Mohler’s article is well worth the read as it sets out the ways in which Christian Scripture informed Tolkien’s sexual ethic and the way that the architect of Middle Earth stood against the prevailing notions of sex half-a-century-ago. Here are some of the best lines from Tolkien’s letters, which Mohler included in his essay.
The dislocation of sex-instinct is one of the chief symptoms of the Fall.
The devil is endlessly ingenious, and sex is his favorite subject,
Monogamy (although it has long been fundamental to our inherited ideas) is for us men a piece of ‘revealed’ ethic, according to faith and not to the flesh.
Faithfulness in Christian marriage entails that: great mortification. For a Christian man there is no escape. Marriage may help to sanctify and direct to its proper object his sexual desires; its grace may help him in the struggle; but the struggle remains.
No man, however truly he loved his betrothed and bride as a young man, has lived faithful to her as a wife in mind and body without deliberate conscious exercise of the will, without self-denial.
Christian marriage is not a prohibition of sexual intercourse, but the correct way of sexual temperance–in fact probably the best way of getting the most satisfying sexual pleasure . . . .
As is evident, Tolkien conceived of sex in a way that is lost on inhabitants of the twenty-first century, and that is foreign to many Christians too. His perspective needs to be heard, and fatherly model of speaking candidly to his children about sex needs to be imitated too. Let me close with Mohler’s reflections:
From the vantage point of the 21st century, Tolkien will appear to many to be both out of step and out of tune with the sexual mores of our times. Tolkien would no doubt take this as a sincere, if unintended, compliment. He knew he was out of step, and he steadfastly refused to update his morality in order to pass the muster of the moderns.
When it comes to sex, may we keep in step with the Spirit, by following in the footsteps of someone who did not succumb to the spirit of the age.
Yesterday I finished my six-part series on God’s design for marriage and sex. Instead of finishing with an explicit word about sexuality, its dangers and delights, I spent our time considering God’s power to raise the dead and the devastated.
From John 11, we considered how Christ’s resurrection of Lazarus is a sign of his authority over the grave and a promise to all of us who trust in him, that he can raise us out of any miry pit, forgive us of any sin, and restore us from any deviation from God’s design. In short, Christ is the resurrection and the life, and all who look to him for the forgiveness of sins will find eternal life that does not begin at some unknown point in the future. Eternal begins with a true knowledge of Christ (John 17:3), that in turn empowers us to live a new kind of life today.
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 1:25-27 —
After four weeks of considering God’s design for marriage, sex, and gender, I turned to the subject of homosexuality today—a subject that has and is dividing our nation, and one that Scripture addresses with candor and the message of grace.
In today’s message, I argue from Romans 1 that the great problem is not homosexuality but humanity. All who are born ‘in Adam’ are sexual sinners. Idolatry is the chief sin and as a result of this inward deviation, all men and women experience various kinds and degrees of illicit sexual desires.
I fear some Christians have been to quick to dismiss people who experience same sex attraction. Too much of the message has been, “Just change.” To support our cause, many Christians have cherry picked verses to contest homosexuals instead of sharing the full doctrine of humanity and sin, which tells us that all of us have us have sinned, and none of us have natural (read: true and righteous) sexual desires according to the flesh.
As Paul argues in Romans 1, humanity has exchanged the glory of God for the glory created things, therefore God has given the human race over to the lusts of their flesh. As Romans 3:23 concludes, “all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory.” This is the great problem. Man has suppressed the truth in unrighteousness, because their natural state is not good or righteous. Sexual deviation is the ‘natural’ result of a fallen human condition. Homosexuality—like pornography, fornication, adultery, and divorce—is but one outward expression of this deeper deviation.
I am still grappling with how to state these things, but I pray this message will help you avoid some traps and give you light to better understand what God has said about humanity’s fallen condition. As I state at the front, the message is directed at Christians, but it is also applicable to those non-Christians who are willing to hear how all of us have sinned and how God has provided salvation in Jesus Christ.
Not a week goes by but what the news channels are filled with conversation and debate about sex. On top of the societal changes that swirl around us, legal changes are happening here and abroad. For instance, Germans now have the legal option of putting ‘other’ down as the gender of their ‘intersex’ baby. The Atlantic reports
A new law in Germany creates a third sex category on birth records. It could seem like an obvious solution to some problems of intersex: If some babies are born with bodies that are neither clearly male nor female, then it seems there should be some category beside “male” or “female.”
This is just one more example of why Christians need to have a deeply biblical understanding of sex, marriage, and gender. It is not enough anymore to believe in ‘traditional marriage’ or gender based on simple biology. In a fallen world, biology is not simple! We must have a deeply theological answer for why God’s image is only male and female, how the Fall can explain the phenomenon of intersex, and how gender is not a social construct but determined by the God who makes us in his image.
These examples are but the tip of the iceberg. To help us get a handle on some of these things, we need to take time to read, think, and study the Scriptures. To help you process some of these things, take a look at the following articles, audio, and video. They are reliable guides to help you walk in the light.
It’s About Scripture, Not Sex. Here are three quotations for Denny Burk’s What is the Meaning of Sex?that represent three divergent views in evangelicalism today. They expose that the divide between Christians who oppose same-sex marriage and those who support it has to do with biblical interpretation, not sexual preference. The latter is always downstream from the former.
What Does He Really Want? Aileen Challies (the wife of Tim Challies) kicks off a series of blogs on the subject of sex at CBMW’s women’s channel. She seeks to deconstruct some of wrong views of sex that Christian women bring into marriage.
Kids and Sex. Pure Hope Ministries reminds parents that is never too young to begin addressing ‘age-appropriate’ discussions about sex.
Parenting Booklet. PureHope Ministries also has a forty-page booklet for parents on how to address the subject of sex with their children. This booklet has an appendix with “age appropriate teaching points.” If you are not familiar with Pure Hope, you should be.
If you have specific questions on this subject, please drop a note in the comments. I’d be happy to put you in touch with appropriate resources.
Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
— Genesis 2:24 —
Do you not know that your body
is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?
You are not your own,
for you were bought with a price.
So glorify God in your body.
— 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 —
From the intricate arrangements of the cell to the massive construction of stars in the Milky Way, the God who made the heavens and the earth and everything in them is—to put it plainly—a Designer.
On earth, God has made mankind in his image. Male and female he created the human race. And on the day when he fashioned the man from the ground and made woman from his side (see Genesis 2:4-25), God also designed the institution of marriage and gave to Adam and Eve the gift of sex so they could partner in covenant union, procreate children who bear God’s image and likeness. At the same time, God made sex pleasurable as a good gift to his married couples.
Tragically, when sin crippled the human race (Gen 3), men and women made to honor God with their sexuality began to abuse and misuse his gift. In just a few generations, Lamech had married two women and by Genesis 19, homosexual desires had overcome the men in Sodom and Gomorrah. Today, sex is manipulated and marketed with dizzying speed.
Christians need to learn how to think about these things and we must come to the Bible to get our bearings. These two messages, preached over the last two Sundays, are my attempt to help our church think about God’s designs for marriage and sex.
I pray they may help you understand what God’s word says about this blessed gift, and how the power of God’s gospel can help you walk in holiness.
In True Sexual Morality, Daniel Heimbach, a SEBTS professor of ethics, engages a predominate view of sexuality that he labels “Playboy Sexual Morality” (see pp. 267-81). In his chapter, Dr Heimbach makes a helpful distinction between pleasure and joy. Continue reading →
Here is the sermon audio to yesterday’s sermon: “Evangelism in a Post-Marriage World.” This is the first in a series of messages on God’s Design for Marriage and Sexuality. In three sections, it introduces the challenge of evangelism a post-modern and post-marriage age; it calls us to have new hearts and minds as we approach the subject of sexual sin; and it gives five ways we must change our approach to evangelism, in order to reach a culture infatuated with sex and ignorant of God’s good design for marriage and sexuality.
It has been four days since the Supreme Court struck down the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). This landmark decision will have implications for decades to come, and consequently, there has been no end to the legal analysis, cultural commentary, and prophetic predictions since Wednesday’s decision. This dialogue is exhausting, but also necessary.
Christians (pastors and parishioners) need to be informed and equipped to handle this judicial decision and the implication it will have on state laws and America’s public perception of those defending traditional marriage. One of the most alarming aspects of the court’s decision was Justice Kennedy’s language that essentially described opponents of same sex marriage as “enemies of the human race” (language used by Justice Scalia in his dissenting remarks).
Due to the centrality of marriage for gospel witness, not to mention societal stability, this fight for marriage is going to continue for sometime. It should.
In this heated conversation, its worth asking, “Who is a helpful voice? A voice advocating biblical wisdom, not just partisan politics?” Since, not every voice is equally helpful, it might be helpful to know the names of a few defenders of traditional marriage that you can continue to listen to. Maybe you already have your luminaries, but if not, let me commend a few to you. Continue reading →
For Your Edification is a (bi)weekly set of resources on the subjects of Bible, Theology, Ministry, and Family Life. Let me know what you think or if you have other resources that growing Christians should be aware.
BIBLE & THEOLOGY
Dating the Crucifixion. Joe Carter points to a news report coming from the “International Geology Review” that claims “based on earthquake activity at the Dead Sea near Jerusalem, Jesus was most likely crucified on Friday, April 3, in the year 33.” Carter’s news clipping reminds us that God’s revelation in Scripture and nature are both infallible, and that this new piece of data gives us plausible evidence confirming what the Bible already declares: “And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split” (Matthew 27:51).
Biblical Allusions. Jeffery Leonard has written an SBL article identifying inner-biblical allusions. In fact, using Psalm 78 as a test-case, he lists eight ways that “shared language” works in the Bible. He also goes one step further to discuss ways to determine how to discern the direction of the influence. If typology, allusions, and echoes are your thing, I encourage you to check out the article: Identifying Inner-Biblical Allusions: Psalm 78 as a Test Case.
Here are the eight evaluations for considering biblical allusions:
Shared language is the single most importantfactor in establishing a textual connection.
Shared language is more important than nonshared language.
Shared language that is rare or distinctive suggests a stronger connection than does language that is widely used.
Shared phrases suggest a stronger connection than do individual shared terms.
The accumulation of shared language suggests a stronger connection than does a single shared term or phrase.
Shared language in similar contexts suggests a stronger connection than does shared language alone.
Shared language need not be accompanied by shared ideology to establish a connection.
Shared language need not be accompanied by shared form to establish a connection.
Defending Marriage in a Pluralistic Society. Paul Brewster, a pastor in our local association and author of Andrew Fuller: Model Pastor-Theologian, has written a helpful piece on the difficulty and necessity of defending marriage in our contemporary society. Brewster’s editorial is noteworthy on two accounts: (1) He lives in middle America–Madison, Indiana to be exact–which is not the left coast or a progressive college town. Rather, it is a small town in the heartland of America, and yet it like every other community in our nation has been affected by increasing demand for marriage anyway you like it. (2) He is a faithful, small church pastor. It is easy to point to and depend on the Albert Mohler’s, Tim Keller’s, and John Piper’s to speak up publically; however, in truth, it takes all pastors proclaiming the gospel and the Christian worldview for the effect of Christ’s witness to win the lost to Christ and to preserve the culture from moral decay.
May we who pastor smaller churches follow Paul’s lead and contend for a biblical and traditional definition of marriage, and may we hear his admonition to defend God’s design for marriage so that marriage does not become Silly Putty in the hands of fools.
Charles Spurgeon’s Biography. Here is an hour-long docu-drama retelling the life and labors of Charles Spurgeon. If you are unfamiliar with this powerful minister’s pulpit ministry, this is a good place to begin. If you want to know more about Charles Spurgeon, I would encourage you to check out John Piper’s audio biography, Arnold Dallimore’s biography Spurgeon: A New Biography, or his own two-volume autobiography–The Early Yearsand The Full Harvest.
For Your Edification is a bi-weekly set of resources on the subjects of Bible, Theology, Ministry, and Family Life. Let me know what you think or if you have other resources that growing Christians should be aware.
Pastor: Fred, did you spend time in the word this week?
Fred: Oh, yes. I spent hours in the word this week. It was refreshing. God says that he gives rest to those who ask, and when I was in the word this week, I felt the comfort of resting in the word.
Wilma, Fred’s wife (driving home later): Honey, I didn’t know that you spent so much time in the Word this week. With your busy schedule, how did you do that?
Husband: Well, what I failed to mention was the fact that I named my Lazy Boy “the word,” so that whether I am watching TV, reading the paper, or reading my Bible, I can “be in the word.”
Wilma: Huh . . . that’s a good idea. Maybe, I’ll try that.
Of course, no one would really say that. Right? But the point is made: The time we spend in the word is as effective as the way we spend it. Jen Wilkin, mother of four, writes about why so many Christians get so little out of the word. She nails down the fact that those who read the Bible, need to use effective means of Bible study, or they will just reinforce unbiblical ideas, and remain unchanged. This is how she begins,
Why, with so many study options available, do many professing Christians remain unschooled and unchanged? Scripture teaches clearly that the living and active Word matures us, transforms us, accomplishes what it intends, increases our wisdom, and bears the fruit of right actions. There is no deficit in the ministry of the Word. If our exposure to it fails to result in transformation, particularly over the course of years, there are surely only two possible reasons why: either our Bible studies lack true converts, or our converts lack true Bible study.
Jen goes on to explain a number of common ways Christians “lack true Bible study.” Read the rest of her helpful article: Why Bible Study Doesn’t Transform Us?
Summer Bible Reading Plan. Here is a 100 day Bible reading plan that would be great to use this summer if you do not currently have a reading schedule, or you have fallen off the wagon since January. It is called E100, which stands for Essential 100 Scripture passages, and it designed to help Bible readers get through the whole of the Bible in a manageable amount of time. It is published by Scripture Union and is designed to help young Bible readers or discouraged Bible readers make their way through the most important parts of the Bible. The E100 website has more details; here is an easy access print-out.
THEOLOGY
Lessons in Ecclesiology. Jonathan Leeman answers a couple important questions about the doctrine of the church. First, he defines what the characteristics of a local church are. Most importantly, in his article, What Is the Local Church?, he defines the difference between a ‘group of Christians’ and a ‘church’ (Hint: They are not the same thing!) Then, he follows up by considering church membership. In his article, What Is Church Membership?, he points out that a church is more than just a ‘voluntary organization.’ For those who want their church reflect the priorities of Christ, these are important questions, and Leeman gives biblical answers.
What Should We Say About Gay Marriage? A few weeks before President Obama made his public declaration to endorse Gay Marriage, Southern Baptist Pastor, Mark Dever, sat down with seminary president, Albert Mohler, to discuss the subject of marriage according to the Bible and in our culture. This discussion recorded at Together For the Gospel, will give you a good handle on a number of the key points in the gay marriage debate, and how Christians can defend God’s design in marriage–one man, one woman, united by law, until death.
Don’t Be a Passive Reader. N. D. Wilson, author of Notes from the Tilt-a-Whirland a handful of other well-regarded fiction books, gives his critical review of The Hunger Games. His review is spot-on and shows that Christians who enjoy the book/movie are in need of reading the book with much greater sensitivity to the world in which we live. His review reminds us that when we read, watch, or listen to any sort of entertainment, we are imbibing a worldview (that is probably not inspired by the Holy Spirit) and thus we need to read pro-actively. Beware of being a passive reader. It may be more dangerous than the hunger games themselves.
May God use these resources to grow you in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Last week, Albert Mohler republished one of his essays, “From Father to Son—J.R.R. Tolkien on Sex.” It deserves to be read by fathers and sons and everyone else. It is taken from Mohler’s book Desire and Deceit: The Real Cost of the New Sexual Tolerance, and the essay is about J.R.R. Tolkien’s views on sex, captured in a host of letters to his three sons (see The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien).
Via Emmaus 