Bible principle: There is more happiness in giving than there is in receiving.Acts 20:35.
While We Wish To Offer The Dignity And Respect Of Christian Grace To All Persons We Cannot Truly Love Them While Endorsing That Which Is Unbiblical In Their Lives
As intolerant as the next sentence may seem, it is honestly motivated by a sincere desire to speak the truth in love: we can and should pray for those in the homosexual lifestyle to come to repentance and transformation.
After including homosexuality in his list of sins , Paul next told the Corinthians: And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God .
I recognize that some will read this paragraph as bigoted prejudice. However, any of us would want to help those we care about to practice a biblical lifestyle that leads to the fullest abundance of Christs joy . This is the honest motivation behind my suggestion that such intercession is appropriate for the gay people we know and love.
I must offer one last suggestion, a statement that will engender further resistance from many in the gay community:
Recommended Reading: How Many Times Is Prayer Mentioned In The Bible
Gods Care For Children
The tenderness and care Jesus showed for children is an expression of Gods heart toward the small, the weak, and the vulnerable, as seen throughout the Old Testament.
Part of Gods law, given at Mt. Sinai, was that no one should mistreat any widow or fatherless child . Indeed, God is one who executes justice for the fatherless and curses anyone who perverts the justice due to orphans . The Lord says that no one should do wrong or be violent towards innocent children and orphans . Not only does God want his people to love and care for children, but they are called to do everything in their power to stop those who try to hurt, abuse, or oppress them: learn to do good seek justice, correct oppression bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widows cause . Children are a gift from God and a blessing, and are to be loved, disciplined, and cared for.
Jewish And Christian Criticisms Of Same
This cultural approach is alien to us, so hard to accept. But Jewish criticisms of male same-sex activity in Roman times assumed that one of the participants would be a boy pederasty. Heres an example from Philo, who lived about the same time as Paul, and like Paul was Jewish.
And let the man who is devoted to the love of boys submit to the same punishment, since he pursues that pleasure which is contrary to nature
Philo, Special Laws 3.39
The earliest Christians also attacked pederasty as something routinely accepted by society but rejected by the Church. The earliest interpretation of Romans 1:26-27 that we have assumes that Paul is talking about pederasty:
For those who have set up a market for fornication and established infamous resorts for the young for every kind of vile pleasure, who do not abstain even from males, males with males committing shocking abominations These adulterers and pederasts defame the eunuchs and the once-married
Athenagoras, Apology 34.
And this assumption carries on through the first few centuries of the church. Writer after writer condemns pederasty, calling it child corruption 6).
This, then, is the background to the world of the New Testament. It was a world where a freeborn man was expected to demonstrate his masculinity and dominance through intercourse with his wife, his slaves and prostitutes, whether the slaves or prostitutes were male or female.
Dont Miss: Chronological Order Bible
Recommended Reading: Is Logos Bible Software Worth It
Its Not Just About The Kids
You dont have to read very far in the Bible to discover the connection between sexuality and procreation. In the very first chapter of the very first book it says:
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it.
God made them male and female and he told them to be fruitful and multiply. The message seems rather obvious: having and raising godly babies is part of how we exercise dominion over the earth.
Thats true, but it isnt the end of the story it isnt even the start of the story! In fact, the first thing that God says about a human being in the Book of Genesis is that: It is not good that the man should be alone I will make him a helper fit for him .
Human beings are intended to resemble and represent God therefore the man ought to have a complementary and co-equal partner. Therefore God created Eve from a rib taken from Adams side. The Bible goes on to say:
Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
Done right, under blessing, it often results in children, but it isnt ultimately for that. It is for the glory of God and the comfort of mankind. Thats a subtle and yet very significant distinction.
God Wants Us To Procreate
In fact, one of the first things God says is instructing Adam and Eve to procreate. Genesis 1:28 reads, âAnd God blessed them. And God said to them, âBe fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’â
âBe fruitful and multiply.â
Other verses in the Scripture like Psalm 127:3 and Genesis 9:1 also highlight how joyful it is to create and raise children. God created relationships and sex because he wants us to grow our families and produce more people who reflect his image.
Also Check: How Many Authors Wrote The Bible
Slavery And The Scriptures
My move to Atlanta in 1994 gave me my first exposure to the remarkable colonial history of the East Coast. When people living in South Carolina speak of the War, they could mean the Civil War or the Revolutionary War.
It is a fascinating region.
With one exception.
While traveling in Charleston one day, my wife, Janet, and I came upon the slave trading warehouse, the place where slaves were brought to America on ships and sold at market. I can still remember the building and my revulsion upon seeing it.
I believe that racism is the greatest sin in America, the failure that keeps us from addressing our other failures. Racism makes crime in south Dallas a black problem and drug abuse in north Dallas a white problemwhen theyre allour problems.
Given our tragic history with racism, treating the subject of slavery in the Bible is a bit repugnant for us. However, a very common assertion regarding the topic of homosexuality and the word of God is that the biblical injunctions against this lifestyle are outdated, as is its acceptance of slavery. If we can prove that the Bible was wrong on the latter, we can believe that it is wrong on the former.
The issue of slavery in the Bible is a large and comprehensive subject, far more wide-ranging than we will consider in this article. Ill try to limit our study to the barest of essentials so we can relate it to the larger question that brings it to our attention.
Understanding The Root Of Your Childs Misbehavior
Often, children act out because they are used to getting attention through bad behavior. Dr. Kevin Leman offers advice to help parents transform their childs behavior. He discusses the benefits of allowing your kids to learn from real-life consequences and describes the importance of understanding your childs temperament based on his birth order.
Don’t Miss: Bible Studies For Life Extra